Opinion ID: 2491001
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Effect of the Drug

Text: ¶ 57. I first wish to address the effect of marihuana usage, which, this Court has held to be the key determinant in finding that a drug is sufficient for this ground for divorce. See Lawson, 821 So.2d at 145, Ladner, 436 So.2d at 1375. While the chemical content of the like drug is irrelevant, I would hold that the physical or physiological effect of the drug was meant to be considered in the Ladner effect test. ¶ 58. In Ladner, this Court found a physical effect [on the husband] similar to morphine or opium. Ladner, 436 So.2d at 1375. Furthermore, if effect and thus like drug mean no more than work productivity, marital duties, and repugnancy of the marriage, the term would become synonymous with the excessive standard already incorporated into the test. As a result, I have analyzed the physical effects of marihuana and find it to be unlike opium and morphine as a matter of law. ¶ 59. For information on the effects of marihuana, and of the most commonly utilized opiates, I consulted the Research Report Series of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse. [13] ¶ 60. Marihuana, per this resource, is ingested to cause the user to feel a euphoria or high by stimulating brain cells to release the chemical dopaminea phenomenon also associated with most drugs of abuse, as well as alcohol, tobacco, chocolate, and sexual activity. Acute dangers associated with marihuana intoxication include short-term memory loss, impaired attention and judgment, increased heart rate and blood pressure, decreased coordination and balance, and occasionally feelings of anxiety, distrust, or panic. Cumulative use may lead to addiction, though it is considered less addictive than hard drugs. ¶ 61. The following information is also gleaned from the Research Report Series of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse. The most commonly used opiate in the United States today is heroin. Heroin is severely addictive, and withdrawal can cause painful physical symptoms, including vomiting and bone pain. Since users are typically unaware of the amount and purity of the drug they are using, the drug can lead to nearly instantaneous death upon use. In the brain, the heroin converts to morphine and binds rapidly to opioid receptors, triggering a surge of pleasurable sensation called a rush. Several drug analogs to opium have been produced, some by pharmaceutical companies for medical reasons, but others, known as designer drugs, by illegal laboratories. This latter category may be more dangerous than the original compound. Several of the most abused prescription drugs are also opioids, commonly prescribed because of their pain-relieving properties. These opioids, such as OxyContin, also produce euphoria as a side effect. Withdrawal leads to the same physical symptoms caused by heroin withdrawal, and a large enough dose of these drugs may lead to death. Id. ¶ 62. The effect of marihuana is unlike the effect of opiates. The only real similarities between the drugs appear to be the euphoric rush or high associated with their use, and the addiction. Neither of these features is alike in degree. Marihuana, according to the Research Report Series of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse, never leads to immediate death, lacks physical withdrawal symptoms, and is much less addictive than opium. While this resource indicates that marihuana clearly leads to decreased activity in the abuser, holding that marihuana is like an opiate on these grounds is analogous to holding that caffeine is like cocaine. ¶ 63. Our state's caselaw on this issue, scant though it is, has been dominated by the abuse of prescription drugs including opiates, and without exception, a divorce has been granted only when individuals were much more severely incapacitated than James was in this case. See Ladner, 436 So.2d at 1375 (spouse abused prescription drugs including barbiturates, amphetamines, Dalmane, Librium, Ativan, Nolundar, Mellaril, Sinequan, Vivactil, Talwin, and Tylenol No. 3 with Codeine, which constituted opium, morphine, or other like drug); Smithson v. Smithson, 113 Miss. 146, 74 So. 149, 150 (1917), modified on suggestion of error, 113 Miss. 644, 74 So. 609 (1917) (unspecified drugs to palliate her physical pains to such an extent and period of time that she became an habitual and excessive user of these insidious drugs.... constituted opium, morphine, or other like drug); Ashburn v. Ashburn, 970 So.2d at 209-10 (Miss.Ct.App.2007) (morphine prescribed by a physician, abuse of prescription drugs including Lortab, Effexor, Lithium, Neurontin, Klonopin, and OxyContin, as well as abuse of hydrocodone and marihuana, together constituted opium, morphine, or other like drug); and Lawson, 821 So.2d at 145 (abuse of the prescription drugs Darvocet-N, Lortab, hydrocodone, and Tylenol No. 3 with Codeine constituted opium, morphine, or other like drug). ¶ 64. With this caselaw in mind, in today's case, James was able to function on a relatively normal level while abusing marihuana, hardly a behavior associated with abusers of drugs as depicted in the cases cited in the preceding paragraph. ¶ 65. In addition, given the unfortunate prevalence of marihuana in American society, it is a dangerous precedent to allow divorce for marihuana use alone. As already revealed, marihuana is considered to be a relatively mild drug, and remains the least regulated of all illegal drugs in the State of Mississippi. Marihuana is less addictive, less immediately dangerous, and less incapacitating than the major opiates, and indeed than most other illegal drugs. Allowing a divorce based on marihuana abuse will effectively hold that divorce is available for the abuse of any drugwhich is not a natural reading of opium, morphine or other like drug. ¶ 66. To be sure, marihuana abuse, like alcohol abuse, has the propensity to destroy a marriage. However, the Legislature has not seen fit to provide for divorce on such grounds, and it is not this Court's responsibility to create new grounds for divorce ex nihilo. In my opinion, the natural meaning of opium, morphine or other like drug is not so broad as to cover marihuana. Accordingly, I would find that the chancery court erred in granting a divorce on the ground of using opium, marihuana or other like drug, where the sole drug habitually and excessively used was marihuana.
¶ 67. Although I would hold that marihuana, as a matter of law, is too unlike opium or morphine to satisfy the definition of a like drug to opium and morphine, I have considered its effects in the present case. Under Ladner, factors this Court is to consider include the guilty spouse's inability to support his wife and family or to properly attend to business ... [as well as] incapacity to perform other marital duties or his causing the marital relationship to be repugnant to the innocent spouse. Ladner, 436 So.2d at 1375. The chancellor's order referenced this language and analyzed these factors, but does not specify which grounds the chancellor found to have been satisfied in finding that marihuana met the effect test as a like drug to opium and morphine. Thus, I have reviewed the evidence as to all of these factors. ¶ 68. An analogy may be drawn to habitual drunkenness, the most similar ground for fault-based divorce in Mississippi law. [14] In Culver v. Culver, 383 So.2d 817, 817-18 (Miss.1980), this Court did not find habitual drunkenness where the husband consumed four or five beers a night, without significant impact on his family or work. It must be recognized that divorce is not to be granted under these two fault-based grounds due to the mere fact that the husband abused alcohol or opiates and like drugs, but only due to the effect that these substances might have on the marriage. ¶ 69. Here, even assuming arguendo that marihuana is not an unlike drug to opium and morphine as a matter of law, the effect of the marihuana abuse was minimal. In my opinion, the chancellor abused his discretion in finding that James was a habitual and excessive user of opium, morphine, or other like drug, thus justifying granting a divorce to Stacy on this ground. The evidence indicates that marihuana usage at worst marginally affected James's business life and did not substantially harm James's relationship with his children. While James's relationship with his wife Stacy sharply declined, the evidence does not indicate that James's marihuana usage was responsible for this deterioration.
¶ 70. As the majority recognizes, James's marihuana abuse was in no way comparable to the facts of Ashburn or Ladner. James did use the drug almost daily for more than forty years. Stacy testified that James's routine was to come home from work, smoke marihuana, and wait for her to prepare dinner. He would then isolate himself on the couch or in the computer room and sometimes come to bed late after staying awake to use the computer or watch television. James testified that he withdrew from his wife because she had withdrawn from him sexually after their children were born, in 1999, ten years before this divorce action was filed. Stacy admitted that she had withdrawn from James on an intimate level at that time. ¶ 71. Stacy testified that James had remained involved in their children's lives, taking them to church, helping them with their homework, and participating in their social activities, particularly fishing, sporting events, and shooting bb guns. Stacy complained that he came to only a few school activities, such as parent-teacher conferences. James did attend events with his wife's family less frequently and with Stacy's mother, Barbara Ruth in particular, stating that he became disinterested in these family events about three years before these proceedings began. James testified that this was because he did not like his wife's family. ¶ 72. On the whole, James's relationship with his inlaws is far less significant in divorce proceedings than his relationship with his children and with his spouse. The evidence is clear that James's relationship with his children remained strong and healthy. In contrast, his relationship with Stacy clearly declined. However, this decline was due to reasons other than the marihuana abuse. James testified, and Stacy admitted, that she had withdrawn from him sexually ten years prior, when their children were born. ¶ 73. Stacy testified that she began dating a man named Tom Henry before filing this divorce. James suspected or became aware of Stacy's adultery, and this affected the relationship between them. James also testified, and Stacy agreed, that Stacy never specifically asked James to stop smoking marihuana, though she claimed that his continued use exasperated her. The evidence is uncontroverted that Stacy was aware of James's marihuana habit two years before they married. While James failed to timely plead the affirmative defense of condonation, this testimony can hardly be irrelevant to our analysis. Since Stacy married James with the knowledge that he was a heavy abuser of marihuana, and never asked him to quit, in my opinion, it was unreasonable to conclude that James's marihuana abuse made the marriage repugnant to her. ¶ 74. James did stop performing certain marital duties, though there is no evidence that this was due to incapacity to perform them. The marriage obviously did become repugnant to Stacy. However, since Stacy had withdrawn from James sexually, engaged in an adulterous affair, and was aware of James's marihuana use even before marriage but never asked James to quit using it, the chancellor, in my opinion, abused his discretion by holding that marihuana abuse was responsible for this state of affairs.
¶ 75. There was minimal evidence that James's marihuana use substantially affected his earning capability. Trial testimony showed that James worked every day of the marriage except for brief periods of time when he lost employment due to his job being discontinued or, in one case, his company going bankrupt after Hurricane Katrina. As the majority notes, the Carambats' financial difficulties were primarily caused by these layoffs. Stacy was able to argue only one instance in which marihuana use affected James's job performance: an instance where James was demoted for botching a printing job. Stacy testified that James had told her that his drug use played a part in this incident. ¶ 76. On cross-examination, Stacy was impeached with her deposition, in which she was questioned about the demotion. Stacy admitted that, to her knowledge, James's demotion was not caused by, and was never connected to, James's drug use. When specifically asked whether this work incident was due to a mistake or a result of James's drug use, Stacy answered that it was a mistake. The evidence does not show that, by smoking marihuana, James's work productivity was affected. The majority finds that James's marihuana use did affect his work productivity, but solely based on James's demotion, which the evidence does not show was based on James's marihuana usage. A statement by Stacy, later contradicted on cross-examination, that James had stated to her that his demotion was based on his drug use, is insufficient to show that James's drug use caused him to fail to attend to his business or support his family. ¶ 77. Stacy admitted that James's expenditures on marihuana were a minimal portion of the family incomeapproximately $300 annually out of a combined annual income of approximately $70,000. James's expenditures on marihuana may have been wasteful, but a $300-a-year habit for a family with an annual income of $70,000 is hardly grounds for a divorce. ¶ 78. James's abuse of marihuana was heavy, but there is minimal evidence that his family or work was impacted. James's admittedly wasteful spending on the marihuana was minor, and only one incident was reported indicating that James had failed to attend normally to business as a result of his drug use, and the only testimony concerning this one incident was successfully impeached by prior testimony. There was also uncontested evidence that the main cause for the decline in the family income was linked to events outside James's control, as the majority opinion concedes. After consideration of these factors, I conclude that it was an abuse of discretion for the chancellor to find that James's use of marihuana met the effect test as a like drug to opium and morphine.