The Church of Cognizance (COC) was founded in 1991 by Danuel & Mary Quaintance[1] in Graham County (Pima) Arizona, United States.
[2] The COC Founders recording announced their intent to unite the world's ethnic minorities that utilize and rely upon the cannabis hemp plant as an ethno-socio-religious institution following Neo-Zoroastrian tenets.
While COC members are encouraged to study all of the world's religions, the Zoroastrian Avesta is held by them to be the least convoluted and most ancient source supporting their practices and beliefs.
Each Family Oriented Monastic Order of the Church Of Cognizance is designated an "Individual Orthodox Member Monastery" (IOMM).
By submitting their application, prospective members pledge their allegiance, and support, to the Church Of Cognizance and the IOMMs of which it is composed.
Their pledge requires:[7] On February 22, 2006, the founders of the Church of Cognizance, Danuel and Mary Quaintance, were arrested with 172 pounds of marijuana.
a five-year sentence at a facility at the Federal Correctional Institute in Terminal Island, California, near Long Beach.
Mary Quaintance is serving two years at the Victorville Federal Correctional Complex in Adelanto, Calif.[9] Although they both were confident that an appeal based on their claimed religious use would keep them out of prison,[10] a unanimous three-judge panel of the 10th U.S.