Woman Claims Wiccan Beliefs Justify Her Possessing Meth
- By Emily Murdoch --
- 30 Oct 2014 --
Woman claims her religious beliefs as a Wiccan permit her a religious right to possess meth. Police disagree.
Throughout the world, many people have claimed that their religious beliefs allow them to do and not to do certain things that are expected of others. For some, this could be not going to work on a particular religious holiday. Some abstain from certain foods, and some engage in special journeys throughout the world that have a special religious meaning for them. But in a case that appears to be the first ever of its kind, there is now an individual that is claiming that she should be permitted to possess the drug meth, because of her religious beliefs as a Wiccan.
Meth is a drug that is banned in many countries around the world, and yet a woman named Lori Potarf, from the United States of America, has recently claimed that possessing and consuming meth – or methamphetamines – are a key part of her religious beliefs as a Wiccan. As a practising Wiccan, Lori argued, she should be permitted to live out her faith as she believes is right – and it would be against her human rights to prevent her from doing so.
It is not exactly clear how Lori Potarf has come to this conclusion, because there is not a centralized Wiccan text or international governing body that decides what is and what is not permitted for those who follow Wiccan. Instead, each individual who identifies with the Wiccan faith has significant say in how they are going to express their faith. That means that there are huge variations between Wiccans as to what they do. As far as our researchers can tell, no one else has previously claimed that meth is a key part of Wiccan beliefs or practices, and police officers who arrested Lori Potarf were not very sympathetic to her argument and arrested her anyway.
Resources
RELATED NEWS
1 comment
Emily Murdoch
2:24 pmThis woman is just another nutter exploiting a religion for her personal purposes (to escape jail time).
As for Wicca itself, there is certainly a right or wrong way. Actual traditional Wicca, as in what was founded in the early 20th century by Gerald Gardner and has been influential upon the Neopagan movement, is *not* a religion that differs on a per person basis. It’s actually a specific and well defined, organized initiatory pagan priesthood – i.e., one cannot simply self-proclaim to be a Wiccan, but instead must attain formal training and initiation to enter into this priesthood. It’s also orthopraxic which means there is a proper, defined way which establishes what is or is not part of the religion, and even who is or is not a Wiccan (Wiccan traditions maintain means for vetting).
Eclectic (or Solitary) witchcraft is not the same as traditional Wicca, and arose external to it, though many of these practitioners (but not all) call their practices “Wicca” too because they have based their practices on elements from it, even though they often include influences of other practices as well. In terms of this religion, what it consists of is quite often determined by the individual, thus practices can vary.
Even so, some things are true of both kinds, and shared with most other religions too: Neither form of Wiccan practice advocate or require the use of drugs. Period. Both, however, do adhere to the moral concept of the Wiccan Rede, “‘An it harm none, do what you will.” (“an” meaning “if”). I.e., act responsibly and accept personal accountability for your behavior. Do not base decisions and actions on malicious or harmful motives – which does not just mean towards others, but upon one’s self too. There is no benefit, spiritual, civil or otherwise, to substance abuse, this so called “Wiccan” is acting in direct opposition to the Wiccan Rede and is not a representative of these practices.