Governor and Attorney General Candidates Arrested With 48 POUNDS of Cannabis

 This week, two political candidates for the Compassion party were  arrested and charged with possession of 48 pounds of cannabis, after a  raid of their home. 58-year-old Anne Armstrong and 48-year-old Alan Gordon admit to  growing the cannabis, but they say that it is strictly for religious and  medical purposes and that they give it away for free, they don’t sell  any of it. 

The pair says that they were not aware of how much they were  growing because they never use scales, they typically just turn the  plant into oil and give it away as a part of their religious services. Armstrong and Gordon are the leaders of a Christian sect called The  Healing Church, which uses cannabis as a part of their services. According to the Church’s website: 

Misunderstanding about the true nature of the cannabis  plant and its role in Jewish and Catholic practices throughout history  have led to the mistaken inclusion of cannabis in the Controlled  Substances Act and the demonization of what Catholic mystics called  “Mary’s Medicine” under the sacrilegious name ‘m—-juana’. A flourishing Healing Church can continue the apostolate of  compassion long practiced by the catholic church. St. Scholastica, the  twin sister of St. Benedict was reknown for healing convulsive children  with cannabis oil. St. Hildegard of Bingen, herbalist, musician and  Doctor of the Church, healed the sick with cannabis oil and documented  her work extensively.

Police say that they received a complaint of a strong odor coming  from their residence on Sept 1, but Armstrong and Gordon say that this  attack is politically motivated. Special Assistant Attorney General Michael S. McCabe said that the two were “growing outdoors and in plain sight.”

Rhode Island is a medical marijuana state, but outdoor growing is  illegal, and they do not have the expensive permits that are required to  grow indoor for the state’s medical program. The pair are no strangers to cannabis activism, in 2015 they appeared  before the House Judiciary Committee of Rhode Island to speak in favor  of the plant. 

In one extreme campaign, they even dared the government to  test the Zika virus on them so they could prove the healing power of  cannabis.  “For too long science and governments have awkwardly shushed  cannabis’ general anti-viral properties — improving outlook, inhibiting  viral reproduction and/or transmission, and reducing viral load against  HIV, hepatitis-C, and chickenpox/shingle family viruses” says Alan Gordon. 

This is not the first time they have been arrested for cannabis  either. 

Back in 2016, they were both arrested after they were found with  12 pounds of cannabis, as well as 10 pounds of oil and 59 additional  plants. All of those charges were eventually dismissed. 

As the Free Thought Project previously reported, perhaps it’s time we start electing candidates who openly use cannabis. If members of government frequently engaged in smoking pot, perhaps  they’d overturn the laws which require cops to lock people up for it. If more members of government smoked weed, perhaps they’d be less apt to drone bombing children in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen.  Sadly, however, the current charges faced by these two can carry a life sentence.