My state, Washington, is one of two states (Colorado is the other) that has legalized marijuana for recreational use. For some, pot has joined beer, wine, and other alcoholic drinks as a leisure pleasure.

Caveat: I remain one of those increasingly rare creatures, a teetotaler. I’m also a Christian. I’m not, however, an abstainer because I’m a Christian. Nor do I expect most others to be abstainers.

As a young person in a conservative church, I was influenced in my teen years by religious arguments. In examining my Christian Bible, however, I can’t see that it forbids alcohol as long as imbibing it is done responsibly. Jesus, after all, turned water into wine at a wedding celebration.

I think the fact that neither my family nor my close friends drank influenced me more than religious teachings. We had lots of fun without it. And as a woman with a history of breast cancer in my family, those articles about alcohol consumption and a higher incidence of breast cancer always get my attention.

Then, too, I wonder sometimes that my tendency to depression might lead me to over indulge during a down time. All in all, maybe it’s better if I stay in my abstainer mode. I also save money that way.

I accept the fact, however, that I live in a world where most folks will choose to use some types of drugs. I’ve come to understand that I don’t know enough about those drugs. Obviously, overindulgence leads to things like the horrible loss of life in automobile accidents. It contributes to domestic violence. It would seem that certain people are alcoholics and must learn to do without alcohol to avoid destruction. I’ve read that alcohol and drug use at an early age can lead to harmful brain changes.

Then, of course, there is Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died so tragically in a drug overdose. Articles after his death mentioned that once you’ve become a heroin addict, the brain changes, even in an adult, so that you will always crave it.

So I’d like an honest, comprehensive assessment of drugs, including alcohol, and their effects on different kinds of people. In this postmodern world, our moral behavior is increasingly a personal choice, not bound by cultural norms. I’d like those choices to be responsible and disciplined, based on knowledge rather than instant gratification or peer pressure.