Is religious use of marijuana a defense to a marijuana criminal charge? A recent Minnesota Court of Appeals case indicates the answer may be “yes.” In an unpublished opinion, In the matter of the Welfare of J.J.M.A., A13-0295, filed September 23, 2013, the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed a juvenile’s delinquency adjudication based on his sincerely held religious belief as a Rastafarian, on a petty misdemeanor marijuana paraphernalia charge.
The fifteen year old boy was a practicing Rastafarian – a religion that has incorporated religious use of marijuana for nearly 100 years. The lower court found him guilty of the paraphernalia charge, despite also finding that “Rastafari is a true religion and that J.J.M.A. has a sincerely held belief in the tenets of that religion,” because he “failed to satisfy his burden of showing that the Rastafari religion requires him to carry his pipe with him at all times.” The Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed that adjudication of guilt, based on the Minnesota Constitution’s freedom-of-conscience clause, article 1, section 16:
The right of every man to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience shall never be infringed . . . nor shall any control of or interference with the rights of conscience be permitted . . . ; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of the state.
Minnesota’s Constitution provides more protection for religious freedom than the United States Constitution does. “’This language is of a distinctively stronger character than the federal counterpart’ because it ‘precludes even an infringement on or an interference with religious freedom.’” State v. Hershberger, 462 N.W.2d 393, 397 (Minn. 1990) (Hershberger II).
http://minneapoliscriminallawyer.liberty-lawyer.com/2013/09/24/religious-use-of-marijuana-defense-prevails-in-minnesota-rastafarian-case/
= new reply since forum marked as read
