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Court nixes religious marijuana exemption [AZ]
    #11021921 -

Court nixes religious marijuana exemption
September 8, 2009 - YumaSun.com

The state's interest in banning marijuana outweighs the religious beliefs of an individual that he is entitled to use the drug anywhere, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

In the first ruling of its kind in Arizona, the justices said state law permits the government to "burden the exercise of religion'' only if it shows a compelling interest and that the restrictions are the "least restrictive means of furthering that interest.'' And Daniel Hardesty conceded to the court that there is some governmental interest in the regulation of marijuana.

But Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch said Hardesty argues that his membership in the Church of Cognizance allows him to use marijuana in any amounts they want, anywhere and at any time, including while driving. She said that makes it clear that an outright ban is the "least restrictive means'' of the government to further its interests in protecting the public.

Tuesday's ruling does not foreclose the possibility that the state's high court might not conclude in another case - one with different facts and religious claims - that some form of religious use of marijuana is protected by Arizona's Free Exercise of Religion Act. Berch, writing for the unanimous court, pointed out that courts have allowed users of peyote to use federal laws to shield them from prosecution against state drug laws.

She said, though, there is "an obvious difference'' between that situations and what is occurring here.

"Members of the Native American Church assert only the religious right to use peyote in limited sacramental rights,'' the chief justice wrote. "Hardesty asserts the right to use marijuana whenever he pleases, including while driving.''

Hardesty was arrested in 2005 after being stopped by police while driving in Yavapai County.

At trial, Hardesty testified that he had been a practicing member of the Church of Cognizance since 1993.

A church official testified that the religion, founded in 1991, is based on "neo-Zoroastrian tenets" and that marijuana provides a connection to the divine mind and spiritual enlightenment. The judge also was told that the church is made up of "individual orthodox member monasteries,'' each consisting of a family unit that establishes its own mode of worship.

Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Thomas Lindberg said at the time that Hardesty's claim of religious use of marijuana was not made "in bad faith," and that it was something Hardesty was "sincerely professing at the time."

Prosecutors never challenged the status of the church. But they persuaded the judge to exclude the religious-freedom claim. Hardesty was convicted and placed on probation for 18 months.

In arguments to the Supreme Court, Hardesty argued that he was entitled to a separate hearing to determine if the state had a compelling interest in regulation marijuana, and whether the outright ban was the least restrictive means of infringing on his religious rights.

Berch, however, said there is a long line of case law showing that marijuana poses a threat to individual health and social welfare. She specifically cited the state's interests in regulating criminal drug trafficking and associated crimes.

As to the issue of the level of restriction, Berch said the government must show only that other means are impractical or ineffective. Given Hardesty's claim that he should be allowed in the name of his religion to use marijuana when and where he wants, the justice said nothing short of an outright ban will protect the public interest.

Daniel DeRienzo, one of Hardesty's attorneys, has criticized the position of prosecutors that allowing church members to use marijuana would result in serious harm. He called that "the Reefer Madness argument," referring to a 1936 propaganda film that claimed high schoolers lured into marijuana use engaged in manslaughter, suicide and rape, and descended into madness.

Tuesday's ruling is the second defeat in two years for members of the Church of Cognizance.

Last year a Graham County couple that claims to have founded the religion in the early 1990s were found guilty of possession and conspiracy with intent to distribute marijuana after being stopped with 172 pounds of marijuana in their vehicle near Las Cruces, N.M. A federal judge in New Mexico rejected their religious freedom arguments.

Danuel Quaintance was sentenced to five years in prison; his wife, Mary, was sentenced to two to three years.

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Re: Court nixes religious marijuana exemption [AZ] [Re: veggie]
    #11022282 -

u cant smoke n drive
smoking in ur house however probably could have been fought


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Re: Court nixes religious marijuana exemption [AZ] [Re: veggie]
    #11022435 -

Quote:
Hardesty was arrested in 2005 after being stopped by police while driving in Yavapai County.


Looks like he failed to pick his battles properly.  If they found the marijuana in his home the religious freedom argument would hold more weight.

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Re: Court nixes religious marijuana exemption [AZ] [Re: veggie]
    #11023658 -

so let me get this straight...

no less onerous means = police with ski masks and automatic weapons, with no-knock warrants?
Did the Az court think about the treatment of offenders here?


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Re: Court nixes religious marijuana exemption [AZ] [Re: Coaster]
    #11024420 -

Coaster said:
u cant smoke n drive
smoking in ur house however probably could have been fought


I agree totally here even though it's not as impairing as alcohol, what keeps people from using this legal route for legally driving while on alcohol.  I think the state here is correct.  I hate to admit that.  This guy has set back the intrests of many marijuana users across the country as this becomes tort law.


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:ganja: "Let's get together and feel alright" :ganja:                  :cubie: :mushroom2::tripping:

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Re: Court nixes religious marijuana exemption [AZ] [Re: smokescreen]
    #11024534 -

He can use it anytime he wants... even while driving?????
WTF is wrong with this argument? Every Goddamn thing!
It's asinine shit like this that feeds the fears of those whose lives mission is to keep it criminalized. With arguments like that, I don't blame them.
Am I the only one who feels that the way to keep it illegal is to keep it in the forefront with stupid shit like this goddamn story?
You should NEVER be legal to drive and smoke. You should respect the people around you that don't. If you do feel the need to publicly blaze away while operating anything that has the potential to kill, wreck or maim someone else, you should not use it as an excuse to fuck up the cause. It's stupid and I'm sorry but this is another one for the right wing cause.


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"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." H.T.
I've come to believe that the heart is the filter of the enlightened mind. Epilson Lyrae

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Re: Court nixes religious marijuana exemption [AZ] [Re: Epilson Lyrae]
    #11024841 -

Quote:
You should NEVER be legal to drive and smoke.


Some people drive more safely stoned than they do sober. 

For these people, marijuana should be mandatory.

Others drive like crap after they smoke weed.

These people should get DUI's.

Perhaps a test that measures actual impairment or reaction time should be used.  In that case, drunk drivers and the elderly would get arrested for DUI all the time, and most cannabis users would not be penalized.

While that would make sense from a road safety perspective, the old people would hate it and it wouldn't satisfy peoples craving to punish "wrongdoers".

Its a divisive issue and there are no good solutions.

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Re: Court nixes religious marijuana exemption [AZ] [Re: Epilson Lyrae]
    #11025301 -

omg...i went to school with him.he always was an idiot.not 1st time hes been in jail either.ironic the last time i saw him i was tripping on shrooms few months before he moved out there


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"It's like an untamed wilditude of nature erupting in your brainspace."
E. Cuyler

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Re: Court nixes religious marijuana exemption [AZ] [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
    #11030105 -

Alan Rockefeller said:
Quote:
You should NEVER be legal to drive and smoke.


Some people drive more safely stoned than they do sober. 

For these people, marijuana should be mandatory.

Others drive like crap after they smoke weed.

These people should get DUI's.

Perhaps a test that measures actual impairment or reaction time should be used.  In that case, drunk drivers and the elderly would get arrested for DUI all the time, and most cannabis users would not be penalized.

While that would make sense from a road safety perspective, the old people would hate it and it wouldn't satisfy peoples craving to punish "wrongdoers".

Its a divisive issue and there are no good solutions.


I made this comment in another thread, but I think its relevant to this thread and comments:

"I also think it may be difficult in any case to measure active chemicals. It may be better to have a portable test to measure reaction time, to measure "level of intoxication". That means if you are high but can still react fine, you do not get punished as severely as someone with a delayed reaction time. Delayed reaction time is the essence of why drinking and driving is a bad idea.

As for how to measure this, I remember the "yardstick" test in grade school. The teacher held a yardstick upright, and we had to place our thumb and forefinger at the 50cm line like we were about to pinch it, but not touch it. Without warning, the teacher would drop it, and we would have to pinch it as soon as we saw it dropping. The distance it fell measured our reflexes.

Perhaps a modification of this test could be used in future. The nice thing about measuring reaction time is that it acts like a universal test to cover any substance or state of mind in which someone is not fit to drive."
- San Diego DUI Attorney Challenges Marijuana DUI laws


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"I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man" - Thomas Jefferson

Legalize Meth | Drug War Victims

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