A federal judge has ruled against the founders of a Southeastern Arizona church that deifies marijuana and uses it as a sacrament, saying they don’t have a sincere religious belief.
A U.S. judge is scheduled to decide if Dan and Mary Quaintance are drug dealers or church leaders with a national following.
The founders of an Arizona church that considers marijuana a sacrament and deity have stepped down as leaders, saying pending federal criminal char-ges make it impossible to fulfill their roles. The Church of Cognizance continues to function in Southeastern Arizona with about 45 members, said 54-year-old Dan Quaintance, who along with his wife, Mary, 51, is facing 40 years in prison if convicted on federal charges of conspiracy and intent to distribute more than 100 pounds of marijuana.
ALBUQUERQUE – A couple from Pima, Ariz., arrested in a car that contained 172 pounds of marijuana say the drug is a sacrament in their religion. The U.S. attorney’s office contends they’re trying to use religion as a cover for a drug organization. Danuel and Mary Quaintance staked their religious freedom claim in federal court here this week in a three-day hearing in connection with their February arrest in Lordsburg on drug charges, the Albuquerque Journal reported Friday in a copyright story. The couple are charged with conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute more than 50 kilograms of marijuana
S. Arizona couple face prison for what they say is religious use of marijuana PIMA — The Church of Cognizance, which has quietly operated here since 1991, has an unusual tenet –its worshippers deify and use marijuana as part of their faith. Until federal authorities charged them with possessing 172 pounds of their leafy green sacrament earlier this year, church founders Dan and Mary Quaintance say they smoked, ate or drank marijuana daily as a way of becoming more spiritually enlightened. But now, with added conspiracy charges, the Quaintances face up to 40 years each in prison in a case