CBD Oil (February 16, 2020 bulletin article)

Many of you took part in the book study I led late last spring of the classic work of literature Brave New World, during which I reiterated my long-standing thesis that we are indeed living in the book.  Brave New World has again been on my mind these days, most specifically the parts of the story that deal with the drug soma.  If you are not familiar, in Huxley’s fictional, futuristic society, soma is a narcotic that is dispensed almost like cheap candy to the entire population so that people can use it to check out of reality.  No one is ever supposed to feel sad in the brave new world, or feel any pain; they are to be as much as possible in an ongoing state of elation, or simple numbness about life.  Soma is the ticket into the dizzy buzz of indifference.  If one takes a large dose of it, one actually goes to sleep for a couple of days, dreaming of bliss.  It is given by the government in Huxley’s book as a way to keep the masses calm and happy, and almost no one has any qualms about downing it often.  One is considered odd if one does not do so.

This is a long introduction to a small dose of perspective on the sale and use of CBD that has exploded in the last year or so around our part of the country, ever since the restrictions on marijuana have been loosened.  CBD, or Cannabidiol, is one of the main active agents in cannabis, or the marijuana plant.  Recently its sale as a retail item has become legal in our area, though its medical benefits remain in dispute.  Attached to its legalization and sale are a variety of claims that it calms anxiety, helps depression, can help sleep disorders, can dull chronic pain, and can simply make life better for everyone.  None of this seems to be proven, but it sounds good. Anecdotally, those who use it claim that it does for them what soma does in Brave New World- it dulls the hard edge of reality.  We can all admit that there are times in life when that sounds attractive. 

Instructive for me has been to notice the types of stores that advertise it most heavily and are pushing its sale in the biggest billboard print.  True, it does appear in some spas and so-called health food stores.  However, I mainly see it pushed most heavily on the signs and billboards along the highways for adult sex shops, strip clubs, and places that still sell pornography.  It also seems to be popular with some of the psychic readers.  To put it plainly:  the industry that deals most heavily in degrading escapism is apparently very interested in selling a lot of CBD.

I can concede that there may be some severely chronically ill patients who might possibly benefit from the utilization of this drug to help them cope with their ailments, though I would stress the legitimate medical evidence for this seems, as of this date, to still be in dispute. 

Outside of that rather narrow sector of the population, I think CBD does quickly turn in to what Huxley imagined soma to be in His (and now our) brave new world.  It is an escape from the hard edge of reality.  At least it is to the extent that it actually has any effect on the user. 

Christians have always been wary of anything that is an escape from reality.  Of course there is a place for science, legitimate medication within limits, and for the simple joys of life that lift our hearts.  That said, it seems much of the allure that is linked with downing a bunch of CBD has to do with running away from real interior healing that comes from the Gospel.  We have to live in the gritty reality of life, and not check out of it.  God finds us in the gritty reality. In our prayerful working through with him whatever is wrong with ourselves, or others, he works real transformation.  Faith, hope, trust, and the communion of the Saints bring about a slow and steady freedom from tensions, anxieties, and feelings of emptiness that modern day narcotics, legal or illegal, all seek to mask.  Even the reality of quietly dealing with simple, chronic daily pain is its own unique Christian calling, in which we offer up our sufferings to Christ for the sake of the world rather than always seeking to wash them away.  There are legitimate times and reasons to medicate pain to be sure, but at the same time, a pain-free life is an illusion. 

As I see all the CBD billboards popping up around us, I have visions of a whole society walking around numb, with everyone munching on modern soma.   That is a world where the gritty reality of God is not allowed to break through and save us.  It’s just a bunch of checked out, un-reachable people, chasing after the next liminal experience.  I do not think that self respecting believers in Christ need CBD for anything, and that we must avoid it, except perhaps in some tiny minority of unique medical cases, which are not (let’s face it) the target audience of the adult entertainment industry.  It’s all very sad to me.  A whole nation on drugs, rather than a whole nation checked in to the power of Christ.  To be a Christian in our brave new world is a lonely walk, but it is indeed a very important one to ensure humanity’s authentic future.