Rastafari want more legal marijuana for freedom of worship

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO and KWASI GYAMFI ASIEDU
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The ritualistic smoking of marijuana brings Rastafari closer to the divine. But for decades many have been incarcerated because of their ritualistic use of cannabis. As public opinion and policy continues to shift in the U.S. and across the world towards the recreational and medical use of cannabis, some Rastafari adherents are clamoring for broader relaxation to curtail persecution and ensure freedom of worship. The Rastafari faith is rooted in 1930s Jamaica. It grew as a response by Black people to white colonial oppression. The beliefs are a melding of Old Testament teachings and a desire to return to Africa. Rastafari followers believe the use of marijuana is directed in biblical passages and that the “holy herb” induces a meditative state.