RASTAFARIAN CONVICT CAN'T SMOKE POT, JUDGE DECIDES

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- An Indiana convict on supervised release cannot smoke
marijuana even though his religion considers it a sacrament, a federal
judge ruled.

U.S. District Court Judge William C. Lee could have returned Rohi Israel to
prison Friday for failing 10 drug tests, but he accepted the Rastafarian's
promise that he would stop smoking marijuana for the remaining two years of
his probation.

Israel, 33, formerly known as Jarvis D. Jefferson, adopted the Rastafarian
religion in 1996, while serving a five-year prison sentence for being a
felon and possessing a handgun.

Rastafarians worship deceased Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie as a prophet
and use marijuana as a sacrament.

Israel's court-appointed attorney, Thomas O'Malley, argued that his client
had the right to smoke marijuana while on supervised release as part of his
religion.

But Lee wrote in an order issued Dec. 12 that the government's interest in
regulating convicts' marijuana use through routine drug screenings
overrides the burden it places on their religious practice.

"Any judicial attempt to carve out a religious exception will result in
significant administrative problems for the probation office and open the
door to a myriad of claims for religious exceptions," Lee ruled.