Pope firm in opposition to recreational drugs

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis condemned the legalization of recreational drugs as a flawed and failed experiment as he lent his voice Friday to a debate that is raging from the United States to Uruguay.

Francis told delegates attending a Rome drug enforcement conference that even limited steps to legalize recreational drugs “are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce the desired effects.”

“Let me state this in the clearest terms possible,” he said. “The problem of drug use is not solved with drugs!”

“Drug addiction is an evil, and with evil there can be no yielding or compromise. To think that harm can be reduced by permitting drug addicts to use narcotics in no way resolves the problem,” he added.

Francis has years of personal experience ministering to addicts in the drug-laden slums of the Argentine capital, and he frequently has railed against drug abuse and drug traffickers.

But his comments Friday marked his strongest and clearest yet as pope directed at the movement to legalize recreational pot, which has been gaining ground in recent years, particularly in the U.S. and South America.

Associated Press