 Okay, so when it comes to really assessing anything From a Jewish perspective any topic that we want to understand according to Judaism We need to first identify What the issues and the concerns are? Any particular topic will have a number of potential issues and concerns and then we have to be able to analyze each of these Potential concerns to evaluate the general issue So when it comes to looking at the general topic of recreational drug use There are a number of potential concerns that arise and I'd like to basically share those with you tonight First of all, I guess one of the simplest things to take care of get it out of the way is that the Talmud mentions a number of times The concept of Dina de Malchousa Dina, which means the law of the land is the law so if we're living in a city or in a municipality a state a country where a drug like marijuana is Against the law it would be a problem according to Judaism as well Now one of the more serious concerns when it comes to consuming anything According to Judaism are potential health concerns This becomes an overarching Template that really applies to anything that we consume anything that we do right from bungee jumping to Jumping out of a plane We have to ask the question from a Jewish point of view How does it affect our health? The Torah says in the book of Dvaram chapter 4 verse 15 that we have to be extremely careful about our souls Now in context that chapter is dealing with our spiritual health But our sages took that to mean as well our physical health We have to be extremely careful about maintaining our spirit our physical health anything that would endanger or Cause any harm to ourselves and our health is a serious problem according to the Torah We cannot damage ourself or cause cause any harm to ourself in any way whatsoever The Torah takes this so seriously that the Talmud teaches in tractate coolant and a Hamura Sakhantam adi Isura, which means that we have to be more careful About whether something is potentially dangerous than even whether it's kosher or not kosher So for example when you're going to the supermarket to buy food and You check to see if the ingredients are kosher But a Talmud is saying you have to be even more careful to make sure that none of the ingredients is potentially harmful So if you're concerned about the Koshu us whether it's ritually kosher Talmud is saying even stricter We have to be when it comes to whether the the thing we're going to consume is potentially harmful to us And so with that template in mind we have to ask the question Are there any potential health risks? Either physical or psychological when it comes to recreational drugs That becomes an extremely serious concern And if there are any risks or potential risks not just actual risks Even if it's potentially harmful the Torah would not condone its use The Torah also teaches us in the book of Vayikra Leviticus chapter 1914 Lefne iver lotitan michel before the blind do not place a stumbling block now to me what this would Teach us in terms of how it's related to the topic at hand is There may be things about the use of recreational drugs that are not necessarily health risk or health problems But there can be secondary issues that come as a result of recreational drugs for example Becoming dependent or addicted to a substance even if it's not unhealthy to us physically Or psychologically just being dependent and addicted to something has its own Series of concerns our own its own series of problems another problem another issue is That some seemingly innocuous substances can become gateway Drugs leading to more dangerous ones. So even if we were to identify a Recreational drug that seems to be fairly harmless Again, I'm not resolving the issue here. I'm raising the issue. Is it possible that it could lead to? Indulging in other drugs that can be more dangerous and Then a third issue which is not totally remote is that if we become dependent and addicted to certain substances Could that lead to potential? criminal activity in order to support or maintain our habit So those are all potential fallouts From engaging in recreational drug use. I would say they would fall into the category of before the blind Don't put a stumbling block That was Moshe Feinstein who was the greatest Halachic authority greatest authority on Jewish law at the end the second half of the 20th century He wrote a famous response a famous argument really Listing about a half a dozen problems with the use of recreational drugs and He says that one of the problems is that the craving and dependence That can be brought on by drug use is similar He says to what the Bible describes in the Bensouro Moro the rebellious son in Deuteronomy chapter 21 verse 18 Who develops a continuous desire for gluttonous eating? I'm not sure that rev Moshe was referring to the munchies that are brought on when you overindulge in pot but certainly he compares the person who is Becomes essentially addicted to their drug of choice and it's similar to the rebellious son in the Bible who just has this continuous desire to stuff themselves with food and Rev Moshe says that at least food is a legitimate and important need of the body Where as consuming drugs you cannot make that excuse cannot give that as a parallel Another issue is that our sages in number number of places in our literature have condemned drunkenness in general For example the Talmud teaches in breath house 31b that if the person is drunk they're not allowed to pray They're not allowed to pray and the truth is that we know that when people get high or drunk They lose their inhibitions and they lower their guard against all kinds of other immoral behaviors So just the state of drunkenness or being high is not necessarily an optimal state to be living a spiritual life One of the teachings of the kutsker rabbi that I love to quote the kutsker would always say that I don't avoid sin So much because it's wrong He said I avoid it because there isn't time Meaning that we have a limited amount of time in life And the truth is that people who get high for them that often becomes an activity I remember hearing once a woman from Israel was explaining to her friends in Israel What is it like living in the United States? So she said to her friends in Israel, you know what the United States is like and everyone was listening and she said shopping shopping shopping shopping Shopping shopping. I mean in other countries you go shopping when you need stuff You have to buy some food you need clothing But here in North America shopping becomes an activity We go to the mall as teenagers we hang out at the mall That's a use of our time that the kutsker would say could be put to use better doing other things Growing spiritually learning improving ourselves working on a character traits And so for people who get involved with using drugs It's usually an activity and it's an activity. It's done regularly and that can be seen certainly as a waste of time another problem which often happens with younger people is that drugs basically kills off motivation and drive in life It's very easy to just live a life of being chilled and Being high and when a person is high all the time They essentially lose their drive and motivation to accomplish things in life And what turns out is that they often find themselves years later having looking back on their lives And having wasted many many precious years of their lives that could have been put to use much more productively Now remosha feinstein mentions and this is really a peripheral issue that if we're talking about drug use by a younger person It's still living in home with their parents and their parents are bothered by the use of drugs That runs into the problem of kibbut of the M is supposed to respect and honor their mother and father So doing something which really annoys and bothers their parents would put them in violation of this biblical commandment Remosha feinstein also felt that using drugs Conviolate the biblical commandment of kadochim to you that you shall be holy, which is a fan in Leviticus chapter 19 verse 2 Nachmanity's rights in understanding this commandment that was supposed to strive in our life for Spiritual wholeness even when it's beyond the letter of the law So nachmanity says that the Bible has laws of keeping kosher If you want to eat food you have to eat kosher food, but the Bible doesn't overtly explicitly teach anything about Overindulging in kosher food becoming a glutton And so the run by nachmanity says that if you live a life where you're seeking and Indulging in excess pleasures. That's a violation of this commandment of being holy person who lives a life Seeking to get high is often self-focused and self-absorbed and It takes their focus away from really being concerned about other people in many cases and of spending time helping other people We live in a world today where even here in Toronto where life is good There are so many people that need our help and if we get very very busy making ourselves feel good in self-medicating And getting high it takes away from our time and focus and energy in helping others One last concern I will share is that judy in this judy has been very focused on living productive lives and All of us would like to live lives of having inner peace Feeling good about ourselves and even reaching states of ecstasy But it seems to me that according to the Torah To reach those states of inner peace and happiness and joy artificially By using chemicals taking that shortcut is Really a form of escapism from what should be a life of engaging our Challenges in life. We were put in this world in order to face our challenges to grow from them and so to escape those problems and to seek inner peace by Having a chemically induced rather than by growing through our own efforts would seem to be Escaping what should be our real challenges in life now if I could play Tevia from Fiddler on the roof for a moment He would say but on the other hand What if we're living in a place where? Let's say marijuana is legalized, which is probably going to be the case here in Toronto very soon That would obviate the problem of violating local law And what if our use of something like marijuana was not regularly it wasn't a habit It wasn't a crutch, but it was used on special occasions special social occasions Jews are supposed to get high on porum and traditionally we did that through alcohol But what about using a legal substance if it's legal like marijuana at? Occasions like that occasionally Would it be considered then in our society today? Jews for example might share a lachayim on Shabbos So would it be okay to use something like marijuana in situations like that? I'll leave that as an open question, and I think there's a lot of room to explore