Yet another member of the Church of Lighter Wallets about to lose a religious use marijuana case

This card will be just as effective at preventing your arrest for cannabis as the THC Ministry's ID Card

Roger Christie is the head of an organization in Hawaii calling itself The Hawai’i Cannabis Ministry.  According to their website, “We use Cannabis religiously and you can, too.”  For a mere $50 donation, you can become a “Practitioner” and you will receive a plaque, an “affidavit of religious use”, two ID cards, and seven “Sacramental Plant Tags”.  For just $250, you get a “Sanctuary Kit” which also includes the “THC Minsitry [sic] Cannabis and Religion Guide”.

These ID cards and plant tags, according to Christie’s organization, are all you need to show you are religious user of cannabis and that you are immune from federal, state, and local arrest and prosecution because your religious beliefs are protected by the First Amendment.  See, it’s just that simple; we could end the 850,000+ annual arrests for marijuana violations if only every pot smoker sent in $50 for a laminated ID card from Hawai’i.

At least, that was the understanding of a 25-year-old man in Colorado named Trevor Douglass:

{Georgetown, CO} — Trevor Douglass, a 25-year-old Avon, Colorado resident, is fighting his charges of marijuana possession based on his religious use of cannabis as a sacrament. His case goes to trial on Tuesday, March 9, 2010, in the Clear Creek Courthouse in Georgetown at 2pm.

Trevor was pulled over for having an expired vehicle registration in Clear Creek County in August 2009. The deputy claimed he smelled cannabis in the vehicle. Trevor admitted that there was some aromatic cannabis inside the vehicle, and voluntarily gave it to the officer. Trevor explained to the officer that he uses cannabis for religious purposes.

Remember, this is in Colorado, where Douglass could get a medical recommendation for cannabis use, a registration card from the state of Colorado, and actually be protected from arrest and prosecution.  But since Douglass has his magical religious Get Out Of Jail Free (or, at least, for $50) Card, he felt perfectly at ease driving a vehicle with expired tags while carrying cannabis in a non-smell-proof container in the driver’s area of the vehicle and surrendering it to the officer without a lawful search.  Because, after all, that’s what religious people do… think of all the Roman Catholics who get pulled over with an open bottle of wine or all the Native Americans who get pulled over with a baggie of peyote on the front seat.  You never know when you’ll need to pull over on the highway and engage in some religious sacrament.

Trevor admits that he was guilty of having expired registration and had it immediately renewed after his citation. However, he will defend himself against the charges of possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana and for possession of paraphernalia. Trevor uses cannabis religiously and believes that both acts should be protected by the Constitution.

Remember, this is in Colorado, where possession is decriminalized, a petty offense with a maximum fine of $100.  So Douglass will have spent $50 on his Get Out Of Jail Free card and a few hours of his and the court’s time to get out of a $100 ticket.

Trevor feels so strongly about his beliefs that he is taking his case to trial. He missed the deadline to pay his $25 jury fee, so he will be tried by the Honorable Judge Rachel J. Olguin-Fresquez. Trevor cannot afford an attorney, so he is representing himself.

Which makes sense, since he’s already out $50 for a laminated card, a plaque, and some zip ties.  But not to worry, Douglass is representing himself in a case that, if decided in his favor, would shatter existing US Supreme Court precedent regarding the complex Constitutional issues around First Amendment freedom of religion and the Controlled Substances Act.  Never mind that civil rights attorneys who went to law school and studied and litigated the issue for decades now have been unable to get one single US court to recognize a First Amendment right cannabis as a sacrament.  Douglass has a magic ID card and a Hawai’ian website on his side.

In a statement to the Court, Trevor wrote: “The religious use of cannabis is mandated by my god, just as wine and bread are used by Christians or peyote used by Indians.  Cannabis has been used by my family for generations for prayer, communion, healing and spiritual enlightenment. My religion is that of my fathers.  My religious beliefs are protected by our Constitution and the Church ID I showed Trooper Graham clearly states so.”

And I have no doubt that Douglass believes that.  The THC Ministry has a list of links to Legal Precedents they believe guarantee the religious right to use cannabis, including the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act that has led to favorable decisions for Native Americans who use peyote, Brazilian Indians who use ayahuasca, and the inference that a Rastafarian in Guam might be able to possess marijuana in Guam, even though he was convicted and punished for importing marijuana into Guam.

But here’s the point upon which all attempts to recognize a First Amendment right to religious cannabis use have failed:

The Sherbert Test consists of four criteria that are used to determine if an individual’s right to religious free exercise has been violated by the government. The test is as follows:

For the individual, the court must determine

• whether the person has a claim involving a sincere religious belief, and
• whether the government action is a substantial burden on the person’s ability to act on that belief.

If these two elements are established, then the government must prove

• that it is acting in furtherance of a “compelling state interest,” and
• that it has pursued that interest in the manner least restrictive, or least burdensome, to religion.

So in order for Douglass to prevail, the court would have to find that ordering a $50 laminated card over the internet represents a “sincere religious belief”.  If that’s true, then certainly proscribing that religion’s sacrament would create a substantial burden for the believer; however, the “compelling state interest” of maintaining cannabis prohibition for the non-religious would be impossible if all the 22 million American cannabis users only had to order a $50 card on the internet.  Furthermore, the ban on cannabis is applied equally to the religious and non-religious and nothing about banning cannabis seriously impacts the practices of religion other than the sacrament.

In other words, it’s OK for Native Americans and Brazilian Indians to use peyote and ayahuasca because it is clear through generations of history and ritual that these tribes have a sincere religious belief (even without paying $50 for a Get Out Of Jail Free card) and peyote and ayahuasca are so rarely used by the non-religious that allowing them the sacraments doesn’t substantially burden the government in its “compelling state interest” to keep those drugs illegal for the non-religious.  But cannabis is so widely used by people of so many religions and backgrounds and the non-religious that granting a religious exemption would suddenly result in 22 million newly-religious Americans.

Shorter: Your God’s sacrament is too popular, so you can’t use it.

Now before the Rastas, Coptic Christians, and others pile on about the sincerity of their religion and sacrament, let me emphasize: I believe you and I agree with you.  If the First Amendment doesn’t mean we have the right to expand our consciousness without government interference, it’s not worth the hemp paper it was drafted on.  I truly do believe and support a religious right to use cannabis because I think it is part of the overall human right to use cannabis.

However, my opinions are not matched in law, precedent, or opinion by any court in the United States, and I’m not going to take $50 from you for the promise my opinions will keep you out of jail.

UPDATE: I received my callback from the court clerk in Clear Creek (try saying that three times fast):

• Unregistered Vehicle (violation) = GUILTY, $35 fine
• Possession of < 1 ounce of marijuana = GUILTY, $100 fine (suspended)
• Possession of drug paraphernalia = GUILTY, $100 fine, 15 hours of community service

I wonder if Roger Christie will be mailing to Trevor a refund for his $50 Religious Defense card and $135 (plus fees & court costs) he now owes the county?

UPDATE II: Oh, this just gets funnier… or more tragic, depending on how you look at it.  This just in from The Church of Lighter Wallets:

Judge Fresquez reasoned that Trevor’s acts were not part of an “organized” religion. She said that what Trevor was engaging in was more philosophical beliefs than organized religion.  She said since the Church of Universal Sacraments, a Hilo campus-based church, was now defunct, that Trevor could not claim he was a member. She also said that since Trevor’s affiliation with the THC Ministry came after his citation, it was not relevant to the case.

So we have a guy caught with less than an ounce of weed in a decrim state, where the fine would be only $100, who then decides to send in $50 after the bust to get out of the charge.  He claims that and his membership in a defunct church demonstrate his “sincere religious beliefs”.

I’m not comfortable with government deciding what is and isn’t a real religion.  I don’t think my self-determined spiritual beliefs, lack of affiliation with others who think like me, and the fact I have no ancient holy book make my First Amendment rights to freedom of religion any less valid than the billions of Christians or even the thousands of Rastafarians, for that matter.  I think our system takes the word religion too literally, as if the Enlightenment-era Deists who wrote the Bill of Rights were carving an exception only for those who put on nice clothes and go to a specific building once a week to sing praises to a deity written about in millennia-old folklore.  I think freedom of religion really means freedom of thought, freedom of conscience, and freedom of identity, so long as that practice does not interfere with the rights of others.

But once again, I know the difference between my opinions of the ideal and the facts of reality.  The courts have shown time and again they aren’t going to accept a religious use of cannabis defense, period.  That doesn’t mean earnest people shouldn’t still take those cases to court, but it’s not going to be a 25-year-old white guy named “Trevor” in Colorado caught with a baggie and a pipe in the driver’s area of his car who bought a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card after his arrest that is going to set that precedent.  Maybe an elderly dreadlocked Ethiopian immigrant Rastafarian caught with a personal amount while kneeling in ceremonial prayer in a temple has a slim shot at some sort of judicial relief… maybe, but I doubt it.

And I would never take $50 of your money to tell you:

• Do you have a THC Ministry id card, yet? They work under ‘arrest conditions’ to help set people free. Zero arrest. Zero court. Zero jail. All good.
• Is your THC Ministry paperwork in place? Is our id card in your wallet along with your wallet id from the Universal Life Church as a minister? Is there a sacrament ‘tag’ in with your ’stash’? Are your plants identified with our all-weather plant tags? Is there a Sanctuary sign on the wall near the inside of your front door? Is there another one in your greenhouse?  If so, sleep well tonight and every night.
• Remember: your religious freedom ‘defense to prosecution’ is good for the rest of your life. It’s always working for you 24/7 – forever. Year after year after year.
• We have had a total of ZERO negative experiences with those who have used our kit. As far as we know we have a perfect track record and we want to keep it that way, for your benefit and ours.
• Enjoy more ‘peace of mind’. Say good-bye to fear and shame and worry over herb. Start feeling really good about yourself and your herb enjoyment. You are safe and loved. All is well.

Unless your name is Trevor Douglass.