“Minister Of Marijuana” Says It’s His Religion To Use Pot - News Story - WFTV Orlando
PALM BAY, Fla. — A self-proclaimed “minister of marijuana” says pot is his religion and he has every right to use it. Cops disagree and busted him while pulling 100 plants out of his house.

Steven Swalick doesn’t use terms like “pot” or even “marijuana.” Those terms appeared to upset him during a jailhouse interview. He admitted to using cannabis and even growing it but says it was for his religion. And he wanted only to be addressed as the “Reverend.”

The 56-year-old Swalick claims he has practiced a religious belief that requires the use of cannabis since he was 15-years-old. He claims to be an ordained minister. He calls his home a sanctuary of sorts for a religion called the “Hawaiian Cannabis Ministries.”

The Palm Bay police department’s SWAT team raided Swallick’s home, Wednesday afternoon, seizing 107 plants, along with all sorts of equipment used to grow and harvest them. Police say it would be worth $100,000 on the streets.

Swalick said it wasn’t being sold, but rather grown for religious ceremonies.

Steven Swalick - Florida cannabis minister

When the word “marijuana” was used, he became upset.

“We do not use that word,” he said. “Please forgive me and I’ll apologize for you. The word is cannabis. It’s the holy sacrament recognized by the Bible.”

Swalick now faces felony drug charges, which he believes will eventually be cleared under constitutional religious protections.

“I can not be convicted by man. I answer to the Lord,” he said.

Bond was set at $20,000.

Gee, doesn’t the very first page of the Christian Bible say, “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”  There are many references to cannabis — or “kaneh bosm” in the original Hebrew — as the main ingredient in the anointing oil used by Jesus Christ.

I’m not a religious person myself (I think you don’t need God’s permission to smoke herb, I believe it is a secular Constitutional privacy issue), but I’m a huge supporter of First Amendment rights to practice the religion of your choosing.

Swalick notes the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 1993.  It has been used to protect the rights of sincere religious practitioners to use ayahusca tea and peyote, both strong hallucinogens that are considered illegal drugs.

That same Act that should protect religious use of cannabis, yet the courts will not let such a case go to trial and set that precedent.  Eddy Lepp was set free after feds raided his gardens and confiscated over 32,000 plants.  They were very intent on locking him up and throwing away the key.  But once he raised a defense using the RFRA, they suddenly backed down and dropped the charges based on technicalities with the search warrant.