Should Rev. Roger Christie Make a Deal?

Editor’s note: Rev. Roger Christie of Hilo’s Hawai`i Cannabis Ministry was arrested by federal agents on July 8, 2010. He is being held without bail at a federal detention center in Honolulu. His trial has been scheduled for October 3, 2011.

Should Rev. Roger Christie Make a Deal? Or, should he fight all the way to the US Supreme Court?

That depends on what he now wants to prove.

More explicitly, all depends on what he wants to prove to the rest of us grappling with the monster called the Cannabis Prohibition.

To us, he does not have to prove his innocence. The only real crime here is the Cannabis Prohibition itself. He does not have to prove to us his benevolence or that he was true to his Faith and fulfillment of his Holy Mission.

It is ironic that the “crime” under which Roger now stands charged and imprisoned without bail has been legislated simultaneously at the Hawaii State Legislature three miles away from his prison cell . Though all attempts to open a state regulated Medical Marijuana Clinic in Hawai’i failed, no one (not even Josh Green) thought prospective out-of-state operators to be “a danger to the community” — which is the sole federal rationale of Christie being held without bail.

Even the concept of Punessence (“Marijuana” or the blessed Cannabis) being a “Gateway” or Sacrament to finding the Divine, was well understood by those who heard Roger’s realization. Proof exposing the anti-Cannabis laws as corrupt and racist in its origin could even be seen monthly on A&E and the History Channel. Or he could prove his righteousness with a piece of Hemp cloth that he first introduced to Hawai’i in the late ‘80s.

The facts and the personal first-hand accounts received by Christie became his constant reminding conviction. Many “got it” and deeply understood. And so believing, he has persisted, knowing that his mission, righteous and necessary NOW, could not fail.

But these are not the things that he needs to prove in federal court. Simply, Rev. Roger Christie has to prove that he had a right to practice his harmless Faith and Holy Mission in the United States where Congress may pass no law prohibiting a religion. And, as we all should’ve learned by now, “religion” is a legal term defined by the ‘ruler’.

Then, look at these ‘people who make a living on other people’s taxes’. One could go on further and say working for the government allows you to do immoral things to enforce the law. So immoral people, Godless by protocol, get to define a religion revolving around this famous and widely worshipped plant.

Roger Christie and so all of us have a snowball’s chance in Hell of using the Religious Defense.

“That is not a sanctioned religious practice in my jurisdiction.”…

Marijuana had the capacity to restore health and thus our Faith. And so the drug crusaders hate the Punessence beyond reason and compassion. It was as if: With Cannabis legal we wouldn’t need so much government. And, since a bureaucrat’s addiction is his meal ticket, our freedom is their lunch.

Before the so-called ‘religious defense’ evolved into the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, it was just a piece of white paper fluttering over the scorched earth in the War On Weed. The ‘REEFER Act’ as I coined it realizing we were ‘smoking pot religiously’, affirmed something we already believed. But it did not end the shooting as lawmen tried to wrap their minds around criminalizing other people’s religious beliefs. If the “compelling state interest” clause was enforced, lunchtime would have to end and so it had to be ignored. It could have been more beneficial if it were used to criminalize Aspartame instead.

If nothing at all, this is what Roger Christie proves best to us. That the notions of constitutional rights, the freedom of thought and control over your own body, the judicial checks and balances enforcing fairness, do not exist. His perseverance set the stage for great change in Hawai’i by contrasting the good against a warped and harmful government priority against Cannabis. Roger Christie proved that the most powerful and lethal institution in the world would brook no effort to suppress even the compassionate use of Cannabis. He proved that the strongest man on this sore planet would discard the veil of propriety and the rule of law to suppress a useful plant, once the very source of world power and commerce –canvas Hemp. The government hates the Medijuana for healing the epidemics regularly attributed to them.

Through Roger’s sacrifice we come to see that this law created by sociopaths and hypocrites, is the blunt and crude tool of open class warfare and dictatorship. Roger Christie’s service and sacrifice showed to us, again, the true nature of the American ‘Taliban’ that rule us mercilessly and ruthlessly when it comes to our choices in Nature or our gardens.

Our situation is like a scene in the classic Robert Redford movie, “The Milagro Beanfield War”. Here, when the cards are being stacked by the gringo developers against the native peasants, the Coyote Angel gives his advice to the aging gunfighter: “This situation is gonna’ call for a sacrifice.” The ‘Old Gunfighter’ does not really comprehend the message but ends up being shot and the very cause of the resolution.

This is a most common theme in our cultures. John Wayne has died sacrificially at least a half a dozen times. Jesus, Che Guevara, ObL and JFK/RFK too, had to be sacrificed for Mankind. And birthing Mothers do it every moment around the planet too. Someone of us needs to ‘bleed’ for the situation to change. It is beyond reason. There are no legal arguments. It seems that much good must be expended to correct a little bad, while stopping great evil often needs all the good one man can muster.

Roger can fight and “take it all the way up to the (corrupted) US Supreme Court”, where win or lose he will spend a decade in prison fighting. He could win, via a miracle and the deus ex machina of a rich lawyer but remember: Our Cannabis/Rights, is their ‘lunch money’ and the rest of us failing to ‘grock’ that here and now, partly squanders Roger’s sacrifice.

So, if Roger “makes it easy on himself” and signs some confession of ‘wrong religion’ and he says nothing that harms anyone else, what would he prove then?

Roger Christie would then prove that we were not strong, mobilized and united enough to come to his support and make the necessary political waves to set him and OURSELVES free. He has shown that we are too frail to resist though we are numerous and greatly offended by his persecution and groundless incarceration. He has proved to us again that a great injustice can exist and persist and that a so-called free people are fearful to defend themselves and each other.

What will the government prove?

Our prosecutors will again prove that they can inflict great injustice, harm and war on their own constituents and those offended will do nothing but grumble among each other. It is the only thing they wish to convince the rest. Roger’s ‘torture’ and punishment was to prove WE will only knuckle-under when the push comes to shove. Programming.

Can we ever win?

Roger has already sacrificed and served us all by liberating a big part of our thinking regarding Cannabis. His preaching has redeemed us after years of our persecution. I believe now he should strive to lessen the harm to him and his indicted followers. I support him doing what he must so that he can return to his preaching more quickly, now well seasoned.

On the other hand, I think it is well passed the moment when the ‘Choir’ should start to sing.

Tags: Roger Christie