Pubdate: Sat, 21 Jun 2014
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2014 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Nicole Winfield, Associated Press
Page: A10

POPE SPEAKS AGAINST MAKING DRUGS LEGAL

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis condemned the legalization of 
recreational drugs as a flawed and failed experiment as he lent his 
voice Friday to a debate that is raging in the United States and elsewhere.

Francis told delegates attending a Rome drug enforcement conference 
that even limited steps to legalize recreational drugs "are not only 
highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to 
produce the desired effects."

"Let me state this in the clearest terms possible," he said. "The 
problem of drug use is not solved with drugs!" He added: "Drug 
addiction is an evil, and with evil there can be no yielding or 
compromise. To think that harm can be reduced by permitting drug 
addicts to use narcotics in no way resolves the problem."

Francis has years of experience ministering to addicts in the 
drug-laden slums of the Argentine capital, and he frequently has 
railed against drug abuse and the drug traffickers who fuel the 
market. But his comments Friday marked his strongest and clearest yet 
as pope directed at the movement to legalize recreational pot, which 
has been gaining ground in recent years, particularly in the U.S. and 
South America.

Recreational use of marijuana has been legalized in Colorado and 
Washington state, and Oregon may vote on the issue this year.

In Francis' own homeland of Argentina, personal possession of 
controlled substances has been decriminalized. Next door in Brazil, 
authorities don't punish personal drug use, although trafficking and 
transporting controlled substances is a crime. In December, 
neighboring Uruguay became the first nation to approve marijuana 
legalization and regulation altogether.

In his comments Friday, Francis did not address the use of medical 
marijuana and it's unclear whether his denunciation of the 
legalization movement encompasses that therapy.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom