Pope Francis has spoken out against the liberalization of drug laws, calling such policies a "fantasy" and branding drug traffickers as "murderers."
Francis used his weekly catechism lesson to discuss substance abuse as he marked the United Nation's International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, according to The Daily Mail.
"A reduction in drug addiction is not achieved by liberalizing drug use, as has been proposed, or already implemented, in some countries," he said. "This is a fantasy. You liberalize, they just consume more."
Francis said he was convinced it is a "moral duty" to end the trafficking and production of "dangerous substances."
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He called those behind such crimes "murderers" and "traffickers of death." Francis said they must repent and relinquish their yearning for power and money.
"We, too, are called to act, to pause before situations of fragility and pain, to know how to listen to the cry of loneliness and anguish, to stoop to lift up and bring back to life those who fall into the slavery of drugs," Francis added.
He also urged countries to increase prevention programs and care for people with an addiction, noting that they are children of God who must have their dignity respected.
An Argentine Jesuit, Francis has often focused on drug prevention and recovery during lessons and foreign trips.
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He previously spent years in Buenos Aires ministering to people about the dangers of "paco," a drug made from cocaine residue that had decimated the nearby slums.
Francis has been an outspoken critic of drug legalization over the last decade.
In July 2023, he visited a rehabilitation hospital in Brazil, where he called out laws to legalize illicit substances in parts of Latin America.
"The scourge of drug trafficking that favors violence and sows the seeds of suffering and death requires of society as a whole an act of courage," Francis said at the time.
