By Dakika Esrael

Far far across the valley comes the sound of an almighty procession Zion bound. Chanting chanting Iyabinghi drums yunder and yant the call to redemption, Babylon doomed to fall, Iyudgmant to come through Ivine intervention. Funde dance, Kette skip, Bass yunder, riddims praise Rastafari, the prophesied Anointed One, Jah the Redeemer in his biblical and kingly character. The year is 1930, and revelation of the newly crowned Black King of Ithiopia is proclaimed by the Brethren of Rastafari unto the world as the fulfillmant of biblical prophecies relating to the second coming of Christ on earth in his Ivine lineage.

Realizations of Afrika, specifically Ithiopia, the ancient Kingdom of Afrikanity being the Hola citadel of Jerusalem: Mount Zion to the tribes of Rastafari. Spiritual allegiance was given to the newly crowned King of Ithiopia by the Brethren as the rightful creator and ruler of the physical universe, the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords manifest in the physical appearance of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I: light and inspiration to the dispossessed mass of suffera Jamaicans of Afrikan ascent reaching for salvation from the depths of slavery and degradation. A glorious king whose coming is to conquer, Negus Tafari Makonnen, godhead to the Movemant of Rastafari, domiciled on the island of Jamaica.

Just prior to and during the 1930s, there were various “witnesses” professing and expounding the belief that H.I.M. was indeed the prophesied King of Israel alluded to in several passages of the Hola Bible.

A cornerstone influence at the foundation of the doctrine was Marcus Mosiah Garvey, the first acknowledged international spokesman of Black Consciousness who foretold the event of the crowning of a Black King in Afrika who would herald the impending redemption of the Black race scattered throughout the world. Garvey is considered a supreme Black Zionist who articulated a philosophy of righteousness for the Black race which was to become a source of deep inspiration and guidance to the emerging Rastafarian consciousness and doctrine of the formative groundations; a John the Baptist prophet of the culture of Rastafari.

At the same time, there were others in agreement with Garvey’s prophecies, and around these first orators was gathered a growing number of followers in the poverty-stricken ghettos of western Kingston and the rural areas of the island. H. Archibald Dunkley (King of Kings Missionary Movement), Joseph Nathaniel Hibbert (Ethiopian Coptic Faith), Leonard Howell of Pinnacle (Ethiopian World Federation) and his deputy Robert Hinds, were all part of eclectic missions that preached the initial doctrines of Rastafari at what is considered the inception of the movemant. Leonard Howell established the communal Ethiopian World Federation in the Sligoville area of St. Catherine, known as Pinnacle, and it is partly through these portals that the growing awareness of Rastafari and Selassie began to spread into the colonial society of the ’30s and ’40s.

Communities sprung up in the poorest tin and board ghettos of western Kingston; the notorious Dungle, Back 0′ Wall, Shanty Town, Moonlight City and up in the Wareika Hills overlooking the city of Kingston. From these humble beginnings the Rastafari Movemant has risen and spread its cultural consciousness through other West Indian Islands, into parts of the United States of America and Canada, into the United Kingdom and certain areas of Europe; to Afrika itself and other regions of the world just becoming acquainted with the vision of Rastafari, Jamaica, Selassie I and Afrika as a redemptive reality in the world today. Ongoing manifestations of the Spirit of I & I, the evolution of a practical “living way of life” based on the essentially revolutionary Christian doctrine of peace and love and the brotherhood of man existing in the “here and now” and not in some future or in an unseen “afterlife”; the reality of Zion upon this our one earth.

Picture colonial Jamaica of the 1930s, an axis of 400 years of exploitation of the masses in the name of the “motherland” England, a Crown colony maintained by the then British ruling class. Social rituals founded upon Anglo-Saxon ethics of church, state, morality, education and finance (social or otherwise) there on the island as in other colonies were nothing more than Britain removed to the Caribbean, “chips off the old block.”

Colonial society by then was socially and financially ordered according to “class and station” of White, Chinese, Syrian, Black, Jewish, Indian and Creole, down to the rock-bottom dispossession of the Black suffera masses. Thus it was upon the poor Black psyche that the initial outpourings of the spirit of Rastafari was accepted and taken to heart; it offered salvation to those whose lot was little better than nothing—poverty in the extreme with little or no hope of change for the better.

Theirs is to be the apocalyptical Exodus and Movemant of Jah people from all Babylonian Empires and the return to each man’s vine and fig from where the ancestors were taken and cast in the West into slavery. Micah 4:4: “But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid.”

Rastafari transcends life in the spirit of a Jah-inspired life, setting aside all limitations. I & I walk in the knowledge of the temple as witness to the love that the “I am that I am” bears unto his children.

Rasta is not concerned with the insanities perpetuated in the name of Christ and the fallen sinful nature of man. He lives within the tribulation of these times yet his “cloth” is washed pure in the rivers of salvation.

Rev. 7:13-14: “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

“And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Rastafari is love of one and all; do unto others as I & I would have others do unto I & I. The more immediate, open and conscious I & I live, the more I & I experience the life-giving spirit of Christ dwelling within. Rasta knows through the 5×5 God-given faculties that life is a supreme gift to the universal earth functioning as a sacred bond with I Faada, the almighty and living Jah.

Rastafari defends the belief of the Black Christ of the ancient Solomonic house of Ethiopia, the supreme Adonai and creator of Heaven and Earth as the sole and true spiritual ruler of the creation manifested as the Hola One of Israel. Knowledge of the origins through the Black Christ of Rastafari stretching from antiquity and the union of King Solomon and Queen Makeda of Sheba whose son, Menelik I, established the first divine Solomonic throne in Ethiopia centuries ago. Black historical facts, hidden, denied and desecrated throughout time, now to be established through the awareness of historical fact and reality.

This I-sense (essence/inner sense) for Rastafari is an I-sense of natural intuitive intelligence, it involves full use of the 5×5 I-senses of the physical temple being attuned to the spirit to receive ongoing cycles of creative energy. A living sea of awareness, both inner I of the Irit, and outer I of the material world.

Let all hearts, open and receptive to the uprising of Rastafari, come and take rest in the gardens of truth; the rebirth of those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Perhaps then truth shall once again prosper as Jah knoweth and liveth.

This article was originally published in the April 1983 issue of High Times Magazine.

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In the opening verse of The Tortured Poets Department, her 11th studio album, Taylor Swift sings that she was a functioning alcoholic until nobody noticed her new aesthetic. 

They do now. 

In the album, a sprawling 31 tracks (that’s her signature 13 backward), Swift is the most unmasked (and turned on) she’s ever been. She’s done impressing the “wine moms” (even if the blood of fermented fruit is her drug of choice). Sung in a low register, the first 16 songs of TPD are primarily dark, twinkling synthy pop tunes, primarily written with long-term collaborator Jack Antonoff, with help from Aaron Dessner of The National. Dessner, whose Swift collabs are more of the folk music, indie variety, primarily encompass the latter half of The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, a surprise bonus album dropped shortly after listeners finished streaming the original album at midnight (shout out to everyone else who got a notification from Spotify that they were in the first ten percent of streams). 

TPD racked up 891 million streams in its first week in the United States, setting a new record that surpasses the previous high of 746 million streams, achieved by Drake’s 25-track Scorpion in 2018. 

On the title track, “The Tortured Poets Department,” Swift sings about a love interest who “smoked and ate seven bars of chocolate.” Despite acknowledging that this person isn’t Dylan Thomas, and she isn’t Patti Smith (“This ain’t the Chelsea hotel, we’re modern idiots”), Swift is unabashedly captivated, which is why it’s so heartbreaking when deeper into the anthology side of the album, she’s realizing that this person needed her but needed drugs more.  

If the tabloids are to be believed, the “tattooed golden retriever” in question is the problematic charismatic Matty Healy of The 1975, who’s openly discussed seeking treatment for a heroin addiction. On “The Alchemy,” she finds a new lover who is into heroin, but this time, with an “e,” (heroine). It’s easy to simply say that she’s singing about drugs on TPD because she was linked to Healy in 2023 when it was primarily written, but looking to tabloid reports on her dating history to explain songwriting decisions is so tired. And, plus, while their recent “situationship” is captivating TikTok, the pair have at least known each other and supported one another’s work for a decade. 

So why is Swift getting so real and singing about the munchies and balancing love and addiction now? Is it that cannabis, set to be declassified, isn’t as shocking as it was when she was first involved with bad boys? No. 

It’s actually not the first time she’s covered substance use disorders; 2020’s “This Is Me Trying,” as discussed in Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, is about exactly that. Just no one noticed her new aesthetic! And now she’s totally out of fucks, even if she’s dropping the f-bomb more regularly than ever before. It’s not just drugs. TPD is not just love song after love song about an ex, as many reviews would have you believe. There’s line after line dissecting religion. She’s critical of her seemingly picture-perfect family, perhaps most shockingly, and even her fans. 

She’s levitating down the street in “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” like some vampire defanged to perform in the circus (The internet wants to know: Is she beefing with Olivia Rodrigo? What about the diss track allegedly about Kim Kardashian? You fools, if anything, she’s drumming up drama for Reputation: Taylor’s Version!). She’s very horny on “Guilty As Sin?” which continues the album’s investigation into sex and religion. She’s watching American Pie on the garage rock “So High School.” Post Malone contributes smokey vocals on “Fortnight,” and in the video, we get to see what Swift looks like with face tats. The whole thing is honestly a stoner’s delight. And it’s definitely an album for people in their 30s. On “Florida!!!” featuring Florence Welch, which is basically about escaping to the state to dispose of bodies, those that have been on top of you, Swift is observing that her friends “all smell like weed or little babies,” and on the gorgeous “Robin” she’s begging a lover to take her higher and higher while cackling “you look ridiculous,” like she’s Alabama from True Romance in the scene where she kills James Gandolfini with the help of hair spray. “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” is pop perfection, and Swift singing about crying a lot while remaining productive is as on-brand as it gets. This song will definitely be performed at the remaining 2024 Eras tour dates. 

Plus, we get to hear Swift sing the word “daddy” again. The stuff about the exes is largely interesting for Easter Eggs-obsessed fans (The Tortured Poets Department came out on April 19, the day before 4/20, but also the date that, in 1775, the Revolutionary War began as America declared its intentions to leave Britain, and both Healy and her ex of six years who apparently wanted to de-jewel her, are British). The track “So Long London” brings Miss Americana back home. What’s next, the critics and fans want to know. After seeing a video on IG of her singing along to Garth Brooks’s iconic “I’ve Got Friends in Low Places” at a football game, I’m personally crossing my fingers that, as the country genre has become surprisingly cool in recent years, thanks to stars like Kacey Musgraves, who often sings about cannabis, as well, of course, as Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter and Swift collaborator Lana Del Rey’s forthcoming country album, Lasso, that Tay Tay will go back to her Tim McGraw lovin’ roots, and we’ll eventually get another country album. 13/10 stars for The Tortured Poets Department. 

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An Arizona church has reached a settlement in a lawsuit against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal agencies that allows the Indigenous religious organization to use the psychedelic brew ayahuasca for sacramental purposes. Under the agreement, the Church of the Eagle and the Condor (CEC) will be permitted to import, prepare and distribute ayahuasca to its members at religious ceremonies.

“The Church of the Eagle and the Condor has reached a settlement to secure its religious freedom and the right to use Ayahuasca as its sacrament,” the church wrote in an announcement of the settlement. “This is the first Indigenous-based church to receive recognition and protection.”

In 2022, the CEC filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection and the DEA after DHS officials seized shipments of ayahuasca intended for sacramental use by church members. The lawsuit also cited government threats that the church and its members could face prosecution under federal drug charges if they continued to import ayahuasca, which contains the psychedelic drug and Schedule I controlled substance DMT (N, N-Dimethyltryptamine).

The settlement allows the CEC and its members to obtain and use ayahuasca in paste or liquid form under an exemption to the Controlled Substances Act. The concentrate will then be diluted with water into a ceremonial tea by church members for religious ceremonial purposes held in Phoenix. The settlement permits the DEA to take samples of imported shipments to confirm they contain ayahuasca and no controlled substances other than DMT. 

“This Agreement permits CEC to import, receive, manufacture, distribute, transport, securely store, and dispose of ayahuasca solely for CEC’s religious purposes,” the settlement reads. “CEC may not conduct any of these activities for non-religious purposes, including but not limited to recreational purposes. CEC may not use any DEA registrations subject to this Agreement to import, receive, manufacture, distribute, store, or use any other controlled substance.”

Ayahuasca is used in South America by Indigenous cultures and folk healers in spiritual and religious ceremonies. In recent years, the psychoactive brew has gained popularity with American celebrities including Aaron Rodgers, Will Smith, Miley Cyrus and others, who have used ayahuasca to take advantage of its purported mental health benefits.

CEC Ayahuasquero (sacramental practitioner) Joseph Tafur, M.D. said in a statement that the ceremonial use of ayahuasca “is an essential sacrament for our church.”

“Our ceremony is rooted in the Shipibo Amazonian tradition which has been passed down by countless generations,” he said. “Now, in fulfillment of the ancient Prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor, this tradition has come to North America.” 

“I am honored to be an Ayahuasquero with the CEC, and bring to our ceremony the care, respect, and reverence that it deserves,” Tafur continued, adding, “Our ancestral practice will continue to support the community and nourish our holistic well-being.” 

Belinda P. Eriacho, a CEC board member of Diné and A:shwii lineages, said that the settlement with the DEA “reaffirms our right to practice our spirituality as we have always known. It is a recognition by the U.S. government and an important milestone in honoring and validating indigenous belief systems. Prior to contact, indigenous peoples have used sacred plant medicines for healing and ceremony since time immemorial.”

“Our relationship with our plant relatives has always been an extension of our worldview. This has been interrupted by the imposition of governmental policies that have suppressed our way of life and demonstrated religious intolerance,” Eriacho continued. “This settlement is a significant step and acknowledgment of our spiritual beliefs as original peoples of the Americas.” 

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A federal judge in California has ruled against a motion from the U.S. Attorney General’s office to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a church that uses the psychedelic brew ayahuasca as a sacrament. The suit was filed last year by the Church of the Celestial Heart after a shipment of ayahuasca to the church was intercepted by law enforcement officials.

The legal action, which names U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and other federal officials as defendants in the case, was filed by Jade Osborne, the wife of the Church of the Celestial Heart’s pastor Kai Karrel and the intended recipient of the shipment. After the ayahuasca shipment was intercepted, Osborne was arrested and criminally charged in 2021 by authorities in Tulare County, although prosecutors have not filed formal charges.

Osborne, the church, and additional plaintiffs maintain in the lawsuit filed in April 2023 that the federal government is forcing them to choose between practicing their religion or going against their beliefs to avoid prosecution by law enforcement.

“Ayahuasca is an essential sacrament for Karrel, without which he cannot practice his religion or provide services to the church’s members,” the church writes in its suit, according to a report from Courthouse News Service. “Despite these threats, Karrel intends to continue possessing and using the church’s sacrament — ayahuasca.”

In the legal action, the church is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions barring Garland and federal officials from prosecuting members of the church for using ayahuasca. The suit also requests attorney’s fees and other forms of relief from the government.

AG Files Motion To Dismiss Case

The attorney general’s office filed a motion to dismiss the case, maintaining that the church did state a claim in its filing and does not have standing to file the suit because the seizure was not an injury caused by the named defendants in the case. Although the Department of Homeland Security seized the shipment of ayahuasca, an official with the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case and arrested Osborne. The motion also requested that if the case was not dismissed, it be stayed until the church applies for a religious exemption to the Controlled Substances Act. 

U.S. Magistrate Judge Stanley A. Boone ruled against the attorney general’s office on all counts.

“The court finds plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged a genuine threat of imminent prosecution … and this supports the conclusion that plaintiffs have demonstrated standing,” the judge wrote in his decision.

Boone noted in his decision that church members intend to continue importing, possessing and using ayahuasca because the church cannot function properly without the sacrament. Members of the church also intend to continue using ayahuasca in its rituals, even with the threat of prosecution from federal and local authorities.

“Here, Celestial Heart alleges it has suffered both financial and spiritual loss having its sacrament confiscated and destroyed,” the judge wrote. “That it is substantially burdened by being forced to choose between following the tenets of its religion or being coerced to act contrary to its religious beliefs by the threat of civil or criminal sanctions; and that it intends to continue importing, possessing, and using its sacrament, for without its sacrament, the Church cannot provide essential services.”

Church members say they believe the ayahuasca was destroyed after it was seized. But the judge determined that even if the brew was destroyed, the threat of federal prosecution of church members could be traced back to the federal officials named in the lawsuit.

Boone also ruled against the attorney general’s motion to stay the case to allow the Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate the religious exemption claims made by the church.

Sean T. McAllister, a Denver attorney representing the Church of the Celestial Heart, declined a request from the Courthouse News Service to comment on the legal action.

“Here, Celestial Heart alleges it has suffered both financial and spiritual loss having its sacrament confiscated and destroyed,” Boone wrote. “That it is substantially burdened by being forced to choose between following the tenets of its religion or being coerced to act contrary to its religious beliefs by the threat of civil or criminal sanctions; and that it intends to continue importing, possessing, and using its sacrament, for without its sacrament, the Church cannot provide essential services.”

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Government officials in the Bahamas last week introduced a number of measures that would dramatically change the country’s marijuana laws, including one proposal that would legalize cannabis for religious and medical purposes.

The Associated Press reports that the Bahamian government introduced “several bills” aimed at marijuana reform. One, according to the AP, would decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot.

More from the Associated Press on the proposals:

“If approved, those caught with less than 30 grams (one ounce) of marijuana would pay a $250 fine and the incident would not appear on their criminal record. Buying marijuana for recreational purposes would remain illegal. Officials said licenses for cultivation, retail, transport and religious use would only be granted to companies that are entirely Bahamian owned. Licenses for research, testing and manufacturing would be awarded to companies that are at least 30% Bahamian owned.”

According to the online resource Cannigma, laws in the Bahamas ban “recreational use, and those who are caught doing so face the possibility of severe monetary fines and lengthy imprisonment.”

The website explains that the country “enacted laws against marijuana usage with the passing of the Dangerous Drugs Act in 1929,” and that in the early 1960s, the Bahamas “expanded their definition of illegal marijuana usage to include hemp products and substances containing CBD. 

“Bahamas marijuana laws remained much unchanged until January 2018 when the Caribbean Community Regional Commission held a town hall meeting on the possibility of decriminalizing cannabis. A governmental committee was established to consult with Bahamas’ citizens on their views regarding the country’s future marijuana laws and policies,” Cannigma explained. “In May 2021, following the publication of the committee’s findings, a preliminary bill of updated Bahamas marijuana laws was leaked to the press. The latest bill calls for the legalization of medical marijuana. Similar to Thailand, the current Bahamas government is looking to spur the local economy by allowing local farmers to cultivate the crop and sell it to local medical institutions and cannabis dispensaries.”

The move for reform by the Bahamas comes more than two months after another Carribean government, the country of Antigua and Barbuda, became the first country in the region to permit Rastafari to cultivate and consume marijuana. 

“We’re more free now,” said Ras Tashi, a member of the Ras Freeman Foundation for the Unification of Rastafari.

Marijuana –– or “ganja,” as it is called in Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean –– plays a sacred role in Rastafarian culture. 

As the Associated Press explained back in 2021: 

“The Rastafari faith is rooted in 1930s Jamaica, growing as a response by Black people to white colonial oppression. The beliefs are a melding of Old Testament teachings and a desire to return to Africa. Rastafari followers believe the use of marijuana is directed in biblical passages and that the ‘holy herb’ induces a meditative state. The faithful smoke it as a sacrament in chalice pipes or cigarettes called ‘spliffs,’ add it to vegetarian stews and place it in fires as a burnt offering.”

Rastafari had lobbied for marijuana legalization for years, with many of their adherents jailed and punished by law enforcement as a result of the practice.

“We believe that we have to provide a space for everyone at the table, irrespective of their religion,” Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said. “Just as we’ve recognized other faiths, it’s absolutely important for us to also ensure that the Rastafari faith is also acknowledged … to acknowledge their constitutional right to worship and to utilize cannabis as a sacrament.”

Other countries in the Caribbean have also taken steps toward marijuana reform. 

Marijuana has been decriminalized in Jamaica, where earlier this year government officials discussed providing more support for the country’s small-scale cannabis farmers.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Virgin Islands “authorized the recreational and sacramental use of marijuana for anyone 21 and older, joining several nations across the socially conservative Caribbean that have relaxed their cannabis laws,” the Associated Press reported in January.

“We are bringing the opportunities to you, but you must also do your part to seize these opportunities,” Albert Bryan Jr., the governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands said after signing the bill into law at the time.

“It is my goal to make sure many of us who have been negatively impacted by the criminalization of cannabis are afforded every opportunity to participate in this new and legal cannabis industry,” Bryan added.

The new law allows “those 21 and older to possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana, a half ounce of concentrate and 1 ounce of products such as edibles for recreational, sacramental and other uses,” according to the Associated Press.

The U.S. Virgin Islands had already legalized medical marijuana in 2019.

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The country of Antigua and Barbuda has become one of the first in the Caribbean to authorize Rastafari to grow and smoke cannabis, an herb that is considered a sacrament by followers of the religion. 

As the Associated Press reported, for decades, many Rastafari have been “been jailed and endured racial and religious profiling by law enforcement because of their marijuana use,” which they say “brings them closer to the divine.” 

Officials in Antigua and Barbuda, an island country with a population of a little more than 90,000, have now sought to rectify the situation. 

According to the Associated Press, the lifting of the ban makes the country “one of the first Caribbean nations to grant Rastafari authorization to grow and smoke their sacramental herb.”

“We’re more free now,” said Ras Tashi, a member of the Ras Freeman Foundation for the Unification of Rastafari, as quoted by the Associated Press, which reported that Tashi recently “led chants and praise in the tabernacle on the foundation’s farm located in Liberta’s lush agricultural district.”

Rastafaris have lobbied for legal cannabis in the country for years. In 2021, the Associated Press reported that adherents were “clamoring for broader relaxation to curtail persecution and ensure freedom of worship.”

The AP offered more background at the time:

“The Rastafari faith is rooted in 1930s Jamaica, growing as a response by Black people to white colonial oppression. The beliefs are a melding of Old Testament teachings and a desire to return to Africa. Rastafari followers believe the use of marijuana is directed in biblical passages and that the ‘holy herb’ induces a meditative state. The faithful smoke it as a sacrament in chalice pipes or cigarettes called ‘spliffs,’ add it to vegetarian stews and place it in fires as a burnt offering. ‘Ganja,’ as marijuana is known in Jamaica, has a long history in that country, and its arrival predates the Rastafari faith. Indentured servants from India brought the cannabis plant to the island in the 19th century, and it gained popularity as a medicinal herb.

It began to gain wider acceptance in the 1970s when Rastafari and reggae culture was popularized through music icons Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, two of the faith’s most famous exponents. Tosh’s 1976 hit ‘Legalize It’ remains a rallying cry for those pushing to make marijuana legal. Rastafari adherents in the U.S., many of them Black, say they have endured both racial and religious profiling by law enforcement agencies due to their ritualistic use of cannabis.”

The change in law in Antigua and Barbuda may lead to a similar domino effect as the one that has unfolded here over the last decade in the United States, where dozens of states and cities have lifted longstanding prohibitions on cannabis within their jurisdictions.

The Associated Press reported last week that “Rastafari elsewhere are pushing for similar religious protections,” and that experts and stakeholders “think the Antigua and Barbuda law could give a boost to these efforts worldwide at a time when public opinion and policy are continuing to shift in favor of medical and recreational marijuana use.”

Under the new law in Antigua and Barbuda, “the island government also decriminalized the use of marijuana for the general public,” according to the Associated Press, while also allowing “people outside the faith [to] grow four cannabis plants each and possess up to 15 grams.”

“We believe that we have to provide a space for everyone at the table, irrespective of their religion,” Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne told the AP. “Just as we’ve recognized other faiths, it’s absolutely important for us to also ensure that the Rastafari faith is also acknowledged … to acknowledge their constitutional right to worship and to utilize cannabis as a sacrament.”

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Spanning across 35 subgroups divided by ideology, religiosity, and age, the majority of nearly every demographic supported legal cannabis in the U.S. with just two exceptions: Older conservatives ages 50+, and “people who attend church weekly.”

Gallup recently released a poll with the latest data conducted on Oct. 3 to 20. Study results are based on telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,009 adults living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The list includes people from all walks of life, male and female, Democrat and Republican. Per usual, landline and cell phone telephone numbers were selected using random digit dial methods.

And using this and combined data gathered over the past five years—2018 through 2022—they released a stronger aggregated analysis of demographic differences in views about pot legalization, which they say is better than providing data from one poll alone.

Holding steady for the past two years, a record-high 68% of Americans across the board said they support legal pot. That number remained unchanged since the poll was conducted in 2020 and 2021.

Gallup Results Across Ideologies

People with no religious preference topped the list at 89%, liberals closed in second at 84%, Democrats at 81%, young adults close behind at 79%, and those who seldom or never attend religious services next at 78%.

The only subgroups that did not favor legal pot by majority are those who attend church weekly at 46% and conservatives at 49%—however younger conservatives ages 18 to 49 favored pot legalization slightly. Baby boomer conservatives, however, are a different story.

“Americans have grown much more supportive of legalizing marijuana over the past two decades, but support appears to be leveling off for now, not showing any change in the past three years,” wrote Jeffrey M. Jones in the poll report.

Protestants and Catholics showed equal support for legal pot at 60% each. It appears that college education changes attitudes to be more positive about cannabis: graduates supported legal pot more than non-graduates, with 69% and 66%, respectively. Stay in school, folks.

“While majorities of most major subgroups are in favor of legalizing marijuana, there are a few holdouts—-namely, political conservatives and regular churchgoers,” he continued. “Small segments of the population (in particular, older conservatives) are still disinclined to think marijuana use should be legal. However, younger conservatives and younger moderates are more inclined than their older counterparts to think cannabis should be legal. As such, in future decades support for legalizing marijuana can be expected to continue to grow as newer, likely more pro-marijuana, generations replace older generations in the U.S. population.”

Suburban residents supported legal pot the most at 72%, more than city residents (67%) and rural residents (60%). Men were also slightly more supportive of legal pot (70%) than women (65%).

The Growing Support of Legal Pot

In 1969, the first time Gallup conducted this poll, only 12% of Americans said cannabis should be legal. That number has gone up steadily, stalling briefly amid the “Just Say No” fever movement of the ‘80s, but climbing to 68% where it stands today. 

The polls show the normalization of cannabis use in America, which is light years away from prior generations.

Time is ticking for the generations that do not support legal pot, which shrinks consistently each year. Younger conservatives—who now support legal pot—are replacing their older counterparts and pretty soon, the ballot boxes.

Download the PDF of a complete list of Gallup’s poll responses here.

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A California church that distributes cannabis and psychedelic drugs for sacramental purposes has filed a lawsuit against the City of Oakland and its police department, alleging that a 2020 raid violated federal protections for religious freedom.

The legal action was filed against the city and police by the Zide Door Church. The establishment serves as the Oakland center of worship for the Church of Ambrosia, “a nondenominational, interfaith religious organization that supports the use and safe access” of certain natural psychedelic drugs known as entheogenic plants and fungi, according to the group’s website. A minister wearing a robe emblazoned with cannabis leaves leads the church’s services, where members are permitted to smoke cannabis as a sacrament and pathway to connecting with a higher power.

To join the church, prospective members are required to fill out an online questionnaire asking if the applicant is a member of law enforcement and if they accept cannabis and psilocybin mushrooms as “part of your religion.” Once admitted to the church, members can pay a $5 monthly membership fee that allows them to receive cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms for a donation to the church.

Before the coronavirus pandemic began, the church would hold services on Sundays at 4:20, where founder Dave Hodges would pass out joints. The church opened in early 2019 and now has a total of 60,000 members, according to Hodges. Up to 200 come each day to get cannabis and psilocybin mushrooms.

Cannabis has been legal for adults in California since 2016, and in 2019 Oakland city leaders voted to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms and other entheogenic plants and fungi, although sales are not permitted.

Lawsuit Over 2020 Raid

In August 2020, the Zide Door Church was raided by officers with the Oakland Police Department. Law enforcement officers entered the church and seized approximately $200,000 in cannabis, mushrooms, and cash. Police claimed the establishment was operating as an unlicensed dispensary rather than a legitimate place of worship. No charges were filed in the case, but the cash and drugs seized by police during the raid have not been returned to the church.

An affidavit filed with a search warrant served during the raid states that the city received a complaint that the Zide Door Church was operating as an unlicensed cannabis dispensary in May 2019. Two months later, an undercover police officer visited the church to become a member and subsequently exchanged cash for cannabis. Only days later, the church was raided by police. Hodges was issued a fine and a warning, but no one was taken into custody.

After the raid, critics were skeptical that the church was a legitimate place of worship, alleging that it was instead a front to sell drugs. But Hodges insists that is not the case.

The lawsuit filed against the city and police argues that the raid and seizure violated constitutional guarantees of religious freedom. In the legal action, the church details the “sacramental use” of cannabis, psilocybin and other natural psychedelic drugs as a way to connect with “a higher consciousness, their own eternal souls, spiritual beings and God.” Consuming psilocybin mushrooms is not permitted at the site, however.

“This is not just an excuse to sell drugs,” Hodges told the San Francisco Chronicle. “This is what we truly believe is the origin of all religion and really what religion should be.”

The lawsuit argues that the raid violated the church’s “sincere exercise of religion” in violation of federal law, as well as the church’s right to the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The Oakland Police Department did not comment on the lawsuit when asked by The Washington Post. City Attorney Barbara Parker told reporters the city had not yet been served with the legal action but declined to comment further.

Jesse Choper, a law expert at the University of California at Berkeley, said that the church’s religious freedom argument might prevail if the lawsuit goes to trial.

“If it’s not a sham business,” he said, “I would say the smokers got a pretty good case.”

But Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the University of California’s Berkeley School of Law, said the church is not likely to succeed with its defense that religious freedom exempts it from state drug laws.

“The general rule is that there is no exception to laws for religious beliefs,” he said. “Assuming that the California law applies to everyone and does not have discretion to grant exceptions, then there is not a basis for challenging it based on religion.”

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