The Pappas Snake is making Dangerous explosions in cannabis community again
So, what is upsetting the majority of sincere cannabis activists and churches alike at the hand of the snakeoil attorney salesman Matt Pappas these days comes from an article that slipped past the majority of the cannabis community that was apparently published by Rolling Stone Magazine, and they're turning to the KM Newsroom seeking answers and a statement as to our opinion and position regarding it, so, without further adue, let's go ahead and jump into it. Before we do though we want to make sure that you factor in that our quotations from this article is coming from a more recent article which re-quotes the Rolling Stone article back in March. Here is a link to this source for your review should you be interested:
Back in March of this year, Rolling Stone covered the issue of the cannabis church movement in a somewhat cynical article. The author, Amanda Chicago Lewis summed the movement up like this,
Pot churches … reject the new system of state licensing, regulations and taxes entirely but still claim to be legal under a mix of federal and state laws protecting religious civil liberties — especially those that uphold the right of Native Americans to use the otherwise illicit drugs peyote and ayahuasca in religious ceremonies. Other marijuana traffickers have been trying this tactic for years — most notably a controversial, multi-state organization called the Oklevueha Native American Church — and failing. Oklevueha has won the legal right to perform peyote ceremonies with non-Native folks, but hasn’t been able to budge the courts on pot. While peyote and ayahuasca involve long, vomit-inducing trips that are generally overseen by some kind of shaman, weed has a milder high and therefore is seen as having a bigger potential for diversion to non-spiritual users. However, now that a majority of states have legalized medical or adult-use cannabis, the movement for religious marijuana has grown in size and fervor.
In the article she mentions Matthew Pappas and outlines the legal criteria to exempt cannabis churches from commercial cultivation laws, ordinances and taxes,
"Even if the IRS were to accept Phan’s pending application for tax-exempt status as a church, a court must separately determine a) the sincerity of his belief, and b) whether his violation of the law for religious purposes substantially undermines the government’s ability to otherwise enforce the law(s) he’s breaking.
At the end of our conversation, Matt Pappas was on his way to court in San Bernadino County. In that case, the judge has already found the defendant meets the ‘sincerity of belief’ criteria. And they are now working through whether the defendant’s actions will ‘substantially undermine’ the State’s ability to enforce its new regulations."
Those of you unfamiliar with this snake are highly encouraged to review our archives, Most of our articles about him are tagged so you can simply search his name and find them. We Hope this sheds some light on the reality of this snake so that no more are victimized by him. We appreciate your time and interest as always and welcome you to join our church and our tribal team. Thank you always for your support, and please stay tuned for more updates on this and other pertinent news we feel you should know.
