Coachella Valley Church is a

Rastafarian Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control ...

church of the

Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church The Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church is a movement born in Jamaica in the 1950s by disciples of Marcus Garvey and was incorporated in Florida in 1975. It first established its organization in the United States in Star Island, Florida with a commune of ...

, located on The Alameda in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

. It was incorporated in 2016 and is at the same location as a previous dispensary, Amsterdam's Garden. The city has a history of litigation against its operators and seeks to end their operations, claiming it is an unpermitted

marijuana dispensary A cannabis shop, cannabis dispensary, or cannabis cooperative, is a location at which cannabis is sold for Cannabis (drug), recreational or Medical cannabis, medical use. In the Netherlands these are called Coffeeshop (Netherlands), coffeeshops. ...

Church

Coachella Valley Church describes itself as an

which is monotheistic, worships a single God referred to as Jah, and uses cannabis as a sacrament. The members, known as Coachellans, believe that the use of cannabis helps elevate people to a higher understanding of self and greater closeness to Jah—who members believe partially resides within each individual. They ritually use cannabis, which they call "God's Holy Healing Sacrament" to deepen love and

livity ''Livity'' is a 1981 reggae album by Prince Far I. Livity is a word used by Rastafarians to refer to the energy or life-force that flows through all living things. The album is generally considered one of Prince Far I's weaker albums.Greene, Jo-A ...

. The church house on The Alameda has an altar, pews and sacred images "like any other Christian house of worship".

History and legal issues

The City of San Jose filed a complaint against the owners and operators of Amsterdam's Garden marijuana dispensary in May 2015 for zoning violations and for not conforming to city regulations on marijuana dispensaries. After the dispensary was shut down, Coachella Church of Cannabis, later renamed Coachella Valley Church, began operations at the same location. Around November 2017, the operators stated that they were not legally a marijuana dispensary under city regulations but rather a church, and should be exempt from taxation, zoning and other regulations as a legitimate religious group under the United States

Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), , codified as et seq., is a United States federal law that prohibits the imposition of burdens on the ability of prisoners to worship as they please and gives churches and oth ...

(RLUIPA) of 2000. The city attorney of San Jose has said: "Whatever their followers want to smoke, that's not the issue. It's the distribution and sale coming from the dispensary." In 2017 the attorney said he would file an injunction to prevent cannabis sales on the church premises. By late December 2017, the injunction had not been granted; a hearing for a preliminary injunction was set for late January 2018.

References

External links

* {{Portalbar, California, Cannabis, Religion Cannabis in California Churches in San Jose, California Organizations based in San Jose, California Rastafari Religious organizations using entheogens 2016 establishments in California

Church

History and legal issues

See also

References

Further reading

External links