A marijuana plant is visible at Compassionate Care Foundation’s medical marijuana dispensary in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. The First Amendment does not a protect a "ganja minister’s" right to cultivate more cannabis plants than state law allows, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday. Aaron Snyder Torline was an ordained minister with the Hawai’i Cannabis Ministry. According to the group’s website , the founder of the ministry was the first licensed “cannabis sacrament minister” in the country, after receiving a license from the state of Hawai’i in 2000. Members use the “Holy Cannabis sacrament” for prayer, meditation and worship, including baptisms, weddings and funerals. In July 2016, a police dog in Mesa County alerted officers during a traffic stop to the presence of marijuana in a truck. Law enforcement spoke with Torline, who helped load the bags of cannabis into the vehicle. Torline acknowledged his grow operation, and told officers he had 115 plants under cultivation, with approximately 10 plants processed per month. Mesa County prosecutors charged him with cultivation of 30 or more marijuana plants, and possession with intent to manufacture or distribute marijuana. The defense, however, challenged Colorado law limiting the amount of marijuana to be […]
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