Calif. Marijuana Dispensary Owned by Evangelical Christian Family
A medical marijuana dispensary in California expresses evangelical Christian views and is known to hand out Bibles along with the controversial drug.
Canna Care of Sacramento, a family owned dispensary known for supplying medical marijuana and advocating for decriminalization, evangelizes and prays with its customers. Canna Care oversees group prayers in a typical day around 6:00 p.m. and has handed out an estimated 3,000 Bibles to those who come for their services.
Kris Hermes, spokesperson for the nationwide pro-marijuana legalization group Americans for Safe Access, told The Christian Post about its ties to Canna Care.
"Canna Care has been a supporter of Americans for Safe Access as have scores of dispensaries across the country," said Hermes. "We have also worked with the operators of Canna Care on a number of political campaigns over the years, given their active involvement in advancing medical marijuana policy."
Hermes also told CP about the building of bridges between ASA and faith communities in the United States in the effort to decriminalize the drug.
"As an advocacy organization, we try to build bridges with many different communities, including those organized around faith, labor rights, healthcare reform, and many others," said Hermes.
"The relationship between faith-based groups and medical marijuana is certainly healthier and more focused on compassion than the relationship between medical marijuana and law enforcement."
Hermes also added that ASA "has also worked with the Universal Life Church on various political campaigns. The ULC is promoting us and our efforts to bring medical marijuana access to patients nationwide."
The debate over marijuana legalization has not only come to mainstream American society, but also before public Christian leaders.
Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition and host of "The 700 Club," gained headlines when he expressed his support for decriminalizing pot.
"I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol," said Robertson to The New York Times.
"If people can go into a liquor store and buy a bottle of alcohol and drink it at home legally, then why do we say that the use of this other substance is somehow criminal?"
However, Mark Driscoll, lead pastor of the Seattle-based megachurch Mars Hill, recently published an e-book wherein he found the practice to be an example of immature foolishness.
"Young men are the most likely to smoke weed and, by seemingly all measurable variables, are immature, irresponsible, and getting worse," wrote Driscoll. "There is nothing wrong with being a boy, so long as you are a boy. But when a man acts like a boy, that's a real problem."
Last month, Washington State and Colorado voted by popular referendum to decriminalize recreational pot; these measures go contrary to present federal government drug enforcement law.