Tea Leave

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has upheld a three-judge panel's decision protecting the sacramental use of ayahuasca, a psychedelic tea made from Amazonian plants. In 1999 U.S. Customs agents seized 30 gallons of the brew from the Santa Fe headquarters of the Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal, a religious group that uses ayahuasca in its rituals. The government argued that the tea is illegal because it contains DMT, a Schedule I drug. The church challenged the raid as a violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Now the group's ayahuasca has a legal status similar to that of the Native American Church's peyote.

Comments

[Lewis]

A little taste of judicial sanity on a Friday, things are looking good for the weekend!

[Jason Bourne]

Now the group's ayahuasca has a legal status similar to that of the Native American Church's peyote.

Presuming the ruling survives Supreme Court review (that is if they grant the government's likely appeal cert.).

[Lowdog]

I suppose this is good news, but I don't understand why DMT is a Sched 1 drug anyway. Can they honestly tell me that it has a high potential for addiction, for instance? Psychedelics should all be legal, imo, but at the very least there is no reason to put them in Sched 1.

[Warren]

Good luck to them. But I don't see much hope for things to get any better for the rest of us.

[ugh]

Because of course, as soon as you ingest a substance for the right reasons (getting in touch with an imagined creator, instead of an attempt at self-medication or just plain having fun) it magically becomes moral to do so.

[Joe Majsterski]

If ever there were a way to have a true religious experience, the Spirit Vine is that way.

[R C Dean]

In that case, the true religious experience must involve voiding every centimeter of your alimentary canal.

[kwais]

The feds jumped all over CA's medical marijuana thing. So that didn't fly. I wonder if CA could try to pass a religious marijuana law. They to get your medical marijuana, all you would need to do, is go to a faith healer.

Hey is it me, or is the 'Hit and Run' page acting kind of funny?

[Mr. Nice Guy]

"Hey is it me, or is the 'Hit and Run' page acting kind of funny?"

Naw, man, it's that tea you're drinking..

I heard that the Rastas consider MJ to be a sacrament. If this trend continues, I'm growing some fucking dreadlocks. Ja love, mon.

[Troubleshooter]

People will use any excuse to escape.

Also, this can't be an indiginous religious practice as it is based on a guys drug induced trip, right after WW2, that he took which led him to believe he was seeing the virgin mary. It's entirely contradictory.

Besides if your faith is strong enough you don't need a spiritual crutch. It says so right on the box.