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worker summary

    Workers at medical marijuana and medical cannabis collectives, dispensaries, and cooperatives may protect themselves from imprisonment by the U.S. government by being medical cannabis ministers (or medical marijuana ministers).

    This legal protection from inprisonment is easiest applied to the DEA and other federal agencies because of explicit Congressional law (RFRA) and related Supreme Court ayahuasca decision. A skilled lawyer should also be able to mount a religious defense in California state courts using the 1964 and 1965 peyote cases. The federal government recently used the federal Religious Land Use and Institutalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) to block the use of local zoning laws that interferred with religious beliefs.

    Los Angeles, California, is currently sending out eight man teams of undercover narcotics agents, backed by SWAT and other police officers, to arrest owners and workers at medical marijuana collectives, dispensaries, and cooperatives.

    I attempt to make this information as useful to as many different religions as possible.

    This defense applies to those who have a sincere religious belief that they must minister to the sick, ill, and injured with medical cannabis. Unfortunately, this defense is not available for athiests, agnostics, or those who have philosophical beliefs instead of religious beliefs.

    My major goal is to provide the supporting religious information for those with a sicnere religious belief to be recognized in court as a legitimate medical cannabis minister or medical marijuana minister. The accompanying blog provides almost daily religious advice. See a lawyer for legal advice.

    The federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) specifically grants religious exemptions to most federal laws. The U.S. Supreme Court decision Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General, et al., v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal et al., 546 U.S. 418 (2006) specifically applied the RFRA to protect religious use of ayahuasca, a schedule I drug.

    Among other things (consult a lawyer) the RFRA requires the government shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.

    Courts have upheld the right of Native Americans to use the hallucinogenic plant peyote in religious rituals, e.g., State v. Whittington, 19 Ariz. App. 27, 504 P.2d 950 (1973), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 946, 94 S.Ct. 3071 (1974); People v. Woody, 61 Cal.2d 716, 394 P.2d 813, 40 Cal. Rptr. 69 (1964); Whitehorn v. State, 561 P.2d 539 (0kl. Crim. App. 1977); contra State v. Big Sheep, 75 Mont. 219, 243 P. 1067 (1926); State v. Soto, 21 Or. App. 794, 537 P.2d 142 (1975), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 955, 96 S.Ct. 1431 (1976).

    Most workers at a medical marijuana collective, cooperative, or dispensary can legitimately meet the legal standards for a religious defense against imprisonment. They just haven’t thought throught he religious nature of their already existing acts and beliefs.

    If you can afford a lawyer, please consult a lawyer and prepare an adequate defense long before any arrest.

    A prosecutor will test you on both sincerity and knowledge of your own religion. Be prepared.

    Free in-person medical cannabis minister lessons offered Monday nights near the border of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, California. Send a self addressed stamped envelope to Milo, PO Box 1361, Tustin, California, USA, 92781 if you plan to attend (I don’t show up if I don’t expect any students; I will reply to your letter with the exact time and location). I check the post office box once a month (late in the month).

    The accompanying blog provides almost daily information on honing and improving the quality of your religious medical marijuana ministry.

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    Free weekly instruction for medical marijuana ministers and medical cannabis ministers every Monday night in Orange County, California. Write to: Milo, PO Bx 1361, Tustin, CA, 92781. Post office box checked once per month.

    The courts have already ruled in multiple cases that a person who starts preparing a religious defense (including gathering certificates and other paperwork) after arrest loses all chance to use the late religious defense. It is essential that you prepare your defense before you are arrested. Adequate preparation may even prevent arrest. With that in mind, doesn’t it make sense for at least one collective owner somewhere to pay me minimum wage to work on preparing these materials on a full time basis? Even the most callous cooperative owner should realize that low paid workers facing prison sentences are likely to change sides and testify for the police? On the other hand, if the workers have a religious defense ready then they need not fear going to prison and have no incentive to testify against the owner. I don’t care how jaded and selfish a dispensary owner is, it just makes good sense to have a strong religious defense ready for your workers.

    If you spot an error in fact, grammar, syntax, or spelling, or a broken link, or have additional information, commentary, or constructive criticism, please contact Milo at PO Box 1361, Tustin, Calif, 92781, USA.

    Copyright © 2010 Milo.