THE TRENTONIAN

May 28th, 2002

"WEEDMAN" protests outside courthouse

LINK: ACTUAL STORY

Forchion, a Rastafarian, also fears being tossed back in jail for talking to the press, a risk he said he is prepared to take in order to set the record straight.

Although his religion advocates smoking marijuana, Forchion said he would be thrown back in jail if he exercised the ritual.

"They won't let me see my daughter because I advocated legalizing marijuana," said Forchion, who was released from his incarceration April 3 after serving 18 months at the Riverfront State Prison in Camden for possession of 25 pounds of pot.

He said he hasn't smoked pot in 20 months.

Yesterday, Forchion passed out over 100 fliers at the courthouse. Only three people, he said, openly disagreed with his message.

In addition to his allegations that the U.S. legal system discriminates against Rastafarians, Forchion took the opportunity to launch invectives against his ex-girlfriend, Linda Holden, the mother of his 6-year-old daughter.

Holden was "a scorned woman," he said.

"The way our relationship broke up ... I admit I blew it, I got caught. And she has never gotten over it," he said. "Being Mr. Weedman got me. I've done my time. I got out."

Forchion has been trying for six years to see his daughter, Ajanea Forchion, who was 5 months old when he broke up with Holden.

He has been married for four years and lives with three other children, including another 6-year-old.

"Rastafarians are being persecuted," he said. "We are no different than Falun Gong; they have their kids taken, they are arrested, go to re-education camps. We are forced to go to NA meetings, Narcotics Anonymous."

Rastafarianism is considered an illegal religion, he said, because of the war on marijuana, an "an herb, grown by God, that's natural and beneficial.

"The Christians have something against me. The court system is run by [Christians] ... They can't control what we believe."

Forchion said he is being forced to renounce his religious beliefs so he can see his daughter.

"You can't take my kid from me for what I believe," he said.

THE BURLINGTON COUNTY TIMES ( 5/28)

"WEEDMAN" protests child-vistiation ruling

Pot advocate can only see his daughter once a week

ACTUAL STORY

By John Reitmeyer and Mike Mathis
BCT staff writers

jreitmeyer@phillyBurbs.com

mmathis@phillyBurbs.com

Just weeks out of state prison, marijuana advocate Ed "njweedman'' Forchion was back on the public protest circuit yesterday.

Forchion picketed the Burlington County courts complex in Mount Holly and the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton to draw attention to a judge's recent decision that restricts his visits with his 6-year-old daughter.

Forchion, a Pemberton Township resident, is a follower of the Rastafari religion and maintains that marijuana is needed for its rituals. A Superior Court judge assigned to the family division in Mount Holly, however, has limited him to only one supervised visit with his daughter each week because Forchion openly calls for the legalization of marijuana.

"I guess the only way I can see my daughter is to become a Christian and start parroting the lies of the government about marijuana,'' Forchion wrote in a four-page leaflet he handed out during his protests.

Meanwhile, a judge assigned to the Superior Court's family division in Camden awarded Forchion custody of his 16-year-old daughter last month, according to court documents.

Forchion, a former candidate for the Burlington County Board of Freeholders and U.S. Congress, is a veteran of public protests. He's smoked marijuana at the Liberty Bell monument in Philadelphia, inside the Statehouse and outside the Burlington County courts complex.

His protests yesterday were not as dramatic. Forchion carried a sign calling for "freedom of speech and freedom of religion,'' and quietly discussed the issue with passersby.

He did not, however, speak to reporters because he said his state probation program prevents him from discussing marijuana legalization with the media.

Forchion's legal troubles stem primarily from a 1997 charge that he tried to help his brother and another man pick up 40 pounds of marijuana shipped from a supplier in Arizona via Federal Express to a Camden County industrial park.

Forchion pleaded guilty during his trial in October 2000. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in December 2000, but was released last month after serving 16 months.

Forchion is now enrolled in a probation program that forces him to undergo regular urine testing.

Everyone has the RIGHT to protest. In fact America wouldn't be what it is today if the 1st Amendment Right to protest wasn't in place. What I want to know is why doesn't it apply to me. Has the Burlington County Courthouse become Tiananmen Square. If this is still America I have a RIGHT to protest.

"One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law."

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Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

RASTAFARI IS A RECOGNIZED RELIGION IN THE U.S. ALTHOUGH IT IS ALSO ONE OF THE ILLEGAL RELIGIONS TO PRACTICE IN THE U.S.A., BECAUSE OF THE "White" CHRISTIAN MAJORITY (that creates the laws and dispises African based faiths) AND THE SO-CALLED "WAR ON DRUGS".

The American media rarely reports on the infringment of RELIGIOUS RIGHTS aspect of the "WAR ON DRUGS".

The federal courts have used this description of “RASTAFARI” in 3 recent federal court cases.

See below:

RASTAFARIANISM: Is a religion which first took root in JAMAICA in the nineth century and has since gained adherents in the UNITED STATES. See: Mircea Eliade, Encyclopedia of Religion pages 96-97 (1998 edition). It is among the 1,558 religious groups sufficiently stable and distinctive to be identified as one of the existing religions in this country. See J.Gordan Melton, Encyclopedia of American Religious pages 870-71 (1991 edition). Standard descriptions of the religion emphasize the use of marijuana in cultic ceromonies designed to bring the believer closer to the divinity and to enhance unity among believers. Functionally, marijuana known as GANJA in the language of the religion --operates as a sacrament with the power to rasie the partakers above the mundane and to enhance thier spiritual unity.

UNITED STATES Vs BAUER, 84 F.3d 1549, 1556 (9th Cir.1996) - (CLICK THIS)

MCBRIDE Vs SHAWNEE CITY ,71 F.Supp. 2d 1098, 1100 (5th Cir) 1999

STEELE Vs BLACKMAN, 236 F.3d (3rd Cir.) 2000

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THE HISTORICAL USE OF RELIGIOUS MARIJUANA IN AFRICA

The African continent is probably the zone showing the widest prevalence of the hemp drug habit. When white men first went to Africa, marijuana was part of the native way of life. Africa was a continent of marijuana cultures where marijuana was an integral part of religious ceremony. The Africans were observed inhaling the smoke from piles of smoldering hemp. Some of these piles had been placed upon altars. The Africans also utilized pipes. The African Dagga (marijuana) cults believed that Holy Cannabis was brought to earth by the gods. (Throughout the ancient world Ethiopia was considered the home of the gods.)

In south central Africa, marijuana is held to be sacred and is connected with many religious and social customs. Marijuana is regarded by some sects as a magic plant possessing universal protection against all injury to life, and is symbolic of peace and friendship. Certain tribes consider hemp use a duty. The earliest evidence for cannabis smoking in Africa outside of Egypt comes from fourteenth century Ethiopia, where two ceramic smoking-pipe bowls containing traces of excavation. In many parts of East Africa, especially near Lake Victoria (the source for the Nile), hemp smoking and hashish snuffing cults still exist.

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ALSO ON MAY 28th, 2002

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled:

"RASTAFARIANS HAVE RIGHT TO USE MARIJUANA"

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THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER http://www.examiner.com/news/default.jsp?story=n.rasta.0530w Rastafarians hit it big in pot fight BY DAVID KIEFER Of The Examiner Staff     It's illegal to smoke ganja in Jamaica. At the Presidio, it's a different story. After all, it's freedom of religion -- if you're a Rastafarian, and have the dreadlocks to prove it. Yep, those days of hiding that certain smell from your landlord are over. Rastafarians can now smoke out in the great outdoors as long as they keep it on federal land -- wink, wink -- and they have Benny Toves Guerrero to thank for the action. Guerrero was arrested at the Guam airport for marijuana possession, but his appeal to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ended favorably Tuesday. The court ruled that Congress had the power to make religious exemptions to existing laws. The result: A loophole allowing the smoking of weed -- a spiritual offering in the Rastafarian religion -- on federal land. Around the Rastafarian community Wednesday, the court ruling was being savored like a long, slow toke. "That's what I was telling you this morning," said a friend trying to help Jamaica native Glendon Codling, who was selling necklaces from a table on Market and Fifth streets Wednesday, fully realize the effect of the decision. "Can I be a Rasta?" Unfortunately, Codling's Caucasian buddy might not pass muster. In other words, don't expect an influx of new converts. "A Rasta comes with the hair," said Newton Gordon, Jamaica's honorary consul to San Francisco. "You don't see a Rasta with a nice crew cut." But they do have pot. It's an integral part of the Rasta religion, and now, they don't have to hide it anymore. They can go to Ocean Beach, Crissy Field, Point Reyes, even the Farallons, and light a doobie. "In Jamaica, it's a lot like food," Codling said. "It's like relaxation. But in Jamaica you get in big, big trouble." You mean in the home of Bob Marley it is illegal to smoke pot? Codling was asked. "Yes," he said, musing about the idea of being able to light one up near the Golden Gate Bridge. Gordon explained that the law was implemented as a means to avoid a strong dependence on Colombian drug lords. "But everybody looks the other way," Gordon said. "In Jamaica, no one's going to arrest you for smoking pot." No one will here either, just watch where you're standin

FED'S SAY:

RASTAFARIANS CAN USE MARIJUANA FOR RELIGION