The Church of Cognizance, which has quietly operated in Pima, Arizona, since 1991, has an unusual tenet, its worshippers deify and use marijuana as part of their faith.

Until federal authorities charged them with possessing 172 pounds of their leafy green sacrament earlier this year, church founders Dan and Mary Quaintance say they smoked, ate or drank marijuana daily as a way of becoming more spiritually enlightened.

But now, with added conspiracy charges, the Quaintances face up to 40 years each in prison in a case they call religious persecution.

Federal prosecutors say religious freedom does not exempt the use of illegal drugs. The Quaintances say it does. They also say a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing a religious group's use of a hallucinogenic tea containing a federally banned substance should nullify the charges against them.