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| NJWeedman Suffers Court Setback, Plans Appeal |
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Posted by FoM on February 27, 2000 at 10:04:03 PT By Adam L. Cataldo Source: Philadelphia Inquirer 
As Edward Forchion, self-styled drug reformer and erstwhile political candidate, waited in a hallway outside Cherry Hill Municipal Court early Wednesday morning, the stress of another court appearance was taking its toll."I didn't have a joint this morning," Forchion said with a laugh, trying to explain the look on his face. By the end of the day, the self-proclaimed "NJWeedman" had more reason to look distressed. Forchion's motion to have marijuana-possession charges against him dismissed on the grounds of religious freedom was denied, and Forchion pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana. Now he plans to appeal. If he wins, his guilty plea will be thrown out. He was arrested in April 1998 when police stopped him while he was driving with a small amount of marijuana. He ran - simultaneously - for the Camden County freeholder board and State Assembly last fall, attracting a few thousand votes. In his campaign, he pressed for an overhaul of state marijuana laws. Cherry Hill municipal prosecutor Judy Charny said Forchion faces a fine, but no jail time. "He's basically saying, 'I can do whatever I want because my religion says it's OK,' " Charny said. "That kind of logic can be taken to an extreme." - Adam L. Cataldo in Cherry Hill Published: February 27, 2000 Related Articles & Web Site: Legalize Marijuana Party Assembly Candidate Brings Meaning To Green Party Candidate is After Jurors, Not Voters Candidate for State Assembly Seat Charged with MJ N.J. League Site Puts Candidates On The Internet Assembly Candidate is Arrested in Stratford Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 12, 2000 at 13:23:35 PT |
Newshawk: Ras Ed Forchion
Pubdate: Sun, 09 Apr 2000
Source: Ocean County Observer (NJ)
Website: http://www.injersy.com/observer/
Author: Don Bennett, Staff Writer
TOMS RIVER -- Pot provider Edward Forchion says his efforts to legalize the use of marijuana may send him to prison for the rest of his life under New Jersey's "three strikes and you're in" law.
Copyright: 2000 Ocean County Observer
Click the link to read the complete article.
News Article Courtesy of MapInc.
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n484/a07.html
| Comment #1 posted by observer on February 27, 2000 at 14:19:03 PT |
The dear persecutor must have forgotten (once again) the oath he swore to uphold the Constitution. If he's not hurting anyone else (and he wasn't) then, if something, is part of one's religion, the government is obligated by law to respect that. If those sworn to, actually obeyed their oaths, that is.
> "That kind of logic can be taken to an extreme."
Right: when one's "religion" hurts others, then the prosecutor might have a point. The man hurt no one, however, so the prosecutors point here is also moot.
Thomas Jefferson:
``The error seems not sufficiently eradicated, that the operations of the mind, as well as the acts of the body, are subject to the coercion of the laws. But our rulers can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. >>The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.<< But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.''
Jefferson continues:
``. . .Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now. Thus in France the emetic was once forbidden as a medicine, and the potatoe as an article of food.''
``. . . It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by private as well as public reasons.''
-- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia
Thus did Jefferson well-describe petty tyrants and inquisitors like Judy Charny: "Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by private as well as public reasons."
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