Court upholds church use of hallucinogenic tea
Justices unanimously rule that N.M. congregation can drink illegal drug
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that a small congregation in New Mexico may use hallucinogenic tea as part of a four-hour ritual intended to connect with God.
Justices, in their first religious freedom decision under Chief Justice John Roberts, moved decisively to keep the government out of a church’s religious practice. Federal drug agents should have been barred from confiscating the hoasca tea of the Brazil-based church, Roberts wrote in the decision.
The tea, which contains an illegal drug known as DMT, is considered sacred to members of O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal, which has a blend of Christian beliefs and South American traditions. Members believe they can understand God only by drinking the tea, which is consumed twice a month at four-hour ceremonies.
New Justice Samuel Alito did not take part in the case, which was argued last fall before Justice Sandra Day O’Connor before her retirement. Alito was on the bench for the first time on Tuesday.
Roberts said that the Bush administration had not met its burden under a federal religious freedom law to show that it could ban “the sect’s sincere religious practice.”
The chief justice had also been skeptical of the government’s position in the case last fall, suggesting that the administration was demanding too much, a “zero tolerance approach.”
The Bush administration had argued that the drug in the tea not only violates a federal narcotics law, but a treaty in which theUnited States promised to block the importation of drugs including dimethyltryptamine, also known as DMT.
“The government did not even submit evidence addressing the international consequences of granting an exemption for the (church),” Roberts wrote.
The justices sent the case back to a federal appeals court, which could consider more evidence.
Roberts, writing his second opinion since joining the court, said that religious freedom cases can be difficult “but Congress has determined that courts should strike sensible balances.”
The case is Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal, 04-1084.
Wow! Maybe we can get this voted in at Fourth Avenue during our next business meeting. If the Supreme Court ruled for a small church in the desert in New Mexico, surely they would rule for our little inner city church. After writing quadruple-digit checks to pay the gas and electric bill for the past few months, I sure could have used some hallucinogenic tea.
I did a bit of research on DMT and found some interesting information. DMT is a pretty powerful psychoactive substance. It produces powerful hallucinations. A trip sitter is used to assist the drug user in staying physically and mentally healthy, and in the case of smoked DMT, to catch the pipe when the loser starts trippin' and drops it out of their mouth. If DMT is smoked, the trip lasts for about a half an hour, and you start trippin' about a minute after you first inhale. That's pretty darned quick. It has the same effects if snorted or injected. If DMT is taken orally, like in the form of tea, the trip lasts for about an hour. The tea is the boiled leaves, bark or roots of a variety of plants. In the U.S., Reed canary grass and Harding grass is used.
Studies show that DMT experiences include time-dilation, visual and audio hallucinations, perceived journeys to paranormal realms, and encounters with spiritual beings. In other words, it is one major trip.
1 comment:
Go ask Alice....I think she'll know.
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