Pope Francis warned yesterday against legalising drugs, calling addiction an “evil” which he said had to be resisted without compromise.
Setting himself against the trend in several western countries to allow the use of so-called soft drugs like marijuana, Pope Francis said narcotics were putting more and more young people in danger.
“Drug addiction is an evil, and with evil there can be no yielding or compromise,” he said in remarks to a drug enforcement conference in Rome carried on the website of Vatican Radio.
The remarks came a day before the Pontiff visits Italy’s Calabria, home of the powerful ‘Ndrangheta mafia, which controls a significant share of the global trade in illegal narcotics.
“Here I would reaffirm what I have stated on another occasion: No to every type of drug use. It is as simple as that,” he said.
Drug addiction is an evil, and with evil there can be no compromise
Pope Francis, who has spoken out against drug use several times, said that to ensure young people did not fall prey to drugs, society had to say “‘yes’ to life, ‘yes’ to love, ‘yes’ to others, ‘yes’ to education, ‘yes’ to greater job opportunities”.
“If we say ‘yes’ to all these things, there will be no room for illicit drugs, for alcohol abuse, for other forms of addiction,” he said in remarks to a drug enforcement conference in Rome carried on the website of Vatican radio.
“The scourge of drug use continues to spread inexorably, fed by a deplorable commerce which transcends national and continental borders,” he said.
The comments came as the state of New York prepared yesterday to pass measures that should lead to its becoming the 23rd US state to allow medical use of marijuana.
Uruguay, which has already legalised the production and sale of cannabis, also said it would allow doctors to prescribe the drug to treat certain conditions.
“Attempts, however limited, to legalise so-called ‘recreational drugs’, are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce the desired effects,” the Pope said.
Last Monday Pope Francis also criticised the wealth made from financial speculation and referred to it as “intolerable” while saying that speculation on commodities was a “scandal” that compromised the poor’s access to food.
Since his election in March 2013, Pope Francis has often attacked the global economic system as being insensitive to the poor and not doing enough to share wealth with those who need it most. Addressing a seminar on ethical investing in the Vatican , he said financial markets must serve the interests of the people and the common good of humanity.
“It is increasingly intolerable that financial markets are shaping the destiny of peoples rather than serving their needs, or that the few derive immense wealth from financial speculation while the many are deeply burdened by the consequences,” he said.
He has previously decried a system he said was based on “a god called money,” called for the redistribution of wealth and used many speeches to bring attention to the social problem of high unemployment.
“Speculation on food prices is a scandal which seriously compromises access to food on the part of the poorest members of our human family,” he said.
“It is urgent that governments throughout the world commit themselves to developing an international framework capable of promoting a market of high impact investments, and thus to combating an economy which excludes and discards,” he said.