The Legality Of Drugs In Religious Ceremonies

[Mighty_Emperor]

The native Americans are allowed to use peyote in their religious ceremonies but it appears it can be tricky for other people (I am also intrigued by the intervention of Diana Ross' backing singers :

Supremes Halt Faith-Based Hallucinogenic Tea Service

Gina Holland
The Associated Press
12-02-2004

The Bush administration on Wednesday won a Supreme Court stay that blocks a New Mexico church from using hallucinogenic tea that the government contends is illegal and potentially dangerous.

The government has been in a long-running legal fight with the Brazil-based O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal over hoasca tea, brewed from plants found in the Amazon River Basin.

The church won a preliminary injunction in a lower court, and the Supreme Court was asked to intervene. Justice Stephen Breyer, acting on behalf of the full Court, granted a temporary stay to give both sides time to file more arguments with the Court.

"Compliance with the injunction would force the United States to go into violation of an international treaty designed to prevent drug trafficking worldwide, which could have both short- and long-term foreign relations costs and could impair the policing of transnational drug trafficking involving the most dangerous controlled substances," acting Solicitor General Paul Clement wrote in a court filing.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver found that the church probably has a religious-freedom right to use the tea. The Bush administration plans to appeal, but wants the church barred from using the tea in the meantime. The church's leader had sued after federal agents raided his office in Santa Fe in 1999 and seized 30 gallons of hoasca tea. The tea contains DMT, a controlled substance.

The Bush administration already has one drug appeal at the Supreme Court. Justices heard arguments earlier this week in that case, which asks whether the federal government can prosecute patients who smoke marijuana on doctors' orders and in states that have medical marijuana laws.


--------------------------
Copyright 2004 Associated Press.

Source

 

[decipheringscars]

"Compliance with the injunction would force the United States to go into violation of an international treaty designed to prevent drug trafficking worldwide, which could have both short- and long-term foreign relations costs and could impair the policing of transnational drug trafficking involving the most dangerous controlled substances," acting Solicitor General Paul Clement wrote in a court filing.

Would it be acceptable for their religion to grow the stuff here? That would get around the international drug-trafficking excuse, but probably not satisfy the Bush administration...

I guess it's consistent logic: If you think you can eliminate abortions by legislative fiat (just making them illegal), why not legislate in the religious sphere until we're all de facto Christian Fundamentalists?

 

[ramonmercado]

Peyote Won't Rot Your Brain

Well heres some evidence that Peyote isnt so bad for you after all...

Peyote Won't Rot Your Brain
By Randy Dotinga
Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,69477,00.html

02:00 AM Nov. 04, 2005 PT

In the first study of its kind, researchers have found that peyote -- for now, the only legal hallucinogenic drug in the United States -- doesn't rob regular users of brain power over time.

While the findings don't directly indicate anything about the safety of psychedelic drugs like LSD and mushrooms, they do suggest that at least one hallucinogen is OK to use for months or even years.

"We really weren't able to find any (mental) deficits," said Dr. John Halpern, associate director of substance abuse research at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, and co-author of the study, released today in the Nov. 4 issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry. Hallucinogenic drugs have long fascinated researchers, who are now studying whether they hold the potential to treat mental illnesses like depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

But little is known about the long-term effects of hallucinogenic use. Part of the problem is that many users -- such as LSD aficionados -- take a variety of other drugs, so it's hard to tease out the specific effects of psychedelic drugs.

Enter peyote, currently the only hallucinogenic drug legally allowed for use outside research labs (although that may change). Compared with LSD and mushrooms, peyote is a bit obscure, with its use -- at least legally -- limited to the sacramental rites of the Native American Church, which has as many as 300,000 members. Many peyote users don't take other drugs, making them ideal subjects for hallucinogenic research.

Peyote comes from the crowns of a cactus that grows in northern Mexico and parts of Texas. Harvesters cut off the crown, dry it and sell it in "buttons," Halpern said. Generally, users eat the buttons whole or grind them up into a powder that can be mixed into food or brewed into a tea.

When enough peyote is eaten, users enter a hallucinogenic state thanks to its active ingredient, the chemical mescaline. Halpern and colleagues recruited three groups of Navajos -- 61 members of the Native American Church who regularly ate peyote, 36 alcoholics who have been dry for at least two months and 79 people who reported little or no use of alcohol or drugs. The researchers then gave mental-health and cognitive tests to the subjects.

Only the alcoholics showed signs of brain problems. On the psychological front, Native American peyote users were actually in better shape emotionally than those who didn't use the drug.

Why? For one thing, the church provides plenty of emotional support to members, said Dennis J. McKenna, senior lecturer at the University of Minnesota's Center for Spirituality & Healing. For another, Native American users are careful about how they use peyote. "The context of the use is a really important thing," McKenna said. "Most people using mushrooms or LSD in a recreational way don't really have a context for this type of use," such as an emphasis on setting, à la psychedelic guru Timothy Leary.

By contrast, both alcohol and marijuana are considered bad for the brain if overused. Although there's still plenty of debate, some research suggests heavy pot use can harm memory for days after the last toke. And, of course, there's the anecdotal evidence of brain damage from everyone who's known a Jeff Spicoli-type stoner.

Marijuana damage seems to be temporary, while alcohol-related damage appears to be more permanent, said study co-author Dr. Harrison Pope Jr., director of the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory at McLean Hospital. The jury's still out, he said, on what damage LSD does to the brain, if any, and for how long.

Both researchers cautioned that the peyote findings shouldn't make anyone think LSD and mushrooms are safe.

The drugs are chemically different and appear to work differently too. Neither Pope nor Halpern, for example, has ever heard of a peyote user having a flashback. Even a person with memory impairment would likely remember that.

 

[decipheringscars]

What's the point of "religious freedom" if it's determined by the government? Don't all governments, even the most restrictive, allow religious freedom up to the point where it threatens their interests & ideology?

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

What's the point of "religious freedom" if it's determined by the government? Don't all governments, even the most restrictive, allow religious freedom up to the point where it threatens their interests & ideology?

Well they also allow them up to the limits of the law. So no slaughtering virgins or having sex with children/goats or that kind of thing.

It gets tricky when you get into the area of drugs - they are an important part of a lot of religions.

It looks to be OK for Native Americans to take Peyote but what if you converted?

Also I somehw doubt they'd let Rastfarians off even though there is a good case:

Ganja

For many Rastas, smoking marijuana (known as ganja, herb, collie, or lambs bread) is a spiritual act, often accompanied by Bible study; they consider it a sacrament that cleans the body and mind, exalts the consciousness, facilitates peacefulness, and brings them closer to Jah. The burning of the herb is often said to be essential "for it will sting in the hearts of those that promote and perform evil and wrongs". Many believe that cannabis originated in Africa, and that it is a part of their African culture that they are reclaiming.

They are not surprised that it is illegal, seeing it as a powerful substance that opens people's minds to the truth -- something the Babylon system, they reason, clearly does not want. They contrast their herb to liquor, which they feel makes people stupid, and is not a part of African culture. While there is a clear belief in the beneficial qualities of cannabis, it is not compulsory to use it, and there are Rastafarians who do not do so. Dreadlocked mystics, often ascetic, known as the sadhus, have smoked cannabis in India for centuries. The migration of many thousands of Indian Hindus to the Caribbean in the 20th century brought this culture to Jamaica.

They believe that the smoking of cannabis enjoys Biblical sanction and is an aid to meditation and religious observance.
Among Biblical verses Rastas believe justify the use of herb:

• * Genesis 1:11 "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so."
  * Genesis 3:18 "... thou shalt eat the herb of the field."
  * Proverbs 15:17 "Better is a dinner of herb where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith."
  * Psalms 104:14 "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man." Also see Spiritual use of cannabis.

Then-Attorney General of the United States Janet Reno, however, ruled that Rastafari do not have the religious right to smoke ganja in violation of drug laws in the United States of America. The position is the same in the United Kingdom, where, in the Court of Appeal case of R. v. Taylor [2002] 1 Cr. App. R. 37, it was held that the UK's prohibition on cannabis use did not contravene the right to freedom of religion conferred under the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafarians#Ganja

So it is a tricky one.

 

[byroncac]

A quick question involving the legality of drugs!

There has been some comment above on the destructive nature of alcohol and its intoxicating effects. During prohibition in the USA how was communion taken, bread and wine?

 

[lordmongrove]

Spanish porn actor arrested over fatal toad venom ceremony. Headline of the year.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...MjDen-K009szBDks9pHdVmw5oyx9k5Cg4RfQaWucqeP6s

 

[EnolaGaia]

A quick question involving the legality of drugs!

There has been some comment above on the destructive nature of alcohol and its intoxicating effects. During prohibition in the USA how was communion taken, bread and wine?

Here's a very delayed response to this quick question ...

Sacramental wine was exempt from Prohibition under the Volstead Act.

Prohibition changed the burgeoning California wine business into an industry in sudden crisis, patched together with string and wire and oak barrel slats—and loopholes. The Volstead Act, which enforced the 18th Amendment, exempted alcohol that was used for medicinal or cosmetic purposes, such as hair tonics and toilet waters and elixirs, and for religious purposes, specifically sacramental wine.

SOURCE: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/saved-from-prohibition-by-holy-wine-88250788/

 

[Nemo]

Cannabis residue found in ancient Jewish temple links hallucinogens with religion.


Not really revelent, but interesting all the same.

 

[James_H]

A quick question involving the legality of drugs!

There has been some comment above on the destructive nature of alcohol and its intoxicating effects. During prohibition in the USA how was communion taken, bread and wine?

Interestingly alcohol was strictly controlled in Aztec and Inca societies (public drunkenness was punishable by death for the Aztecs, but then again, what wasn't?) but was used in religious rituals.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

Interestingly alcohol was strictly controlled in Aztec and Inca societies (public drunkenness was punishable by death for the Aztecs, but then again, what wasn't?) but was used in religious rituals.

Sorry I believe you, but have you got any links, refs, etc? I like/not like the idea of having a few beers after a massive day building a ziggurat and then being horribly murdered.

I'm not sure how the huge structure builders around the world kept their slaves happy or productive without drugs - unless of course, it was you know what

????

 

[James_H]

Sorry I believe you, but have you got any links, refs, etc? I like/not like the idea of having a few beers after a massive day building a ziggurat and then being horribly murdered.

I'm not sure how the huge structure builders around the world kept their slaves happy or productive without drugs - unless of course, it was you know what

????

Here's something:

http://www.hispaniccommission.org/index.php/en/the-aztecs-and-alcohol

"Nobody drank wine (octli) excepting only those who were already aged, and they drank a little in secret, without becoming drunk. If a drunk man showed himself in public or if he were caught drinking, or if he were found speechless in the street, or if he wandered about singing or in the company of other drunkards, he was punished, if he were a plebeian, by being beaten to death, or else he was strangled before the young men (of the district) by way of an example and to make them shun drunkenness. If the drunkard were noble, he was strangled in private."

Magic mushrooms were similarly only to be used on rare religious occasions (which often culminated in the public suicide of those in attendance, talk about a bum trip)

 

[Mythopoeika]

Hmmm. Seems like an overly-harsh punishment for a bout of intoxication. Religion to blame again, I reckon (just guessing).