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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 6,529
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 Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ]
#8878133 - 09/04/08 05:09 PM (2 months, 29 days ago) |
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Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison
September 4, 2008 - azstarnet.com
The founders of an Arizona church that deifies marijuana have pleaded guilty to two criminal charges and are now each facing up to 20 years in prison.
But Dan and Mary Quaintance , founders of the Church of Cognizance, remain confident that they will not end up behind bars. Although sentencing in federal court is set to take place within the next 75 days, the Quaintances are confident an appeal will keep them out of prison.
The couple on Aug. 18 pleaded guilty to two counts relating to their 2006 federal arrest — one count of conspiracy with intent to distribute 200 pounds or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana; and one count of possession with the intent to distribute 100 pounds or more of a substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana, as well as aiding and abetting.
The sentence will depend on the discretion of the judge, said Dan Quaintance’s lawyer, J.D. Herrera .
Dan Quaintance believes freedom of religion will prevail, and predicts the case could go as far as the U.S. Supreme Court.
“It was tough to plead guilty, but really we were just pleading to what we said we did. There is no doubt we had marijuana with us,” he said.
“We think ultimately the courts will see that we are just people using marijuana for our religion. It’s the First Amendment. We think we’ve got a pretty good case.”
The Quaintances live in Pima, Arizona, which is about 90 miles northeast of Tucson. They returned to their home after pleading guilty.
The pair, both in their 50s, had attempted to have the charges against them dismissed on the grounds that marijuana is part of their religion. A U.S. District Court dismissed that appeal, and the Quaintances said that’s why they pleaded guilty — without the religion defense they knew they’d be convicted at trial.
But now that the case has been concluded, the appellate court is expected to re-consider the religious argument.
The Church of Cognizance, which leaders say has "monasteries" in members' homes nationwide, has this motto: “With good thoughts, good words and good deeds, we honor marijuana: as the teacher, the provider, the protector.”
The Quaintances don't grow their sacrament but, rather, say they rely on donations of it, which they pick up from church “couriers.” They say that's what they were about to do when they were arrested.
The pair say they founded their Church of Cognizance in Pima in 1991.
In court documents, prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office said the Quaintances are "obsessed and focused on marijuana," and Dan Quaintance's writings about his worship are “disjointed, poorly supported, illogical ramblings.”
Both Dan and Mary Quaintance stepped down as leaders of the church after their arrests. They continue to submit to court-ordered urine tests twice per month.
“It has affected our lives dramatically,” Quaintance said Thursday.
“We just celebrated our 35th anniversary and it’s the third year we haven’t been able to celebrate in our customary way. We’d always celebrate with some herb. All those years we’ve had together, we’ve always been close to the herb.”
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 OutLaw Shroomer
Stumbling About the Pasture
Registered: 08/31/08
Posts: 54
Last seen: 1 month, 30 days
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: veggie]
#8878142 - 09/04/08 05:11 PM (2 months, 29 days ago) |
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what horse shit...why can't the feds just leave people alone..jesus..
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NobodyImportant
P-P-P-P-P-P-Panda Bear
Registered: 05/04/08
Posts: 553
Loc: Roswell, GA
Last seen: 9 hours, 47 minutes
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: veggie]
#8878145 - 09/04/08 05:12 PM (2 months, 29 days ago) |
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100 pounds of a substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana
so if a cop found a seed in my car I could get busted for having a few tons of a substance with a detectable amount of marijuana ?
"Dan Quaintance's writings about his worship are “disjointed, poorly supported, illogical ramblings.”
Sorta like every other religion...
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sinenomine
Stranger
Registered: 12/02/06
Posts: 124
Last seen: 11 hours, 34 minutes
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: NobodyImportant]
#8878181 - 09/04/08 05:20 PM (2 months, 29 days ago) |
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Quote:
disjointed, poorly supported, illogical ramblings.”
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Cognitive_Shift
Human Being
Registered: 12/11/07
Posts: 4,589
Loc: Central Nervous System
Last seen: 6 hours, 34 minutes
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: NobodyImportant]
#8878206 - 09/04/08 05:25 PM (2 months, 29 days ago) |
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1st amendment rights, what does it say? freedom of religion? unless it uses non-toxic non dangerous natural plants as part of there practice. Christianity and there wine(known toxin, society destroyer)Irony?...
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"Freedom means being in control (either as an individual or as a member of a SMALL group) of the life-and-death issues of one's existence; food, clothing, shelter and defense against whatever threats there may be in one's environment. Freedom means having power; not the power to control other people but the power to control the circumstances of one's own life. One does not have freedom if anyone else (especially a large organization) has power over one, no matter how benevolently, tolerantly and permissively that power may be exercised. It is important not to confuse freedom with mere permissiveness."
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johnm214
Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 7,022
Loc: Americas
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: NobodyImportant]
#8878215 - 09/04/08 05:26 PM (2 months, 29 days ago) |
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Quote:
NobodyImportant said:
100 pounds of a substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana
so if a cop found a seed in my car I could get busted for having a few tons of a substance with a detectable amount of marijuana ?
"Dan Quaintance's writings about his worship are “disjointed, poorly supported, illogical ramblings.”
Sorta like every other religion...
Yes. Under federal law if you take a drop of LSD and drop it into a swimming pool you've just manufactured enough to qualify for the maximum manufacturing a controlled sentence crime their is for LSD and can do life in prison.
"LSD" is defined as something with any amount of LSD in it. So if you manufacture LSD that simply means you make more of the "legal" LSD not the actual molecule. So dropping a blotter paper into the ocean is a manufacturing offense, as is perspiring and getting the paper sweaty, or dropping a blotter into a bathtub.
Gotta love it when the law makes no sense.
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Conaman12
Psilocybin Translator
Registered: 06/25/07
Posts: 78
Loc: Augusta, Georgia
Last seen: 10 hours, 4 minutes
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: johnm214]
#8878327 - 09/04/08 05:48 PM (2 months, 29 days ago) |
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If these people go to jail, I have decided I'm going to blow up the earth.
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"Most people think,
Great God will come from the skies,
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high.
But if you know what life is worth,
You will look for yours on earth."
-Bob
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FurrowedBrow
Free yourself from yourself
Registered: 10/26/06
Posts: 1,542
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: Conaman12]
#8879307 - 09/04/08 08:34 PM (2 months, 29 days ago) |
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What happened to Craig X. He had that 420 church in LA and he got busted. It's been years ago but I would think that guy would fight it. I hope these people have enough support to keep up their own fight.
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Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
We are one species. We are starstuff.
- Carl Sagan
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SolomonTheShaman
I love to travel
Registered: 07/06/08
Posts: 131
Last seen: 12 hours, 29 minutes
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: FurrowedBrow]
#8879805 - 09/04/08 10:22 PM (2 months, 29 days ago) |
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This could be a great breakthrough though, for the responsible use of pot by individuals, even with the religious pretext. I can't really see a judge sentencing them to anything serious without angering a LOT of people about civil liberties and religious freedom. We'll see what happens.
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"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
-Mohandas Gandhi
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tyler_0_durden
AspiringMycologist
Registered: 10/28/07
Posts: 816
Loc: The PNW
Last seen: 6 days, 19 hours
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: NobodyImportant]
#8880110 - 09/04/08 11:32 PM (2 months, 29 days ago) |
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Quote:
NobodyImportant said:
100 pounds of a substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana
so if a cop found a seed in my car I could get busted for having a few tons of a substance with a detectable amount of marijuana ?
Yeah, no kidding. What the fuck kind of laws....? This is federally enforced?
I think they may be targeting this group, specifically, because they smoke marijuana and are [kind-of] well known.
Quote:
"Dan Quaintance's writings about his worship are “disjointed, poorly supported, illogical ramblings.”
Sorta like every other religion...
lol. yeah. pretty much
Quote:
Conaman12 said:
If these people go to jail, I have decided I'm going to blow up the earth.
I'm with ya.
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Edited by tyler_0_durden (09/04/08 11:34 PM)
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Biffzilla
Emperor of Bongolia
Registered: 08/14/08
Posts: 18
Last seen: 23 days, 3 hours
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: tyler_0_durden]
#8880529 - 09/05/08 02:16 AM (2 months, 29 days ago) |
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"Dan Quaintance's writings about his worship are “disjointed, poorly supported, illogical ramblings.”
DISJOINTED? I think State prosecution thinks their funny...
what assholes.
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===================================================================
- Show me the honey -
===================================================================
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stewy1412
meddle echoes
Registered: 07/21/08
Posts: 330
Loc: Wisconsin
Last seen: 30 days, 21 hours
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: Biffzilla]
#8881232 - 09/05/08 08:52 AM (2 months, 28 days ago) |
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Quote:
poorly supported, illogical ramblings.
just like every political speech
Quote:
If these people go to jail, I have decided I'm going to blow up the earth.
we can start an anarchy club like in fight club and make nitro glycerin out of soap, whatda say?
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 im the one thats got to die when its time for me to die
so let me live my life the way i want to
-Jimi Hendrix
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tyler_0_durden
AspiringMycologist
Registered: 10/28/07
Posts: 816
Loc: The PNW
Last seen: 6 days, 19 hours
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: stewy1412]
#8882689 - 09/05/08 02:29 PM (2 months, 28 days ago) |
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Quote:
stewy1412 said:
Quote:
poorly supported, illogical ramblings.
just like every political speech
Quote:
If these people go to jail, I have decided I'm going to blow up the earth.
we can start an anarchy club like in fight club and make nitro glycerin out of soap, whatda say?
Let's do it. Our current government isn't working out, anyway. They're destroying our social security, pulling us all in debt, denying us basic rights, and getting everyone to hate us.
I know of a few local groups already like this, but they're nothing compared to what I want to metastasize.
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PreyToGod
Seeker of Eyes
Registered: 01/23/08
Posts: 258
Loc: Southeast america
Last seen: 20 hours, 21 minutes
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 Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: stewy1412]
#8882717 - 09/05/08 02:34 PM (2 months, 28 days ago) |
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Dear Lord, please bless this toke. I sacrafice unto you my lord no stem or seed, I sacrafice unto you my lord only the finest green. Lord, please bless my soul and then I'll roll, a doobie for mother mary too. In your bible paper I smoke, ah-hak-eek-aa-ouff*cough* men.
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"We live together, we act on, and react to, one another but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves... By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude." Huxuly
the man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.
just because we all see the 
doesn't mean we all see the same
I pushed my fingers through the earth, returned this flower to the dirt. so it could live, I walked away now. But I know... Not a day goes by when I don't feel this burn. There's a point we pass from which we can't return. I've felt the cold rain of the coming storm...
Edited by PreyToGod (09/05/08 02:35 PM)
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Homegrower3000
Irie Guy
Registered: 08/25/08
Posts: 67
Loc: South Africa
Last seen: 2 months, 21 days
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: Cognitive_Shift]
#8883157 - 09/05/08 04:15 PM (2 months, 28 days ago) |
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Quote:
Cognitive_Shift said:
1st amendment rights, what does it say? freedom of religion? unless it uses non-toxic non dangerous natural plants as part of there practice. Christianity and there wine(known toxin, society destroyer)Irony?...
well said
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"I'm not guilty. You're the one that's guilty. The lawmakers, the politicians, the Columbian drug lords, all you who lobby against making drugs legal. Just like you did with alcohol during the prohibition. You're the one who's guilty. I mean, c'mon, let's kick the ballistics here: Ain't no Uzi's made in Harlem. Not one of us in here owns a poppy field. This thing is bigger than Nino Brown. This is big business. This is the American way." - Nino Brown(Samuel.L.Jackson), New Jack City (1991)
"With a bit of luck, his life was ruined forever. Always thinking that just behind some narrow door in all of his favorite bars, men in red woolen shirts are getting incredible kicks from things he'll never know." - Hunter.S.Thompson, Fear and Loathing
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MisterMuscaria
ChurchMonger
Registered: 05/13/08
Posts: 3,194
Loc: Mega-Lo Mart
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: Homegrower3000]
#8883202 - 09/05/08 04:32 PM (2 months, 28 days ago) |
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I dont see how they can allow south american immigrants to have ayahuasca churches and native americans to have peyote churches but they attack some old hippies who wanted a pot church, simply because they religion hasnt been around for hundreds of years.
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Groomies
Ghost
Registered: 08/16/07
Posts: 687
Last seen: 5 hours, 12 minutes
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: MisterMuscaria]
#8884512 - 09/05/08 10:12 PM (2 months, 28 days ago) |
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the only way the fed would get over this is if everybody work together at the same time and take them out. right now they are just picking us off one by one. thats how they are winning.
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johnm214
Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 7,022
Loc: Americas
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Re: Plea could send 'Marijuana Church' founders to prison [AZ] [Re: MisterMuscaria]
#8884878 - 09/06/08 12:09 AM (2 months, 28 days ago) |
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Quote:
MisterMuscaria said:
I dont see how they can allow south american immigrants to have ayahuasca churches and native americans to have peyote churches but they attack some old hippies who wanted a pot church, simply because they religion hasnt been around for hundreds of years.
Because they had no constitutional right to use the pot and neither did the ayahuasca church.
The statute requires the religion to be genuine. Apparently the issue either wasn't raised or the court disbeleived the folks' sincerity.
Either way, the article, as usual, was too shitty to tell what really happened.
In any case, they should have sued the government rather than waited to get prosecuted, would have been much better and less downside. Course there's the problem of how do you establish a religious neccesity if it takes time to establish the religion's sincerity?
Either way, the ayahuasca ruling was grace from congress not a constitutional right.
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