Wednesday April 16, 2008, 2:26 PM
Fannettsburg man claims religious use of marijuana
by MATT MILLER, Of Our Cumberland County Bureau
Robert George Henry, 47, of Fannettsburg, Franklin County.
A Cumberland County judge this afternoon shot down a man's claim that he shouldn't be prosecuted on a drug possession charge because he smokes marijuana for what he said were religious purposes.
President Judge Edgar B. Bayley made that ruling about 10 seconds after Robert George Henry finished testifying about his drug-related sacrament.
Henry, 48, of Fannettsburg, Franklin County, had been trying to convince the judge that the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom protects his drug use. In a motion to the court, he compared his marijuana use to the Christian use of wine in Holy Communion.
State police said a trooper stopped an intoxicated Henry with a carload of freshly harvested marijuana near Newburg in October.
Henry testified today that he joined the Hawaii Cannabis Ministry and became an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church three months after his arrest on drug possession and drunken driving charges.
"I started smoking marijuana when I was 13 years old," said Henry, who said he has served five years in prison on drug and burglary convictions. "I've come to the belief that smoking cannabis helps me commune with my Lord and helps me understand what he wants me to do with my life."
"The first thing I do every day is smoke a little bit of cannabis and say my daily prayers," he testified.
Under questioning by Senior Assistant District Attorney Derek Clepper, Henry admitted that he had smoked a pipe of marijuana a half-hour before the trooper pulled him over.
When Clepper pressed him on his knowledge of the law's bar on marijuana possession, Henry replied that he and other Cannabis Ministry members "don't feel we should be persecuted for our cannabis use."
When he began expounding on those beliefs, Bayley shouted "Stop! Stop! Stop!"
Defense attorney George Marros said Henry has no immediate plan to appeal Bayley's decision. Henry is scheduled for trial next month
Diigo
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