Rasta pot smokers win legal leeway in Italy

Rasta pot smokers win legal leeway in Italy | International | Reuters
ROME (Reuters) – Rastafarians caught in possession of marijuana in Italy may now have legal recourse, thanks to a high court ruling made public on Thursday.

Italy’s Court of Cassation ruled that since the Rastafari religion considers marijuana a sacrament, its members should be given special consideration when it comes to possession — and how much makes a drug trafficker.

The case before the judges dealt with a reggae musician who was sentenced to 16 months in prison by a lower court in Perugia after being found in possession of enough marijuana to roll 70 cigarettes.

The Court of Cassation annulled his sentence, saying the amount appeared appropriate for personal use considering the heavy amounts that Rastafarians smoke, and ordered an appellate court in Florence to review the case.

“He was convicted because of the amount … for trafficking, but it was for his own personal use,” said the defendant’s lawyer, Caterina Calia.

Rastafari, a religion that emerged in Jamaica in the 1930s, considers Ethiopia its spiritual home and that country’s former emperor, Haile Selassie, a divine figure.

Up to 10 percent of Jamaicans identify themselves as Rastas, but they are virtually unheard of in Roman Catholic Italy.

No disrespect intended, but personally, I find the religious use exception for ganja sacrament a bit troubling.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely 100% agree that if you sincerely believe ganja is a sacrament that brings you closer to Jah / God / Allah, then you should be free to smoke it.

What troubles me is that I’m an atheist, so I have no mystical supernatural tales to protect my use, and I shouldn’t need any.  Why is it that people who can never in a court of law prove that God wants them to smoke weed get immunity from prosecution, but I go to prison because I only believe in stuff that can be proven?

Then there is the question of which religions get that special immunity.  No religion under 70 years old need apply.  Rastas may get this break in Italy, but in the US sincere Americans who believe in ganja sacrament get to do time because their religion is younger than marijuana prohibition, so they must have formed the religion as an excuse to get high.

It’s like the medical marijuana situation.  Of course I want cancer and HIV patients to have medical marijuana; you’d have to be blackhearted not to.  But I want perfectly healthy people to have that right, too.

I guess it just seems absurd to me that if you had Jamaican Rasta, a disabled Californian, and me all passing around the same blunt, you’d have a believer, a patient, and a criminal.