POT-USING CHURCH LOSES ITS FOUNDERS

Two Step Aside, Saying Charges Hinder Duties

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.

But the church is now "fractured," he said, explaining that the
congregation he and his wife founded in 1991 no longer has its
spiritual leaders.

Federal authorities arrested the couple on Feb. 22 in Lordsburg,
N.M., after discovering 172 pounds of marijuana in the car in which
the Quaintances were riding. The driver of the car, 23-year-old
Timothy Jason Krip-ner, now is a witness for the government, which
says the Church of Cognizance is a front for drug trafficking.

The Quaintances are scheduled to go on trial Oct. 30 in Las Cruces,
N.M., though they hope the case will be dismissed before the end of
the month. They're awaiting a decision from U.S. District Judge
Judith C. Herrera on whether she'll dismiss the case on the grounds
that religious freedom should allow them to use the illegal drug.

At a three-day hearing on the motion to dismiss the charges last
month, lawyers for the Quaintances cited a February decision from the
U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the government had no right to
seize hallucinogenic tea containing a federally banned substance from
members of a New Mexico church or to prohibit its use. The tea,
called hoasca, contains the substance dimethyltryptamine, or DMT,
known for its hallucinogenic properties.

Members of the O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal, or
UDV, said using the hallucinogenic tea during worship helped them
gain union with God. The Supreme Court based its decision on the 1993
Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which says the government needs to
justify any action that would substantially burden people from
practicing their faith.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico, which also
prosecuted the UDV case, do not comment on pending matters. But in
court documents, they say the Quaintances are "obsessed and focused
on marijuana," and Dan Quaintance's writings about his worship are
"disjointed, poorly supported, illogical ramblings." They conclude
that the couple's "lack of sincerity is patent."

"Of course, it's terrible," Dan Quaintance said in a phone interview
recently. "We're being deprived the benefits of connection --
health-wise and spiritual-wise."

Free on bond, the Quaintances are living in their Southeastern
Arizona home in Pima, about 90 miles northeast of Tucson, where they
remain under court supervision and must submit to weekly urine tests.
They have been living without their sacrament since their arrest. The
couple said that before their arrest, they smoked or ingested marijuana daily.

"We're just sitting here waiting," Dan said. "I think the judge is
going to have a hard time ruling against us on the sincerity of our
religious practice. If there isn't a favorable ruling on our
religious freedom, then I don't believe there is a justice system in
America." The Church of Cognizance, which leaders say has 72
monasteries in members' homes nationwide, has a simple motto: "With
good thoughts, good words and good deeds, we honor marijuana; as the
teacher, the provider, the protector."

The Quaintances do not grow their sacrament but, rather, say they
rely on donations of it, which they pick up from church "couriers."
That's what they say they were about to do when they were arrested.

Since the church was founded, at least 20 members have been
prosecuted on possession and conspiracy charges, and some have served
time in prison, said Mike Senger, a church member who lives in
Florence and provides legal assistance to group members, though he is
not a lawyer. Senger said the Quaintances' case stands out because it
is in the federal court system and because of the Supreme Court's
decision in the UDV case this year.

"Usually, we never win. But we may perhaps win in Mary and Dan's case
because it is federal court, and there is quite a bit at stake. They
are getting some reasonable due process in that court," Senger said.
"We just had one of our other members get out of prison after two
years. It is a hellish, torturous experience for people who are
peaceful and not criminals, who possess marijuana. We don't look at
ourselves as criminals." The case against the Quaintances has hurt
unity in the church, said member Danny Hardesty, 40, who lives in
Thatcher, near Pima, and is facing criminal charges for marijuana
possession in an unrelated case in Yavapai County.

"We haven't been able to go over to their house and talk. We're
scattered," he said. "Until it's resolved, it is dampening our lives
and our worship."