Message from Carl Olsen:
My case was denied on May 4, 2009.
Please help me with
legal expenses
by clicking the "Make A Donation" button at the
upper left of the screen!
The history of my
claim:
In 1979 the Supreme Court of Florida found: (1) the Ethiopian
Zion Coptic Church represents a religion within the first
amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and (2) the
"use of cannabis is an essential portion of the religious
practice."
Town v. State ex rel. Reno, 377 So.2d 648, 649 (Fla. 1979),
cert. denied, 449 U.S. 803 (1980).
In 1980 I was arrested with several other members of my church
for possession of approximately 20 tons of marijuana.
United States v. Carl Eric Olsen, 738 F.2d 497 (1st Cir.
1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1120 (1985). The court found:
1) that the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church is a religion embracing
beliefs which are protected by the First Amendment; 2) that the
use of marijuana is an integral part of the religious practice
of the Church; and 3) that [all of the defendants] are members
of the Church and sincerely embrace the beliefs of the Church.
738 F.2d at 512.
In 1984 the Supreme Court of Iowa
found: "Olsen is a member and priest of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic
Church. Testimony at his trial revealed the bona fide nature of this
religious organization and the use of marijuana within it."
State of Iowa v. Carl Eric Olsen, No. 171/69079 (Iowa 1984).
In 1989 a petition I filed for an exemption from the federal
drug law for the sacramental use of marijuana similar to the
existing exemption from the federal drug law for the sacramental
use of peyote was denied by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit in
Carl Eric Olsen v. Drug Enforcement Administration, 878 F.2d
1458 (D.C. Cir. 1989), cert. denied, 495 U.S. 906 (1990).
The Court of Appeals found: "Olsen is a member and priest of the
Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church," 878 F.2d at 1459, and "the
Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church is a bona fide religion with
marijuana as its sacrament." 878 F.2d at 1460.
In the year 1990 the United States Supreme Court denied my
religious claim for the sacramental use of marijuana in Employment
Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990). Congress
unanimously overturned this Supreme Court ruling in 1993 by
enacting the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act. In the year 2006 the United States
Supreme Court in Gonzales v. O
Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, 546 U.S. 418
(2006), interpreted the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to
require religious exemptions to the federal drug law for the
sacramental use of plants unless the government can show actual
harm (which it will be unable to show for my use of marijuana).
Special Thanks to:
The Rutherford Institute | Post Office Box 7482 |
Charlottesville, VA 22906-7482
Phone: 434-978-3888 (8:30 AM - 5:00 PM) | Fax: 434-978-1789
General Inquiries
staff@rutherford.org
