HempNews

March 10 2010

CANNABIS CULTURE – Chris Bennett is preparing for battle in his quest to become the first Canadian legally permitted to use marijuana for religious purposes.

The 47-year-old entrepreneur, religious history buff and cannabis activist from British Columbia is on a crusade through the Canadian federal court system, fighting the government for an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that would allow him to possess and grow cannabis for use as a religious sacrament.

‘Sacrament’ is something that many people of faith have used for thousands of years to bring them closer to their god or gods: a religious symbol or act which signifies divine grace and spiritual blessing. Entheogens, psychoactive substances usually derived from natural sources, have been used by various cultures and religions as tools for healing and transcendence as far back as records are kept. Chris believes cannabis is not only one of these substances, but is actually the plant referred to in the Bible’s Book of Revelation as the Tree of Life.

The issue of cannabis and religion is nothing new. Pious potheads have fought high-profile court battles before for the right to smoke in Canada and the United States. Even CBS’s 60 minutes covered the issue in a piece about the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church in Star Island, Florida back in 1979.

Unlike other cannabis and religion cases that have come before the courts (and there have been many), Chris has not been charged with any crime, and therefore is not using his religious views as a defense. In this case, Chris is taking the federal government to court through a Charter of Rights challenge he initiated.

I know Chris quite well; his store, The Urban Shaman, is located at the back of Cannabis Culture Headquarters in downtown Vancouver, right next to my office, and I have been fortunate enough to share many hours of conversation with this modern-day holy warrior. One thing I have learned about him: he takes his beliefs very seriously and has passionately devoted much of his life to his Gnostic faith as well as the fight to legalize marijuana.

Chris is the former manager of Marc Emery’s Pot-TV Network, and has been a prolific contributor to Cannabis Culture for years (check out his CC Blog). He has written two published book on the cannabis plant’s role in religious history, Green Gold the Tree of Life: Marijuana in Magic & Religion and Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible. A third, Cannabis and the Soma Solution, will be published this year.

Chris’s lawyer Kirk Tousaw, a fellow cannabis activist and Cannabis Culture contributor (who also happens to have a CC Blog), says current pot laws infringe upon his clients Charter right to freely practice his religion, and that the Canadian government has an obligation to protect those rights by granting him “an exemption from the prohibition against possessing and producing marijuana for his own personal spiritual use under section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.”

Other religious freedom cases not involving drug use, like the ones fought for the right of Jehovah’s Witnesses to refuse blood transfusions when facing death, and the right of Sikhs to carry concealed weapons and to wear turbans instead of helmets, have successfully made it through the court system even though they show some level of harm to the individual or community.

Chris wrote Canada’s Minister of Justice in early 2009 requesting the exemption and provided the Minister with a statutory declaration, an under-oath sworn statement outlining his religious and spiritual beliefs, and included all the information the Minister requests from people seeking a medical marijuana exemption.

The Minister took some time to decide, but ultimately said he didn’t believe it was in the public interest to grant the exemption.

The activists quickly filed action in federal court for a judicial review of the Minister’s decision, and for an order to compel him to issue the exemption or, alternatively, a declaration by the courts that the law prohibiting possession and production of marijuana is unconstitutional and violates Section 2, which protects religious freedoms; Section 7, which protects the liberty and security of the person; and Section 15, which guarantees you equality and prevents discrimination on the basis of religious belief.

Chris has now filed his affidavit, which outlines his case and lists the expert witnesses he intends to bring in to court and explains their arguments.

Witnesses include a cultural anthropologist and a professor of educational psychology (click here to read letters to the court from the witnesses) who agree with Chris that “the ritual use of cannabis has a very long history, both in the Old and New Worlds” and personally attest to Chris’s “sincere belief on his part in the spiritual benefits of his use of cannabis”.

“We think it is in the public interest when the government acts to promote and protect critical, fundamental charter rights,” Tousaw said. “The government has shown that it is perfectly capable of crafting a regulatory scheme to exempt people from penalties for producing and possessing cannabis for their personal medical use. I think there’s no good reason why the government can’t come up with an exemption scheme for people like Mr. Bennett who have sincere religious beliefs and want to practice them without fear of being arrested.”

In the early 1990s, Chris Bennett was a night watchman at a fish-packing plant who spent most of his free time surfing up and down the coast of British Columbia, and occasionally smoking pot. Most of what he knew about the diverse uses for cannabis and hemp came from a documentary film shown to him by a friend. After a number of synchronistic occurrences sparked his interest in the Book of Revelation, Chris began reading the Bible. It wasn’t until he had what he describes as a “religious epiphany” that he realized the divine nature of the cannabis plant and its seemingly endless benefits to mankind.

The experience changed his life, and he quickly became a strong part of the first wave of marijuana and hemp activism emerging from British Columbia, helping to spread the message even before the arrival of Prince of Pot Marc Emery to the province.

Hand-drawn poster about cannabis and religion made by Chris Bennett in the 1990s. Over the years, Chris made hand-drawn posters and t-shirts, produced edible hemp products, and began speaking to the media about the benefits of hemp and the cruelty of marijuana prohibition. In 2000, he was hired by Emery to be the manager of a new video-streaming Internet network called Pot-TV, where he produced episodes of his show Burning Shiva.

In 1997, as a minister of The Church of the Universe, an organization that recognizes cannabis as the Tree of Life, Chris was called as an expert witness to a case in the Supreme Court of B.C. that would have granted a religious exemption for a Victoria man named Ian Hunter [Read CC, Issue #9, "The Supreme Court vs The Supreme Being"]. Ultimately, Chris was denied the right to provide any significant evidence and the court ruled against Hunter.

This year, on top of his own Charter challenge, Chris will be called as an expert witness to a similar case involving the G13 chapter of the Church of the Universe in Ontario, which was raided in 2006 by the Toronto Police “Drug Squad”.

In that raid, police initially arrested over a dozen Church members, but eventually dropped charges against all but two of them. The two men were charged with possession, trafficking and cultivation and are expected to face trial some time in April.

“There are two steps to this case,” George Filipovic, attorney for one of the accused, told Cannabis Culture. “Does the law in fact infringe upon our clients’ Charter right to freely practice their religion – and if it does, is the prohibition of marijuana so important that it should override a person’s Charter right? We’re saying prohibition obviously does infringe upon their rights and that it is nowhere near important enough. Prohibition is not important because the harm caused by marijuana is so nominal, if there is any harm at all.”

Chris’s day of Judgement in court for his own Charter Challenge is expected sometime in the fall or later.

The pot crusader recently took a few minutes away from preparing his case to congregate with Cannabis Culture and discuss the story of his spiritual awakening and his hopes for an enlightened future.

Cannabis Culture: How did you come to the conclusion that cannabis is the Tree of Life as described in the Bible?

Chris Bennett: At the beginning of the Book of Revelation, John the profit is given a scroll that he takes in his mouth and swallows; it tastes as sweet as honey in his mouth, but turns bitter in his stomach – then he begins to prophesize. This was my first hint and I thought, “buddy obviously had something.” And then there were all these references to sackcloth and incense with the prayers and the Saints and the billowing clouds of incense. Then I got to the last paragraph, Revelation 22 and read the verse:

“In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

When I read that line I had an experience, like light was just pouring into me, and at that moment I knew cannabis was the Tree of Life and all the fruits were the plants many uses. The ganja plant has all these incredible uses that can help heal our planet, like fuel, fiber, paint, food, clothing, you name it. The Buffalo plant some people call it because, as with the buffalo of the Plains Indians, it serves so many purposes. It is indeed a plant that is harvested every day of every month of every year all over the planet and it’s got these leaves for the healing of the nations.

I started to think, “well, that must be what that Bob Marley guy and all these Rastas were talking about.” I called up my wife at the time and she got really upset and thought I was having some sort of breakdown and started crying on the phone. The next day when I woke up, I was at first undecided if something significant had truly transpired or if I was just really tripping out – but afterwards I just couldn’t leave alone issues regarding pot. I became a cannabis activist and whenever I came across anything regarding the plant’s religious use I started saving it, because I thought “well, if there was anything to that experience then somebody else somewhere will pick up on it and there will be some sort of evidence of it – otherwise it’s just my own crazy trip.” After 20 years researching and writing three books and dozens of magazine articles, I can see the truth of that experience.

CC: And this was before you became a pot activist?

CB: Yes. Before that I really didn’t think about it much. It was funny, because my brother, who was a camp chairman for the IWA, and other people from my town were involved in activism at Clayoquot Sound. At about this time I had found out that one acre of hemp will produce the same as four acres of trees over the same 20-year period, and I though “problem solved”. I had seen my brother and other activists on the news talking to reporters and I’d be watching the TV saying “why isn’t anybody saying anything about hemp?”. I finally began printing up pamphlets and speaking about it and the next thing I know there are those same reporters walking through my front door coming to talk to me about hemp. So it was kind of an Alice Through the Television Glass experience.

Chris Bennett’s upcoming book Cannabis and the Soma Solution.CC: What made you decide to pursue a religious freedoms Charter challenge?

CB: It’s always been my hope to see a religious use Charter challenge take place. It’s hard when you get charged in a criminal trial to make it past the provincial level and be granted the right to have the Charter challenge in the Supreme Court. There’s been NO official Charter challenges for freedom of religion as far as cannabis is concerned at all in Canada – none of the cases have made it past criminal court at the provincial level.

CC: I guess you knew that it would be an uphill battle.

CB: When we applied, we figured we would get turned down and we did – by a representative of the Justice Minister on the basis of public interest. I guess the view is if they grant a religious exemption for cannabis, society would fall apart and all Hell would break loose somehow. But that has not been the case with the medical marijuana exemptions. These exemptions are effective and have not caused public upheaval in any way. So what we’re asking for is an extension of that process to encompass spiritual use.

There was skepticism on the part of the judge and the prosecution. They said, “what do you mean marijuana is a religious sacrament?” It’s just because they aren’t familiar with cannabis and religious history. It’s ironic that we have an First Nations Health Minister (Leona Aglukkaq): it’s hard for me to understand how somebody who has seen their own culture suffer such prejudice, with Canada’s shameful history of outlawing native rituals, would not take the time to look into the matter a little more thoroughly. Indeed, there is a long and established spiritual tradition involving cannabis that goes back to the earliest points of many cultures.

CC: In your experience, is this an issue that most people take very seriously?

CB: I would say that people are starting to take it more seriously. There’s a bunch of different cannabis churches all over the world now, and dozens in the US alone. I think many people that use cannabis intuitively feel that it’s some sort of a symbol for them or what might be called a religious sacrament. At first people kind of scoffed at it but the more they learn about it and the deeper they dig, they say, “oh there’s something to this”.

Now that we have industrial hemp and a medical marijuana program here in Canada, people are more open to the idea that cannabis has been around for a while. Now that they’re open to the idea that it’s been around for a while, let’s talk about the historical role that it’s played – its role was a paramount one in the ancient world just as it is a paramount one today. It was the biggest cash crop in the high days of ancient Syria and Babylon just like it’s the biggest cash crop in today’s American Empire.

CC: You are also currently an expert witness in a similar case involving a group called the Church of the Universe. What is this case about.

CB: I’m going to be taking part in the G-13 case as an expert witness on the Church of the Universe. In this case, the government is bringing in a number of expert witnesses, including a Catholic priest named Roland Jacques who is calling the Church of the Universe a “parody religion”. It’s ironic, because in our church’s view, it is the Catholic church that is largely responsible for the suppression of the cannabis/keneh bosem tradition. Historically we know that the Catholic church burned people to death for using psychoactive plants. They don’t seem to be a very logical witness in a freedom of religion case because, according to them, pretty much every other religion is some sort of heresy of people who are going to Hell.

CC: Though you believe cannabis is the Tree of Life from The Bible, you are not a Christian. What exactly do you believe?

CB: I definitely don’t believe in things like virgin births, the Death and Resurrection, crucifixion stories, Heaven and Hell, or things like that. I probably fit a little bit closer, as far as the Christian worldview goes with what were referred to as Gnostic Christians and their cosmology. I identify a lot with the Nag Hammadi Library texts and other Gnostic texts. I don’t believe in Jehovah, but I do believe there is a collective aspect to consciousness related to the instinctual function analogous to Carl Jung’s Collective Unconscious, but I would say becoming aware of itself, not so unconscious anymore; likely identifiable with what the Gnostics referred to as the Logos, representative of the collective word. I think there is a collective element in humanity that is common to us all – not like an individual soul that can be reincarnated – just kind of one collective human soul that is continually born over and over that’s at the core of our consciousness – and whatever that is really likes cannabis.

CC: In your books, you describe a long history of religion and cannabis use. Who else in history has used pot piously?

CB: Cannabis was involved in the foundation of many cultures and religions that still exist today; whether it be Hinduism, which begins with the Rig-Veda and his praises of the drink Soma (a preparation of cannabis called bhang that is still used in India in honor of Shiva, the oldest continually worshiped God on earth); or in Islam where Sufis had consumed cannabis to get down to the divine spark and essence of the human soul and have done that pretty much since the inception of Islam. This was likely carried over from a pre-Islamic tradition, something like Zoroastrianism – another religion that still exists that begins with Haoma, the Persian counterpart of the Vedic Soma. Or Judaism, where is the keneh bosem, the fragrant cane of Exodus 30:23 that was used in holy anointing oils along; as with Christianity where again it was continually used in holy anointing oils and incense. In Celtic and Druid tomes we know of evidence of cannabis. In China, in the very beginning of the Taoist tradition, cannabis was considered one of the superior immortality elixirs. We know just from archaeological evidence that people have been using cannabis for 5500 years, going back to 3500 BC in the Ukraine where we have the earliest evidence of that tradition in the form of burnt cannabis seeds in a brazier, not to say it might not have taken place millennium before that.

I don’t want to just prove to the judge that cannabis is part of my religion, I want to bring in expert witnesses and show that cannabis is the religion. As far as I’m concerned, there is much more of a historical basis for my belief system than there is for contemporary Christianity or any other religion.

Click here [Part 1 | Part 2] to watch Chris Bennett discuss the spiritual and religious use of cannabis on The Standard TV show.

Chris Bennett is a marijuana activist, cannabis historian, and former manager of the Pot-TV Network. He is a regular contributor to Cannabis Culture – read his CC Blog. Check out his website Forbidden Fruit Publishing.

Source.

On Thursday March 4, 2010 a group of patients from Alabamians for Compassionate Care took a trip to Mobile, Alabama to attend the Heads vs. Feds debate between long time High Times Editor Steve Hager and retired DEA agent Robert Stutman which took place at the University of South Alabama. For those of you unfamiliar with this production it’s basically a cannabis consumer and advocate for legalization debating a DEA agent and also has audience participation. It was the first one I have attended, although it has been to Alabama before. I figured it would be dynamite and I was not disappointed.

Representing for Alabamians for Compassionate Care were yours truly, Christie O’Brien, Chris and DJ Butts, Sam Barksdale, Phillip Nettles and my son Alex Nall (who is a supporter but not a consumer). We arrived early and got front row seats. I had inquired the day before how many people were expected to attend and the lady at Jaguar Productions told me that the student ballroom had been set up to seat 150. Chris Butts printed out 250 Compassionate Care flyers…just to be safe… and Alex voluntarily stationed himself outside the entrance and made sure everyone who came through the door got a flyer. However, there wound up being about 400 people who attended the event so we ran out fairly quickly. I was joyously surprised to see that much interest in the topic of marijuana legalization. Judging from the response throughout the debate a good 99% of attendees want marijuana legalized. There is some very real momentum in the great state of Alabama right now!

Phillip had brought a video camera and tri-pod to film the event but we were told that only NORML would be allowed to film. Not sure whose rule that was, but they were serious about it. A local TV news crew showed up and was not allowed to film either. However, it provided a very good opportunity for me to demonstrate to the ACC members how to bum rush the media and get them the information that they need to cover this issue in Alabama. As soon as I realized the media would not be allowed to film I grabbed Sam Barksdale, who is a Mobile resident, patient, and the Alabama Compassionate Care coordinator for South Alabama, and took him over to meet the reporter. I introduced them, gave the reporter one of our flyers (they were incredible BTW THANKS CHRIS!), told her about the bill and that we expected it to come up in committee on either the 24th or 31st of March. I then presented Sam to her as a local patient to interview. I’m pretty sure Sam will be getting a call as we get closer to time for the bill to drop.

However, all chance for video was not lost. A few of our members used their digital cameras and cell phones to record as much of the event as possible. And, one of our members, Sam Barksdale was chosen by Steve Hager to film with his personal video camera.

About ten minutes before the event started Steve Hager and Robert Stutman arrived. I introduced myself to Steve who said he knew me and he inquired about the latest with Marc Emery. At one time Cannabis Culture and High Times were rivals and not always on the best of terms. However, we all support Marc Emery and completely disagree with how he is being treated by both the American and Canadian governments. Steve asked for my card and said he would introduce me to the audience during the debate. He then asked Sam Barksdale to film the event with his personal video camera, which was a very neat thing for him to do. Sam was very excited.

The debate began with a short film giving the backgrounds of Hager and Stutman. Hager was presented as the hippie and Stutman as the hard charging government agent, who is obviously opposed to anything hippie. My only real critique with the whole event is the portrayal of cannabis consumers as ‘hippies’….even if some of us are. I realize and respect that Steve Hager is of the 60’s generation (I often wish I was) and mean no disrespect by my critique. It’s just that people who consume cannabis are a very diverse bunch. Yet, when this issue comes up in politics or in public we are all forced to fight the damn culture war instead of focusing on the drug war. Not everyone who consumes cannabis dresses in tie-dye, wears Jesus sandals, and burns patchouli incense. That being said, the film was giving backgrounds on the participants and that is Steve Hager’s background and it was interesting.

After the film the debate began with the moderator laying out the rules and informing the audience that they could participate by asking questions at the end. However, she said, there would be no discussion or back and forth on the questions. Basically, it was ask your question and sit down.

Steve and Robert each started out by saying that they are actually friends, respect each other, and have been doing this show for ten years. They each asked that the audience be respectful and not boo either party.

Steve started by giving the history of marijuana, talking about its numerous medicinal qualities, about why it is illegal (racist policy, big pharma etc), industrial hemp, prisons etc. Here is a video of part of his opening statement. You must have a facebook account to view it. Hopefully it will be on YouTube shortly. Steve Hager opening statements video.

Robert Stutman opened by telling the audience about his life as a DEA agent, about how he had a close friend and fellow agent killed by the mob over drugs and how that affected him. He also told the audience that he did not think prison was the place for drug users, that he preferred forced treatment instead. I felt like that was an attempt to counter any hard questions from the audience before we even had a chance to ask them…a sort of “I’m really on your side, so don’t be too hard on me” kind of thing. He countered Steve Hager’s opening remarks by saying that Steve wasn’t telling everyone the truth.

In response to Steve’s argument about marijuana being kept illegal (by big pharma) because it can be grown by anyone and is free medicine Stutman said, “Well penicillin can be grown by anyone too for free and it hasn’t been outlawed and there aren’t millions of people growing it for free medicine.”

Not kidding. That is what he said. Despite the glaring reasons why growing penicillin at home and using it as medicine are impractical to the point of impossibility. With marijuana all you have to do is dry the plant and smoke it, cook with it etc…The audience didn’t buy it for a second.

In response to the medicinal qualities it was the same ol’ same ol’ one would expect from a government official who has made his living off the drug war. Stutman asserted that; “Marijuana has no medicinal value, there is no research that proves anything, there is Marinol for sick people, that only two chemicals found in marijuana have ever been proven to have any medical value, it’s a gateway drug, that it leads to schizophrenia and there was an article coming out in the New York Times the next day about that very thing.”

Of course, what he didn’t say is that the same study comes out of Australia every year, that no one with any credibility in the medical community will say they know what causes schizophrenia or that schizophrenia symptoms usually present right after the onset of puberty or in the early 20’s and that those are the age groups used for this study.

In response to Hager’s assertion that industrial hemp could really help save the environment, produce jobs, and be a boon to the economy Stutman replied; “What Steve didn’t tell you is that Canada legalized industrial hemp a few years ago. In the beginning there were (over 300 I think he said) farmers growing it and now there are only 6. He also said if hemp was such great stuff then why, in countries where it is legal, isn’t everyone wearing it?

The back and forth went on for about 15 minutes. I can’t remember the whole thing verbatim so here are 8 video clips from the event HERE.

Finally, my favorite part of the program arrived….Q & A. As soon as the moderator said GO I was out of my chair and at the mic. I had decided to ask the DEA agent a question often posed by my friend and fellow reformer Dean Becker of the Drug Truth Network. Here is the video of me asking the question and the unbelievable non-response given by Stutman.

Name one Drug War objective that has ever been met.

As you can see, Mr. Stutman was unable to answer the question so he got on his bike and rode it round and round the room. When they do that you know you have won. Since we were not able to ask follow up questions or discuss the issue further I was not able to counter his claim that the Drug War isn’t actually a war. Had I been able to I would have asked him how he defined war. In my definition of war armed paramilitary SWAT teams riding in armored personnel carriers, kicking in doors at 3 a.m., using flash bang grenades and summarily extra-judicially executing non-violent drug offenders or cramming them in POW camps (US prisons) IS WAR. Except, in this war, the ‘enemy’ (American citizens) aren’t allowed to fight back or defend themselves.

I would have also asked him that if 45% fewer American’s smoked marijuana now than in the 70’s how come arrests for marijuana are at an all time high with over 800,000 being arrested last year and 90% of those for simple possession for personal use.

At that time I had to leave and get my son back on his campus before 9 p.m. so I missed whatever other questions were asked. I do know that Chris Butts asked Steve to tell the audience why there is such a dismal amount of medical research in the US and who was blocking it. When I arrived back the event was still going on so I returned to my seat to finish it out. During the closing remarks Steve introduced me to the audience, which I greatly appreciated. Here is that video clip.

Steve Hager introduces Loretta Nall to crowd

After that introduction and as soon as the event concluded literally hundreds of students packed our part of the room asking how they could get involved with ACC and drug policy reform in Alabama in general. Around 200 signed up and three different young ladies volunteered to head up an ACC chapter on campus. I am also going to get them started with an SSDP chapter and a NORML chapter.

I only saw 6 or 8 people lined up to talk to the DEA agent.

Our crew went over and talked to Steve for a little bit and had some photos taken with him. There are other pics out there and I will track them down later.

I had a chance to speak to the moderator of the event afterward. She thanked me for kicking the Q&A off. She is a communications professor and has done work with some anti-drug groups. I told her that I would have very much enjoyed being allowed to counter the DEA agents claims and to have had more of a discussion with him. She agreed and said that the next time they present the program they will have me on a panel along with some other members of the audience and perhaps a local policeman. We exchanged info. I am looking forward to her call.

All in all the event was worth spending 10 hours in a car to get there and back. If you have a chance to attend a Heads vs. Feds event I strongly recommend that you do so.

Source.