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Pot Church's Religion Status Hangs In The Balance
Adam Gaub | Eastern Arizona Courier | 08/31/2006

The very nature of the Church of Cognizance is under question in a U.S. District Court in New Mexico as a judge reviews whether or not the church qualifies as a sincere religion.

The U.S. attorney's office contends that Danuel and Mary Quaintance are not sincere and are not practicing a certifiable religion, the two key factors in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which would protect the Pima couple from governmental interference involving the use of marijuana in their religious practices. The Quaintances' attorney, Marc Robert, called numerous witnesses, attempting to prove Neo-Zoroastrianism is a sincere religion and not just a philosophy or way of life.

U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera is reviewing both written arguments and the transcripts of three days worth of hearings conducted in an Albuquerque courtroom last week to determine whether the charges could be dismissed because of the Quaintances' right to freely practice their religion.

The U.S. attorneys prosecuting the case, Luis Martinez and Amanda Gould, contend that the Quaintances are not sincere in any way about their religion but instead are using it as a front for a drug organization.

In court documents acquired by the Albuquerque Journal, Gould and Martinez argue that the Quaintances beliefs stem from "a hodgepodge of unsupported speculations for most of their assertions. . . in an effort to cloak themselves in a religious mantel."

Herrera will use the 1996 10th Circuit case of United States v. Meyers as the precedent for her ruling, a case that found Mitchell Meyers was sincere in his practice of his religion as a reverend of the Church of Marijuana but that it did not meet the guidelines to qualify as a religion.

If Herrera rules in favor of the Quaintances, who are charged with conspiracy and possession with the intent to distribute more than 50 kilograms of marijuana, the U.S. attorneys may turn to U.S. Supreme Court cases, specifically Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal. In the O Centro case, the Supreme Court ruled in February that the members of the religion were protected in their use of a hallucinogenic tea as part of their religious beliefs.

According to a report by Scott Sandlin of the Albuquerque Journal, numerous witnesses testified on both sides of the case, defending and attacking the Quaintances' claim that theirs is sincere religion.

According to the same article, Jehan Bagli, a Zoroastrian priest and retired scientist, testified that "the mind is considered a priceless gift. Any mind-altering substances are abusing that gift of god and would not be accepted."

The Quaintances were arrested in Lordsburg, N.M., in February while transporting 172 pounds of marijuana.