Why MAGA Should Fear Big Weed

Cannabis reclassification threatens conservative communities

Photo montage (sources: 1, 2, 3, 4)

Every day, more souls forsake the sacred for the false refuge of substances. The shift is undeniable, and its shadow is growing.

Where faith once offered meaning, comfort, and discipline, chemicals now take its place. The push for marijuana legalization is not simply a matter of policy. It is a cultural signal, a people choosing escape instead of transcendence. For Catholics and Christians who believe in human dignity and freedom rooted in truth, President Trump’s consideration of cannabis reclassification should ring out as a warning. It demands principled opposition.

We know this from history. Civilizations weaken first in spirit, and nothing hastens that decay like the embrace of intoxicants.

The Greeks, once defined by moderation and balance, slid into decadence. Wine-soaked symposia replaced the discipline that had carried them to greatness. Rome, too, began as a society bound by duty and restraint, only to give way to indulgence and excess. Its decline was not simply about invading armies; it was about a loss of will, the preference for pleasure over purpose. China in the nineteenth century was not undone by foreign powers alone; opium had already dulled its spirit, leaving a nation too weakened to resist outside demands. Native communities across the Americas fell not just to conquest but to alcohol, which unsettled generations and tore families apart.

The pattern repeats. Armies still march, walls still stand, but the inner strength of the people slips away. It is not the sword at the gates that breaks a civilization first, but the loss of spirit within. And America, fleeing duty for drugged escape, is now nearing that same threshold.

That is why Trump’s plan should unsettle even his most loyal base. It is being sold as an act of liberty, as if expanding access to powerful drugs were somehow consistent with conservative principles. But liberty has always meant more than the right to indulge appetites. It has meant the ability to live in accordance with higher truths, to govern oneself and one’s community with order and restraint. Reclassification of cannabis is not a victory for freedom. It is the triumph of corporate interests over the very families and communities conservatives claim to protect.

Photo by Elsa Olofsson, modified (source)

And we must be brutally honest. Today’s marijuana is not yesterday’s. The comparison to the mild joints of the 1960s is misleading. Back then, the average THC content was around 3%. Today, products in dispensaries carry eight to ten times that amount.