Pope at Audience: 'Moral duty to stop production, trafficking of drugs'

By Deborah Castellano Lubov "Having known so many tragic stories of drug addicts and their families, I am convinced that it is a moral duty to end the production and trafficking of these dangerous substances." Pope Francis stressed this during his weekly General Audience in the Vatican on Wednesday morning, which falls today on the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1987. This year’s theme is 'The evidence is clear: Invest in prevention.' The Holy Father began by reiterating that drug use impoverishes communities, and that even if every addict has a unique story and has dignity as a child of God, that, regardless, drug use inflicts grave harm on every level of society. 'Cannot be indifferent' The Holy Father said we cannot ignore the evil intentions and actions of drug dealers and traffickers, and observed that "a reduction in drug addiction is not achieved by liberalizing drug use, as has been propo