US court to decide if church can use trippy tea

The US Supreme Court today agreed to consider whether a church in New Mexico can continue using hallucinogenic tea in its religious services.

At issue is whether use of the tea, which contains a drug banned under the federal Controlled Substances Act, is protected under freedom of religion laws. The Bush administration contends the tea is illegal and use of it potentially dangerous for church members.

Justices will review a lower court ruling that allowed the Brazil-based church - O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal – to import and use the hoasca tea while the case was appealed.

The church, which has about 140 members in the United States and 8,000 worldwide, says the herbal brew is a central sacrament in its religious practice, which is a blend of Christian beliefs and traditions rooted in the Amazon basin.

The Denver-based 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling that the church had shown a “substantial likelihood of success” in winning religious exemption, rejected the government’s request to temporarily ban use of the drug at the church, whose US operations are based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In its Supreme Court appeal of that order, the Bush administration argued it has a “compelling interest” to prevent an illegal market for the drug. The government also said the drug in the tea – dimethyltryptamine – is banned by an international treaty that classifies it as a banned substance except for research.

Lawyers for the church countered that tea use by law-abiding citizens practising their religious beliefs does not constitute drug abuse or put worshippers’ health in danger.

“The record does not support the government’s alarmist arguments that denial of the petition will result in physical or psychological harm” to church members or illegal drug trafficking outside the church, the filings state.