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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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US: Religious grounds used to fight drug charges
Justin D Anderson Charleston Daily Mail
Tuesday 31 Jan 2006 A Northern Panhandle man is trying to beat marijuana charges by contending he used pot for religious reasons. Steven Schrumpf, 22, of McMechen, was arrested in March after a state trooper saw him hesitate for up to 15 seconds at a W.Va. 2 intersection in Moundsville, according to court documents. The light in the intersection was green. When the trooper asked Schrumpf why he sat at a green light for so long, the suspect said he was thinking, said a complaint filed in Marshall County Magistrate Court. The trooper allegedly found marijuana and a pipe in Schrumpf's possession. The defendant was charged with misdemeanor possession, driving under the influence of drugs and having no insurance. Schrumpf could not be reached Monday. His court-appointed Moundsville lawyer, John K. Chase, declined to comment. The prosecutor, David W. Hummel, did not immediately return a telephone call. Schrumpf has filed papers in magistrate court asserting he is protected by the state and U.S. constitutions because the pot was used for religious purposes. He claims to be a member of The Hawai'i Cannabis Ministry. The founder of the group, Roger Christie, 56, of Hilo, Hawaii, said Monday he knows Schrumpf only through correspondence. Christie said he is familiar with the case. He said he recalls getting a donation from Schrumpf and sending him a kit consisting of, among other things, signage designating the defendant's property as a religious sanctuary. However, a representative of NORML, a national marijuana advocacy group, said Schrumpf should forget about fighting the possession charge. "There is no religious defense for using marijuana in the United States," said Allen St. Pierre. American courts don't recognize marijuana as a sacrament, unlike the view that some courts have taken regarding peyote use by a small number of Native Americans. Jamaica, contrary to popular belief, does not technically consider cannabis a legal sacrament, regardless of prevalent Rastafarians, St. Pierre said. Too many people in the United States use marijuana for the high court to accept it on religious grounds, he believes. If Schrumpf were to challenge the DUI charge, however, he might have a chance, St. Pierre said, because of what he called "gray areas" in substance test evidence for pot use. "There are 100 years of adversarial process and tons of scientific information on how alcohol impairs individuals," St. Pierre said. But when it comes to marijuana, standard substance tests can only prove prior usage, St. Pierre said, and are unreliable in showing evidence of recent usage.
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