Howdy!
The information I present here is only applicable to Citizens of the United States, and individuals living in one of the 20 US States that have Passed their own, RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act).
So 1993. Religious Freedom Restoration Act: Pub. L. No. 103-141, 107 Stat. 1488 (November 16, 1993) introduced by Congressman Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Passed the House by an overwhelming voice vote May 1993, and the Senate by overwhelming vote October 1993.
This law required the Federal government, and Local governments applicable under derivative justification, - “Government shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.”
So there are 20 states that adopted their own version of this. Instead of listing them, I'll link it,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Rel ... ation_Acts.
What does this mean?
Strict Scrutiny must be applied by the governing body when applying a law to a situation where legitimate concern exists in limiting religious liberty and placing a burden on any individual or group based on a law rendered by general applicability.
So what does THAT mean? LOL.
Strict Scrutiny is a legal pretense that states that you must confine your interpretation of both the law and the situation down to the words that are used and what they mean implicitly and not implied.
A cheap but effective example being, "Thou shalt not kill".
Under strict Scrutiny, as a law, this applies universally. If you chop down a tree, you are now guilty of the exact action as an individual who took a knife and stabbed to death, another human. Strict Scrutiny says, you both killed something..so you are both guilty of the same thing.
That is strict scrutiny. There are no shades of gray, based on "intent" and "Subjective interpretation" in strict scrutiny.
Why is that a good thing? Because strict scrutiny is being applied to another statement that is uncommon in American Law, "Substantial Burden".
The concept of substantial burden is any activity that causes a burden on an individual or group in general applicability.
So, a law applied in general applicability, lets say for generic purposes, The Controlled Substances Act of 1970...this made Marijuana a schedule narcotic and made it illegal to possess or use without specific government approval.
Across the board this act demanded imprisonment and fines for possession.
Imprisonment and fines are flatly defined as a substantial burden by the Federal government as a disciplinary tool to be used in situations where individuals flagrantly break established laws.
So now let's say Bob gets arrested in 2015 in the State of Kentucky for Schedule 1 narcotics possession.
Bob is in court having his hearing and Bob's Lawyer makes a statement no one is expecting.
"Your Honor, under HB279 - 13RS of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, July 13'th 2014, the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act", the state has already placed an illegal and substantial burden on my client and his exercise of religious liberty as a Wiccan and we demand the state drop all charges and dismiss the case, where upon my client will be filing a civil suit against the state, county and local entities involved with unconstitutional deprivation of freedoms for the period he was held after arraignment, and for an unjust and illegal seizure of his property".
The reason that statement is important, is because Bob was smoking Marijuana, in his back yard. At his altar, when his neighbor smelled it, looked over the fence, and decided to call the cops for a "drug addict" using the drugs in public.
Bob isn't a drug addict. Bob is Wiccan. Bob was smoking cannabis to reach a state of meditative clarity to commune with his ancestors and nature, at his altar. His religious ceremony was interrupted by police and he was incarcerated.
ANY OTHER SITUATION OTHER THAN ONE EXACTLY LIKE THIS ONE is still a breaking of Federal, State, and local municipality law, and codes. OK...
Smoking a joint in your car on the way to a concert is not a religious practice. It isn't.
Sitting in the park with your friends smoking a joint, isn't communion unless you have requested and received an event license from your local municipality to hold a religious right in a public space. When you apply for that license, you will be sworn to give a statement punishable by perjury law that states you will NOT be using illegal substances during your religious ceremony.
If you state you intend to use controlled or prohibited substances like alcohol or marijuana, then look forward to your application being denied. At which point you appeal, and you get to take this same legal premise to court but on the concept of being denied something that places a substantial burden on your religious liberty.
One other thing to point out here.
If you PURCHASE marijuana in it's RAW form...just dried up plant matter, and you are transporting it home to be used exclusively for religious ceremonies, then the RFRA could still be applied to possession and transport.
But if it is already prepared to be used...in a bowl, rolled into a blunt, in a joint... Then you are in fact guilty of transporting a controlled substance in a re-sale form which doubles down on the crime as "intent to traffic"...which carries it's own mandatory sentencing guidelines besides the possession mandatory sentencing.
SO..what can we all take away from this?
The Federal government accidentally opened a window for scheduled substances to be used in religious rights. It's already been used by Native Americans for peyote, and Tribal South Americans living in the US, for Ayahausca tea.
You can't grow Ayahausca root in the US, so the Tribal peoples actually forced the US to give them a special license to import Ayahausca through customs into the US to be used at rituals.
So the precedent is already set, and has been used.
3 criteria you need to understand.
#1 - If you get caught transporting a controlled substance....you are going to go to jail. You can't argue with the police or agents... This information is only useful for your attorney to use DURING YOUR FEDERAL or LOCAL trial!
So...good luck with that.
#2 - If you are using the controlled substance in any situation other than an obvious religious ceremony, this defense will not work in any way shape or form.
#3 - You have to prove to a jury, that you are a wiccan, and that in your religion using natural herbs and remedies is a paramount and fundamental tenet of your belief system. If you are taking 5 different Dr. Prescribed medications, and you have DUI's and it can be proven you have or had a drug problem, this defense will not help you in any way. Any prior arrests or convictions for controlled substance possession, use, or abuse, will utterly nullify your ability to make a defense out of this information.
So... Just to be clear, there IS a way that you can use Marijuana as part of your Wiccan Religious Practice... But you have to do so in such a perfect way, that it would have to be a real Mission in your life to pull it off...
