Pope Francis comes out swinging against legal weed

Pope Francis comes out swinging against legal weed
(Image credit: Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

Pope Francis may be praised for his liberal — at least for the Church — policies, but there's one issue he's taken a firm, conservative stance on: legalizing drugs.

At a drug enforcement conference in Rome this morning, Pope Francis said that recreational drugs such as marijuana "are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce the desired effects."

While Francis may see drug use as an evil, he's still loving toward addicts: The Associated Press reports that as archbishop of Buenos Aires, he "devoted much of his pastoral care" to their recovery.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In true Pope Francis fashion, though, he used the platform as an opportunity to address social inequality. If we say "yes" to better education and greater job opportunities, said Francis, "there will be no room for illicit drugs."

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.