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S. Arizona Couple Defend Religious Use of Marijuana
Enlightenment comes from drug, U.S. judge is told
Arizona Daily Star | 08/29/2006

A husband and wife from Southeastern Arizona who say their church uses marijuana for religious enlightenment argued their case in a New Mexico courtroom this week.

Dan and Mary Quaintance, of Pima, about 90 miles northeast of Tucson, were arrested in Lordsburg, N.M., in February in a car that contained 172 pounds of marijuana.

They claim religious freedom allows the use of illegal drugs. The U.S. Attorney's Office contends they're trying to use religion as a cover for a drug organization.

The Quaintances are charged with conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute more than 50 kilograms of marijuana that was in the car in which they were riding. The driver, another member of the Church of Cognizance, has turned state's witness. The Quaintances each could face 40 years in prison.

After a three-day hearing, U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera said she'd take written arguments and review documents before deciding if she'll dismiss the charges based on the couple's argument.

Dan Quaintance's attorney, Marc Robert, portrays him as "a spiritual man who has followed his religious beliefs and practices at great personal risk."

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Luis Martinez and Amanda Gould say the defendants are drawing from "a hodgepodge of unsupported speculations for most of their assertions … in an effort to cloak themselves in a religious mantle."

The Quaintances contend they have a right to marijuana as the central focus of the church, which was founded by Dan Quaintance in 1991 and registered as a religious organization in Arizona in 1994. The couple say the church has about 72 monasteries located in members' homes nationwide.

They cited a February ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving a small Santa Fe-based church to bolster their argument. In that case, the court ruled that O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal may use a hallucinogenic tea as part of a four-hour ritual intended to connect with God. Hoasca tea, which contains an illegal drug known as DMT, is considered sacred in the Brazilian-based religion.

Dan Quaintance testified that the Church of Cognizance is based on his research and interpretation of religious texts and is a form of neo-Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion that holds sacred a drink made from a mountain plant called haoma. In the teachings of Zoroaster, the plant, the drink and the god are the same. The Quaintances believe cannabis, hemp or marijuana is haoma.

Deborah Pruitt, a cultural anthropologist and college professor in Oakland, Calif., testified for the defense that mainstream religions typically view new religious forms as cults, but said they are no less genuine.

She distinguished faith-based religions that rely on institutionalized doctrine passed down by specialists from those relying on direct experience. She said Christian pentecostals, Wiccans, voodoo practitioners, Sufi dancers and members of the Native American Church all have characteristics of religions that rely on direct experience for contact with deities or spirits.

Jehan Bagli, a retired scientist and Zoroastrian priest, testified for the prosecution that in current Zoroastrian ceremonies, "the mind is considered a priceless gift." Any mind-altering substances abuse that gift and would not be accepted, he said.

Bagli said haoma in the ancient Zoroastrian tradition was a deity and a plant that scholars believe may have had hallucinogenic proper-ties.

If the judge rules the Quaintances are sincere religious practitioners, prosecutors would have to show compelling government interest in burdening the religion by barring the use of marijuana.

Until federal authorities charged them, the Quaintances said, they smoked, ate or drank marijuana daily as a way of becoming more enlightened.

They told the Arizona Daily Star before the hearing began that they don't grow their marijuana but relied on donations that they pick up from church "couriers." They say that's what they were about to do when they were arrested.