VANCOUVER MAN SAYS SMOKING 'TREE OF LIFE' IS GOD-GIVEN RIGHT

Federal lawyer argues that Chris Bennett has failed to make case weed
is in fact sacred to him

A Vancouver man will appear in Federal Court on Tuesday arguing for an
exemption to the drug laws because they infringe on his constitutional
freedom of religion to smoke his sacred weed - marijuana.

With Insite attendees allowed to inject illicit drugs, medical pot
permitted, peyote and mescaline approved as sacraments, and the
Brazilian syncretic religious group Santo Daime consuming the
Amazonian hallucinogen ayahuasca, Chris Bennett says he is being
discriminated against.

In a carefully argued brief submitted to the court, his lawyer Kirk
Tousaw says that the middle-aged Bennett smokes seven grams of pot a
day in the belief cannabis is the Biblical "tree of life."

While reading about the first Gulf War in 1990 high on pot, Bennett
says he had an epiphany: "Divine information-filled light entered my
being leaving me with the strong intuitive knowledge and belief that
cannabis was the Tree of Life described at the end of the Book of
Revelation."

Since then, he has dedicated his life to researching, writing,
advocating and living out his religious and spiritual beliefs centered
on pot.

In Feb. 2009, like medical users, Bennett sought a Health Canada
exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act because he
faced arrest, prosecution and imprisonment for possessing or buying
pot on the black market.

That was denied by Ottawa on May 29, 2009, after what Bennett says was
a cursory review.

The author of three books documenting the role of marijuana and its
use in the ancient world, Bennett is a reverend with the Church of the
Universe.

He was not contacted by Health Canada or asked to provide additional
information about his religious beliefs or practices.

No significant research into the history of cannabis use in the
context of religion appears to have been conducted: certainly, no one
at Health Canada read his books.

No reason for the rejection was provided except the bald statement
that it was not in the public interest.

Bennett finally is getting his day in court.

Tousaw said documents obtained via freedom-of-information requests
indicated the government had treated the Santo Daime's use of
ayahuasca, which contains the banned substance DMT, much differently
even though marijuana was far less potent a psychotropic.

He added that his client meets all the Supreme Court of Canada tests
to establish his relationship with pot is religious and spiritual.

"In order to invoke the protections guaranteed by Section 2 of the
charter, a religious claimant like Mr. Bennett need only demonstrate
that he sincerely believes that a particular practice, such as the
consumption of cannabis, fosters his ability to connect to the divine
and/or is undertaken as part of his spiritual practice," Tousaw explained.

"He need not demonstrate that his practice conforms to any
dogma."

In a key 1997 Supreme Court of Canada case called Syndicat Northcrest
vs. Amselem, about five Orthodox Jews who wanted to celebrate Succot
according to Moses by building booths on their balconies to sleep in
during the seven-day holiday commemorating the Exodus, the Supreme
Court supported them saying:

"In essence, religion is about freely and deeply held personal
convictions or beliefs connected to an individual's spiritual faith
and integrally linked to one's self-definition and spiritual
fulfilment, the practices of which allow individuals to foster a
connection with the divine or with the subject or object of that
spiritual faith."

The problem is the Amselem case involved Judaism and a recognized
practice - the court was not faced with a religion-of-one or a
non-traditional claim, such as the use of consciousness-altering drugs.

For its part, Ottawa insists there's no merit to Bennett's
case.

In its submission, Department of Justice lawyer Robert Danay said
Bennett's beliefs were "secular in nature ... lifestyle choices" not
protected under the charter.

While there had been some "back-and-forth" between Health Canada and
the ayahuasca applicants, he said, no decision had been made about an
exemption.

"Whether the cannabisrelated practices of, for example, Rastafarians
or Ethiopian Coptic Christians have any nexus with religion is
irrelevant," Danay said.

"What matters here is whether the applicant has demonstrated that his
practice of smoking marijuana has the requisite nexus with religion
.. he has not."

Bennett doesn't have any rites or sacraments involving pot, the
federal lawyer emphasized - he simply smokes it constantly!