I chose a major that has given me no choice but to confront truth from all angles. As journalists, we have a duty to deliver the facts and made to word them in an unbiased AP Style. It forces our truths to be exposed, put on the stand and cross-examined. Many of mine have been trampled, revised and mostly humbled. However, when it comes to marijuana, some will remain concrete.

My generation’s interest and passion for social issues is a double-edged sword. Our information-overloaded age has bred people either wanting to discover truth or solely out to prove their own. And I have read the articles, been told the benefits, but I have also seen the consequences.

Pot was a major pain player in my family. It was not the source, but an ingredient and symptom of larger evils that led to years of wounding that we are just now recovering from.

And marijuana has only grown more common ever since. Many friends are regular smokers and many states are rapidly repealing its prohibition. With the stigma changing and consequences lessening, my list of reasons to decline is growing shorter.

But for myself, fact and favorable opinion are not a sufficing persuasion, because neither can undo the personal effects of pot. (Plus, neither is it a suitable remedy for my inhaler-dependent asthma ailment.)

Convictions solely derived from that which is society-approved or scientifically-backed are only a temporally satisfactory to the scruples and a waste of God’s gift of intuition and conscience. I do not believe smoking pot and being a good and godly person are mutually exclusive. But I do believe it unwise to introduce the temptation.

I’m not arguing marijuana’s health risks, benefits or its inevitable legalization. I am reassuring others that convictions still have a place. And for myself, pot is a platform I choose not to compromise.