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Can Smoking Marijuana be Considered a Religion?!
by Jacob Sullum
I opened my 2007 Reason article about religious drug use with the case of Dan and Mary Quaintance, the Pima, Arizona, couple who founded the marijuana-venerating Church of Cognizance. Having unsuccessfully tried to fend off federal marijuana charges by citing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), they are currently serving five and two to three years, respectively, in federal prison. Last year I noted that another Church of Cognizance member, Daniel Hardesty, was pursuing a religious freedom defense under Arizona law. This week, the Drug War Chronicle reports, the Arizona Supreme Court rejected his claim.
It was a bit surprising that the court agreed to hear Hardesty's appeal at all, but evidently it wanted to settle the question of whether Arizonans can claim a right to use marijuana as a sacrament, an issue it had never addressed. The details of Hardesty's case made it easy for the court to say no: He was caught with half an ounce of pot in his car, having just tossed a smoldering joint out the window. The court's decision (PDF) highlights the fact that Hardesty claimed a right to "smoke and eat marijuana without limit as to time or place," including "the right to ingest while driving and, presumably, the right to drive while impaired by marijuana."
Hardesty argued that forbidding him to possess marijuana violates Arizona's Free Exercise of Religion Act (FERA). That law, similar to the federal RFRA, allows the state to impose a burden on an individual's exercise of his religion only if it is "the least restrictive means" of furthering a "compelling governmental interest." The state cited two compelling interests in banning marijuana: "preventing the deleterious health effects associated with marijuana use and combating the danger to public safety and welfare that result from trafficking in marijuana." Because "Hardesty claims an unlimited religious right to use marijuana when and where he chooses, and in whatever amounts he sees fit," the court concluded, "in the context of this case, no means less restrictive than a ban will achieve the State's conceded interests."
The court said the Native American Church's peyote rituals, which are protected under federal and state law, differ from Hardesty's marijuana use in two important ways: They are limited to specific times and places, and they involve a drug for which the black market is tiny compared to the marijuana market. Although that second factor might mean that marijuana, unlike peyote or ayahuasca, will never be permitted as a sacrament, the court left the door open to a claim from someone whose religious use of cannabis is more circumscribed. And unlike the state appeals court, it held that FERA can be cited as a defense against drug charges, though whether such a defense will prevail is another matter.
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Comments
Peace on the home front
Debaters debate the two wars as if Nixon’s civil war on Woodstock Nation didn’t yet run amok. One need not travel to China to find indigenous cultures lacking human rights or to Cuba for political prisoners. America leads the world in percentile behind bars, thanks to ongoing persecution of hippies, radicals, and non-whites under banner of the war on drugs . If we’re all about spreading liberty abroad, then why mix the message at home? Peace on the home front would enhance global credibility.
The drug czar ’s Rx for prison fodder costs dearly, as lives are flushed down expensive tubes. There’s trouble on the border. My shaman’s second opinion is that psychoactive plants are God’s gift. God didn’t screw up. Canadian Marc Emery sold seeds that enable American farmers to outcompete cartels with superior domestic herb. He is being extradited to prison, for doing what government wishes it could do, reduce demand for Mexican.
The constitutionality of the CSA (Controlled Substances Act of 1970) derives from an interstate commerce clause. Only by this authority does it reincarnate Al Capone, endanger homeland security , and throw good money after bad. Official policy is to eradicate, not tax, the number-one cash crop in the land. America rejected prohibition, but it’s back. Apparently, SWAT teams don’t need no stinking amendment. Father, forgive those who make it their business to know not what they do.
Nixon promised that the Schafer Commission would support the criminalization of his enemies, but it didn’t. No matter, the witch-hunt was on. No amendments can assure due process under an anti- science law without due process itself. Psychology hailed the breakthrough potential of LSD, until the CSA halted all research and pronounced that marijuana has no medical use, period.
The RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993) allows Native American Church members to eat peyote, which functions like LSD. Americans shouldn’t need a specific church membership to obtain their birthright freedom of religion . Denial of entheogen sacrament to any American, for mediation of communion with his or her maker, precludes free exercise of religious liberty.
Freedom of speech presupposes freedom of thought. The Constitution doesn’t enumerate any governmental power to embargo diverse states of mind. How and when did government usurp this power to coerce conformity? The Mayflower sailed to escape coerced conformity. Legislators who would limit cognitive liberty lack jurisdiction.
Common-law must hold that adults are the legal owners of their own bodies. The Founding Fathers decreed that the right to the pursuit of happiness is inalienable. Socrates said to know your self. Mortal lawmakers should not presume to thwart the intelligent design that molecular keys unlock spiritual doors. Persons who appreciate their own free choice of path in life should tolerate seekers’ self-exploration.
Not a religion but definately a sacrament
No, smoking Cannabis can never be viewed as a valid " religion " in and of itself the same as drinking alcohol cannot be viewed as a religion. However if your question is really can cannabis it be viewed as sacrament then undoubtedly yes. Numerous cultures view Cannabis as exactly that, a sacrament to be used at times of prayer in much the way as many Christian denominations view the bread and wine (alcohol) as sacrament.
These cultures include but are not limited to many Zoroastrians, Rastafarians, Coptics, Shivan Hindus, Shiite Moslems some Wiccans and even some Christians . Why is it viewed by many that claiming the psychoactive herb Cannabis as sacrament is not valid yet simultaneously claiming the psychoactive man made liquid Alcohol is valid as sacrament. I personally think that view smacks of hypocrisy. Recognising the American Indian's right to peyote for sacrament yet denying the Church of Cognisance their sacrament is not equal treatment under the law . Even the extreme claims by Hardesty of any time any where is not outrageous when taken in context of the direction from the Bible to Christians to "pray without ceasing" If a sacrament is taken at times of prayer by a person who prays without ceasing then anywhere any time is reasonable. That does not however justify practices that endanger the public such as driving while intoxicated regardless of the substance. Whether the substance is Alcohol, Cannabis, Heroin, prescription pharmaceuticals or wild mushrooms the behaviour of DWI is not justifiable at any time for any reason. That does not however negate the legitimate claim of Cannabis as sacrament. Freedom of religion is freedom of religion. One set of rules or no rules is the basis of the rule of law and last time I checked the Bill of Rights had not been removed by a referendum of the American people and for a court not to uphold that right is a miscarriage of justice. The man should only have been charged with DWI, if he actually was not everybody who smokes Cannabis becomes intoxicated on it. The same as not everyone who drinks alcohol becomes drunk, if he was not intoxicated then he should have been allowed to go on his way and keep his sacrament.