Judge Dismisses Woman's Religious Drug-Use Argument
Friday, June 20, 2008
By VIRGINIA BRIDGES
Staff Reporter

BAY MINETTE — For years Brenda Williams Shoop struggled in a journey to get closer to God, she told a judge Thursday.
And then she found a textbook that discussed a marijuana side effect, and later discovered a church that classifies the illegal drug as a key ingredient to a sacrament essential to becoming a Christian, she said.

"It opens up someone's mind and helps apply (Christian) missions," Shoop said of marijuana's effects.

Growing Pot Or Practicing Religion?
By Debbie Williams Reporter
Published: April 24 2008 - 4:43 pm
Last Updated: July 31 2008 - 1:17 am

A Robertsdale couple, arrested on drug charges, say they're not breaking the law.

Bruce and Brenda Shoop claim marijuana is part of their religion. For some, that excuse maybe worse than the crime.

"Not a criminal." Brenda Shoop proclaims from a video on their website at Green Earth Ministries. But she and her husband Bruce Shoop are in the Baldwin County jail charged with drug trafficking.

Marijuana Minister Charged With Trafficking
Fox Ten News
December 17, 2006

It's amazing to me that the laws in this country are so backwards.
3 officers of the law, including the head of narcotics, spent considerable amounts of time working on our arrest.
During that time, they were not out arresting violent offenders, "the real criminals." Where is the sense in this?
Your tax dollars are being wasted every day by arresting, trying, and incarcerating non-violent people who just want to be left alone.

Marijuana Minister Update
WALA Fox Ten News
October 16, 2007

BALDWIN CO., Ala. -- A strange case out of Baldwin County will soon go to court. It involves a minister and his wife accused of growing marijuana they claimed to use in worship. If the judge buys the defense's argument, it could change how the law in Alabama interprets the use of drugs for religious reasons.

On the Green Earth Ministries website, the massive 28-pound marijuana plant the Baldwin County Sheriff's office seized is called the Tree of Life.

"Wow! All I can say is that Bruce and Brenda are rock solid! That has got to be the best television coverage I've ever seen on this issue. It just doesn't get any better than that!"
Reverend Carl Olsen, Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church