Cheech and Chong, those circa-1970s disciples of all things marijuana, had nothing on Norman Hutchinson.

For Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, pot was the comedic vehicle that propelled them to hit record albums, cult movies and a chronic case of the munchies.

For Hutchinson, on the other hand, cannabis is the stairway to heaven.

"Sacramental Cannabis augments the worship of God," Hutchinson states in a lawsuit he recently filed (without, ahem, a lawyer) against the state, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Mexico Police Department.

He adds, "Nothing is more pleasurable than having a good time worshipping God."

Welcome to The Religion of Jesus Church, where meditation and prayer are best conducted with a good buzz on. And where any attempt to enforce the state's prohibition on marijuana flies in the face of, you guessed it, the constitutional right to worship freely.

"I use marijuana to open the endorphins of the mind so I can spiritually receive God," Hutchinson, 48, said in an interview Monday. "It opens the higher intellect of the brain."

(Which would explain why the Hawaii-based Religion of Jesus Church, on its rambling Web site http://www.hialoha.com/konagold/church/, refers to the stuff as "Holy Smoke.")

Hutchinson's civil complaint stems from his 2005 conviction for marijuana cultivation.

Back in August of 2004, police found a man on Hutchinson's ATV tending to a pot crop in Dixfield (the man said Hutchinson paid him to do it). Police later found 55 marijuana plants along with processed pot and growing paraphernalia in Hutchinson's home in Mexico.

Hutchinson initially served 60 days in jail (the rest of his 364-day sentence was suspended) and lost his ATV. He later spent another 120 days in the slammer on a probation violation after authorities caught him with more weed.

The lawsuit, he said, is his attempt to prevent all of that from happening all over again. His membership in the Religion of Jesus Church, he said, prevents him from giving up his Holy Smoke.

And when, pray tell, did he join the Religion of Jesus Church?

Hutchinson paused for several seconds, then said, "It was ... just before this stuff started happening."

And how did he find the church?

"On the Internet," he replied.

Hutchinson said all he wants is for him and an ever-dwindling flock of fellow worshippers ("Most of them are gone because life's problems overtook them, know what I mean?") to be able to gather each Saturday for their "last supper" without fear of a police raid.

And he insists that the state and federal constitutions, along with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, give him the right to fire up a joint whenever, shall we say, the spirit moves him.

Meaning he has nothing in common with Cheech and Chong?

"They made a mockery of it," Hutchinson replied. "It can make people stupid. If you use it for the wrong reasons, you get the wrong results."

Indeed. But when used properly, Hutchinson said, marijuana opens the mind to good thoughts. And as the Religion of Jesus Church notes on the "Cannabis Sacrament" section of its Web site, "It is your good thought that leads you Godward."

Via, that is, the Oxford County Superior Court.

Contacted Monday, Mexico Town Manager John Madigan Jr. said he's already forwarded Hutchinson's nine-page complaint to the town's insurance carrier, which most likely will handle any legal defense.

But with a $5,000 deductible on the police-liability policy, Madigan noted, "it means we could still be subject to a bill" before all the smoke clears.

As for the state, Maine Attorney General Janet Mills said her office will file a "routine response" to the lawsuit. Beyond that, Mills sagely predicted, "I don't think this will take a whole lot of the court's...