Taking a Back Seat at CPAC | Web Exclusives | First Things

Pot was in and social conservatism was out. That is the best single sentence summary I can give after three exhausting and sometimes mind-numbing days at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

The gathering is a media favorite partly for its colorful characters. One tall attendee—wearing Wrangler jeans, a cowboy hat, and a shirt boldly emblazoned with “Ask Me Why Cops Say Legalize Pot”—was known as the Lone Reefer, but he was hardly alone. The CPAC straw poll inquired about marijuana attitudes, and 41 percent of the 2,459 participants favored its legalization for recreational use, with another 21 percent for medicinal purposes. In the poll’s main event, a question not on pot but on the next POTUS, the libertarian leaning Kentucky Senator Rand Paul dominated with 31 percent of the vote (Ted Cruz was a distant second at 11 percent).

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Is Recreational Marijuana Use a Sin? – The Gospel Coalition Blog

Last November, citizens of Colorado voted on Amendment 64, an amendment to their state's constitution that would allow the "personal use and regulation of marijuana" for adults 21 and over, as well as commercial cultivation, manufacture, and sale, effectively regulating cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol. The first stores selling marijuana for recreational use officially opened on January 1, 2014.


While the new legislation applies only to Colorado (Washington state passed a similar measure, though marijuana is still illegal in all other states and at the federal level), Americans across the nation are beginning to examine questions related to the use of marijuana. For Christians, one of the most pertinent questions is whether the recreational use of marijuana is sinful.

Is Recreational Marijuana Use a Sin? – The Gospel Coalition Blog