First Church Of Cannabis: An Attendee’s Point of View

Atri Xe Greene was at The First Church of Cannabis very first session, this is what she had to say:

So yesterday, I did something I have not done since I was a teenager: I went to Church. Not just any church of course, but the one and only The First Church of Cannabis. I, like many others, was incredibly pleased when this came out of the awful RFRA law. I followed it closely and from the moment they announced their first service, I planned to go. I told my friends about it in person and posted it on Facebook several times. If you know me personally, you know I don’t do Church, so to see me inviting people to go with me…well, that’s kind of a big deal.

While I did not plan to imbibe publicly at the first service, I wanted to show my support for the idea that we should be able to, especially in church. (Also because I tried to buy a membership when they first started raising funds, but the website they were using did not accept my card for some reason, so I wanted to come sign up in person.) So I was as disappointed as anyone else when Bill Levin announced that we wouldn’t be smoking at all due to Police Chief Hite’s threats of arrests. I’ll even say I felt a little bit angry until I read Abdul-Hakim Shabazz‘s comments on the matter. I will be the first to admit that I am not a lawyer so I was incredibly happy to read this on his page:

“For those of you who are mad at The First Church of Cannabis for not “lighting up” at their inaugural service tomorrow, let me me explain this one more time. To challenge government action you need “standing”. There are three basic elements, injury/threat of injury, causation and redress. The injury element can be met via arrest or threat of arrest and prosecution. If Bill Levin went the criminal route and lost, a lot of people now have criminal records; high reward, yes, but also high risk. By going the civil route, there is little risk and high reward. So from a legal, tactical standard, this is brilliant. The law regarding marijuana is challenged and no one goes to jail in the process. If you can’t grasp this concept, maybe you are using too much of the sacrament.”

This means that the best way to show our support, to give Bill a better edge in court (FOR ALL OF US) is to go to services, become members on the roll books, show them that this IS a legitimate church and we have other things going on besides just pot. Even if you don’t care about the other things the church has going on… (like comedy nights on Tuesdays) showing up, getting your membership is the best way you can help take steps to legalize in Indiana. If we don’t go to services and become members, Bill won’t have much of a leg to stand on and all of this has been for nothing. Only a real church can fight this in civil court and we make it real by showing up. So keep showing up, not just to the next service, but the next and the next and the next. I hope to see you there!

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