Rev. Dustin Fineout

New York

"Prohibition encourages an atmosphere that affects all aspects of society -- education, poverty, health care, crime and the black market. Legislating morality of private citizens in their own homes can only breed missinformation and organized criminal activity. Absolutely every harm that has come to be associated with cannabis by those who would encourage its prohibition can actually be demonstrated to be directly caused by prohibition. Eliminating prohibitive legislation concerning cannabis would alleviate these problems.

"Whenever I use cannabis, I consider it to be in practice of my spirituality -- I use it solitarily or with my partner in the morning and evening. However, generally when using it with others, I acknowledge that most people present probably aren't observing the same practices, but I still consider it to be a spiritual occasion. This, of course, does not apply at cannabis sacrament congregations, where all participants are acknowledging the cannabis use as a spiritual burnt offering."

• Marketing representative team leader; software programmer; ordained cannabis minister
  

• Student of Computer Engineering; Associate of Divinity degree;
  

• Nominee for RIT Four Presidents' Community Service award, recipient of National Society of High School Scholars award and Empire State School Press Association awards in editing and journalism
  

• Interested in philosophy, physics, politics and policial activism;

Rev. Fineout is founder and president of Rochester Cannabis Coalition and the founder and overseeing minister of Rochester Cannabis Ministry, a member of the Global THC Ministry and Hawai'i Cannabis Ministry. See www.thc-ministry.org for more details.