Cannabis in Halacha
Is cannabis less dangerous and addictive than alcohol? Is smoking permissible according to Jewish law?
If the answer to the previous questions is positive, is it correct to say that there is some sin in completely abstaining from smoking cannabis, much less from the one who is himself afflicted with wine, who is called a sinner, and according to the Gemara in Tractate Nazir 22, page 1, “The Datania of Rabbi HaKefer (bar Rabbi) says what 33 ( Numbers 6:11 ) confirms a sin on the soul, and what kind of soul is this sin except because he afflicted himself with wine, who is called a sinner, and not Deuteronomy 106? And what is it that he does not afflict himself except with wine, who is called a sinner, who afflicts himself with everything, all the more so?”
And according to the words of the Mesilat Yesharim in Chapter 13, in explaining the degree of abstinence: “Here is the true rule: everything that is not obligatory for a person in the affairs of this world deserves to be renounced, and everything that is obligatory for him for whatever reason, since it is obligatory for him, if he renounces it, then he is a sinner. This is a faithful rule, but the judgment of the details according to this rule is not left to anyone but the wise, and according to his wisdom a person will be judged, because it is impossible to gather all the details, because they are many, and no human mind can encompass them all except one thing at a time.”
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“The legend you cited does not say that a person must abstain from every pleasure in the world.” I am sure that is true, what I mean is that one should not abstain from known and available pleasures, in general. Of course, one should not abstain from drinking wine, and this is not at all neutral, even in your opinion, since the Torah clearly states that the monk must bring a sacrifice for the wine he drinks. And in this respect, there is no great difference between wine and cannabis, both of which are very common (we are talking about one and a half to two million users in Israel, and all of this is prohibited by law). Even someone who prevents and torments himself from listening to music (let's assume for the sake of discussion that this is at a time when the Temple existed and there was no disadvantage in listening to music) violates this prohibition. Do you understand it differently?
Even this wording is excessive in my opinion. The monk forbade himself pleasure and that is what is forbidden (and not the actual abstinence). Beyond that, this is a reason written by the sages. It does not appear in the Torah (and as far as I remember it is controversial between those who believe that a monk is a sinner and those who believe that he is performing a mitzvah). Either way, I suppose it should be seen as an educational message and not as a binding principle.
Even the available pleasures are not forbidden to be avoided. At most, there is an interest in not forbidding them to yourself.
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