Here’s my experience. Weed in itself isn’t bad. It’s like money, inherently neutral, but the love of it (and outright disdain for it) can be damaging.

I’ve been using it fairly regularly since recreational legalization in CA. I’ve experienced it’s benefits and drawbacks (there are many of both)

Benefits: laughing a lot, inspiring creativity, focusing on what’s in front of me, just relaxing, being able to get into worship music, not being super bored by dry Bible passages.

Drawbacks: (Most of these drawbacks only pop up after a few weeks of daily use) poor sleep, disconnectedness and lack of truly working through my stressors, anxiety once I try to take a break.

My biggest issue is feeling like I need to hide it from my church friends and family. It hasent been this amazing experience that NEED to share and the fallout from doing so just doesn’t seem worth it. Hiding it has caused me more stress than anything, and when I do feel my use is getting too frequent I don’t have my support system to rely on.

I hope this conversation can help erase the stigma in the Church so that recreational use looks more like craft beer culture than meth.