During his weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Pope Francis once again took a stand against a staunch opponent of drug legalization. He made a point of reminding people that this is not a way to combat drug addiction.
Pope Francis reiterated on Wednesday his firm opposition to the legalization of drug consumption, denouncing “death traffickers” and the impact of drug trafficking on the environment. “We will not reduce drug dependence by liberalizing the use of drugs, as has been proposed, or already implemented, in certain countries, this is a fantasy,” declared the pope during his weekly general audience on the square Saint Peter, in the Vatican.
“A destructive impact”
Several countries, including Canada, Uruguay, Malta and more recently Germany, have legalized cannabis for recreational use. “It is a moral duty to put an end to the production and trafficking of these dangerous substances,” he added in front of thousands of faithful on the occasion of the international day against drug trafficking, established by the ‘UN.
Describing dealers as “assassins” driven by “the logic of power and money”, the Argentine Jesuit also denounced the “destructive impact” of drug trafficking on the environment, particularly in the river basin. ‘Amazonia. Faced with this “scourge”, which “sows suffering and death”, Francis called for kindness towards dependent people, inviting us to “act, to stop in the face of situations of fragility and pain, to know how to listen to the cry loneliness and anguish.