Pope to legalizing recreational drugs: Just say no

Pope Francis gives a speech at the Church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane, in east Jerusalem, on Monday, May 26, 2014. Pope Francis honored Jews killed in the Holocaust and other attacks and kissed the hands of Holocaust survivors as he capped his three-day Mideast trip with poignant stops Monday at some of the holiest and most haunting sites for Jews. At Israel’s request, Francis deviated from his whirlwind itinerary to pray at Jerusalem’s Victims of Acts of Terror Memorial, giving the Jewish state his full attention a day after voicing strong support for the Palestinian cause. AP/Jack Guez

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is has come out strongly against the legalization of recreational drugs, lending his voice to the debate which is raging from the U.S. to Uruguay and beyond.

Francis told members of a drug enforcement conference meeting in Rome on Friday that even limited attempts to legalize recreational drugs “are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce the desired effects.”

Francis has frequently railed against the “evil” of drug addiction and has met with addicts on several occasions.

Just last month, Uruguay — next door to Francis’ native Argentina — approved selling marijuana cigarettes in pharmacies, and recreational marijuana is legal in the U.S. states of Colorado and Washington.

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