1) Eddy Lepp is working with Constitutional attorneys and needs to
raise money to pay his defense costs for a freedom of religion
argument. The email from Tom Brown follows (PS: I know Tom is
controversial, but please don't disregard the message to spite the
messenger).

2) Ron Kiczenski's case was summarily dismissed July 28 at the
Sacramento federal court, and he plans to appeal. The judge framed two
main issues:

a) The Raich ruling had established that the CSA has valid authority to
restrict access even to personal use of cannabis, and since religious
use is personal that would include his stated intent.

b) Ron had argued that he was harmed by the CSA ban because he has a
religious freedom right to use any and all plants, including but not
only cannabis, and that the RFRA was a form of trickery intended to rob
him of his religious freedom rights by circumventing the First
Amendment. The judge held that those arguments had stripped Ron of his
own claim of irreversible harm since apparently growing cannabis was no
more important than growing "brussel sprouts or broccoli" and therefore
caused no discernible hardship ("just grow a different plant to
communicate with god") and was overly broad since it would include coca
and other plants that Ron had not asked to be considered while
eliminating whatever direct protections the RFRA might otherwise have
provided him. The judge seemed to indicate that a more narrow case that
was cannabis specific (he specifically asked, "does that include a
right to grow coca?") and federal limitations under RFRA, which he
noted has not been ruled unconstitutional regarding federal agencies,
but Ron had rejected in his written arguments. Afterwards, obviously
disappointed but ready to charge back into the fray, Ron agreed that he
may have been overly dismissive of the RFRA but seemed to feel that the
judge was just pointing him down a path to unacceptable limitations and
inevitable failure in court. He promised to appeal but said he does not
want to compromise his beliefs by trying to fit within the framework
that the judge described, saying (Ron as paraphrased), "It's not just
about marijuana, it's about all plants and the personal human
relationship to nature, which is my God because God is in everything."

Ron is a true warrior and had been holding his own in a "pro-per"
lawsuit up until that point, surviving numerous prior federal requests
for summary dismissal of his challenge. He is reassessing his situation
for another go-round on this. There are a number of links posted below
for anyone who wants to analyze the case or offer Ron support. He could
use some good cheer and legal support right about now.

-- Chris Conrad <chris [at] chrisconrad.com>
PO Box 1716, El Cerrito CA 94530 USA
510-215-8326 / Fax: 510-234-4460
http://www.chrisconrad.com / http://www.safeaccessnow.net/
http://www.equalrights4all.org/
=========================================Forward: On Jul 22, 2005, Rev. Tom Brown
wrote:

> Greetings Cannabis Churchs,
>
> Eddy Lepp has talked with the Constitutional Attorneys on the Amicus
> Brief to the Supreme Court and it looks like a go. Meeting next week
> to formalize it. Keep it in your prayers and get your checkbooks
> ready. 100 churchs times $100 each makes a 10,000 legal fee real.
>
> This new website is from Ron Kiczenski who lives near Eddy Lepp in
> Lake County. Ron was one of the three heroes who sold pot on national
> TV at the Superbowl Game in 1996 in Phoenix. He also won a jury trial
> in Sacramento in 1995 for growing Hemp - the jury agreed that this was
> not illegal. Ron's case goes far beyond the Commerce Clause arguments
> in Raich. Ron may just be the final spasm in the vaunted drug war.
> Keep an eye on this site, download the motions and transcripts and
> don't hold your breath too long.
>
> One Love revtombrown
> _________________________________________________________
>
> http://www.freedomthroughjustice.com
>
> The Mission of Freedom Through Justice was born from necessity, in the
> same way that the natural rights we are fighting for, and will
> continue to keep fighting for, are born from the necessities of the
> natural human circumstance. For too long, every human rights front
> imaginable has been on defense against a corporate owned, government
> operated offense. Our approach is different. We have engaged, and will
> continue to engage, a pro-active strategy that goes to the causes, not
> the financially lucrative, symptom hunting approach, that is
> comfortably adopted by so many of our country's well trained judicial
> "practitioner's".
>
> Freedom Through Justice believes the best chance "we the people" have
> to re-access the corporately co-opted legislative and executive
> branches, is by engaging the very checks and balance equation
> prescribed by the U.S. system, when unconstitutional laws are passed
> by congress and signed by the president. Contrary to myth and legend,
> the judicial branch is accessible to all. Our Judges in this country
> can only push the buttons that are put before them. Bringing the
> fundamental constitutional questions, using the opportunity of
> congressional malfeasance, will not only result in the striking down
> of bad or unconstitutional laws, but it will naturally bring about a
> better sense of self-responsibility, self-restraint, and self-critique
> on the part of every "Representative", no mater who's "elected".
>
> Freedom Through Justice is and will continue to nurse back to life,
> the spirit of documents like the Magna Carta, the Public Trust
> Doctrine, and any other argument of logic, science, or heart that can
> go to inducing the questions that can only be answered by re-examining
> the necessities and self evident facts of human existence. Freedom
> Through Justice intends to continue to help reviewing, in the
> courtroom setting, the text of human existence 101. In doing so, we
> will rediscover what we all have in common, intern, beginning to
> respect and appreciate our own species necessary diversity, as well as
> our planets natural and necessary diversity, the origin of our kinship
> with all life, and the interdependent relationship shared by all life.
>
> By intense involvement in the previously mentioned activities, Freedom
> Through Justice intends to help all life to survive long into a
> hopeful future of peace, health, and evolution.
>
> LIVE ON!
>
> Your dedicated fellow pieces to the puzzle of it all,
>
> Freedom Through Justice
>
> Our first case, Kiczenski vs. Ashcroft, involves asking the questions
> surrounding our rights as citizens to engage in something as basic as
> planting a seed.
>
> The following is a temporary link to a site explaining the progress of
> the case so far.
>
> http://www.hemphasis.net/kiczenski.htm
>
> This site is under construction so please bear with us as we add
> content to our pages, and visit us again to keep up to date on the
> progress of the case.
>
> For questions or more information contact:
>
> Ron Kiczenski
> P.O. Box 1501 Lucerne, CA 95458
> 707-274-9115 freedomthroughjustice [at] hotmail.com