“What’s the big deal, it’s just a little pot.”

“What’s the big deal, it’s just a little pot.” This is a common expression in our society reflecting the attitude that recreational use of drugs is an acceptable new freedom of choice. The spread of the use of marijuana in western society is an example of a fools’ folly becoming widely accepted.

Recently I heard a criminologist speak about the latest development in the use of marijuana. The criminologist explained that the new substance developed from marijuana is a concentrated form of the drug called Butane Honey Oil. This new substance is the latest in the history of marijuana use, and has raised the intensity of the drug, aiding its spread. The development of Butane Honey Oil is considerably more potent than the “weed” of the past. As one expert in the field commented: “Now-a-days, when kids are experimenting with marijuana, they look at concentrates as ways to get really, really high really, really fast.

To reiterate, marijuana use is not just spreading, the power of the drug has greatly increased.

As I listened to the criminologist, I realized that marijuana was a good example of how mankind’s sins spread throughout society like leavening does in bread (1 Corinthians 5), and it also grows in intensity.

A brief history of the use of marijuana in modern society is instructive as to how sin spreads, but also intensifies.

In the 60’s when marijuana invaded the campuses of America, students smoked “weed”. The marijuana plant was grown, harvested and manually crushed into a substance like tobacco, and it was smoked like tobacco. True to mankind’s nature, true believers developed a more potent form of marijuana. It was commonly called Hash. Without going into detail, Hash was produced by mechanical extraction and refining of the intoxicating elements of the marijuana plant.

In recent history even more refinement has been produced. If Hash was good, Butane Honey Oil – BHO – is great. It is more effective in delivering a faster more powerful high. BHO is a crystalline or powder form of marijuana. It comes from the heating of the plant with butane and a solvent to produce a gooey honey-like substance that essentially is a very concentrated drug. Upon cooling, BHO is crystalline and must be crushed into powder. Because it is concentrated, it produces the latest and greatest high. As a powder, it is used, not only to smoke, but it can be part of the recipe for edibles. This is “real progress”.

As Christians we know that sin grows if not repented of. But unrepented sin also grows in potency.

It has been that way from the beginning of creation. The sins of Adam and Eve spread throughout their family, but their sins also grew in intensity. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, but their son slaughtered his brother.