The legalization of recreational marijuana in Washington State took effect last Thursday, December 6. In celebration of this new “freedom,” some supporters of the new law gathered under the Space Needle in Seattle and “lit up” marijuana joints at the stroke of midnight.
The Associated Press report, however, also points out that the new law places the state “in limbo” as it seeks to accomplish the task of making the law work. Together with Colorado, which also passed a similar law, Washington now faces “some genuinely complicated dilemmas,” such as “How on Earth do you go about creating a functioning legal weed market? How do you ensure adults the freedom to use pot responsibly … while keeping it away from teenagers?” Then there is the matter of marijuana still being illegal in federal law. A spokesperson for the governing body that is responsible for regulating the drug explained: “The initiative didn’t just wave a magic wand and make everybody here an expert on marijuana.”
Some specific issues of concern are “the risks of pot use and driving while stoned” and how to monitor violators, as well as what supplementary laws need to be adopted “that hold parents accountable if they host parties at which kids are provided marijuana.”
In other words, while the recreational use of marijuana is already in effect, it appears that the machinery that is supposed to regulate it is still far from being in place. Whatever your position on the use of recreational marijuana, this whole situation should be a cause for concern.
This reminds me of how we often make decisions without adequate consideration of the implications and consequences of our choices. We demand freedom but often do not know how to handle such freedom. We do not want anybody or anything to get in the way of what we want to do. But we do not fully realize what such lack of restraint may do to us. And so our supposed freedom ends up becoming another enslavement that could destroy us and hurt those around us. There is no safety net in place.
This kind of enslavement is what Paul describes as using our freedom “to indulge the flesh,” which can only lead to destructive results (Galatians 5.13, 15). We appear to be free, but we are not truly free because we are actually controlled by “the desires of the flesh” (5.16). But those who choose to follow Christ “have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (5.24), thereby disengaging the death grip that the flesh has on our life. Then we are truly free, with the Spirit of God equipping us for that which is truly beneficial (5.22-23).
—Keith Jainga