Carl Olsen and Jim Cook outside the United States Court of Appeals After Oral Argument on April 18, 2008, in Olsen v. Mukasey, No. 07-3062

Message from Carl Olsen:

Oral argument in Olsen v. Mukasey, No. 07-3062, took place on Friday, April 18, 2008, in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, Thomas F. Eagleton Courthouse, 111 S. 10th Street, St. Louis, Missouri.

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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).

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