Plant Medicine Churches: Are They Actually Legal?

By Rachel Griffin

What Are Psychedelic Churches, and Why Are They Everywhere in the US? 

Psychedelic practitioners are establishing plant medicine churches at light speed. The hope is that these non-profit organizations work within the system to create a safe and legal way to express spiritual freedom. This model, however, is anything but safe or legal. There are discrepancies between the application of the First Amendment as it intersects with the Scheduled Substances Act– the latter is currently where the law is operating, which criminalizes any usage of psychedelic substances, regardless of spiritual alignment. 

Plant Medicine People recently highlighted this very concerning trend on YouTube with a helpful video, “Are Plant Medicine Churches Really Legal?” Below are some thoughts on the history and future of religious freedom and the use of plant medicines as a sacrament.

The United States was founded on the tenets of religious freedom outlined in the Bill of Rights (as long as no harm comes to individuals or communities). On the other hand, the Scheduled Substance Act (SSA), signed in 1970 by President Nixon, considers entheogenic mind-opening substances as having no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse (read: “harming” communities). It doesn’t matter that many cities and states are redefining these laws; the federal government still abides by the SSA. Yet John Erlichman, a high-level Nixon aide, revealed in a 1994 Harper’s interview (published publicly in 2016) that the SSA was written partly to single out freethinkers and minorities and to stifle the rise of the counterculture. We assert that fear of harm to the protected power elite was the root of the “harm” basis.  

Later, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was passed to clear up some confusion and to allow those whose religions require entheogenic medicine to practice their faith. However, the DEA has encroached on the authority of deciding which plant medicine churches are legitimate and sincere. As expected, they are not approving applications.

NOT A SINGLE ONE.

The Only Psychedelic Church With Legal Status

Be wary of groups that say they have DEA approval; it’s one thing to claim church status and exemptions, but another to be approved under the RFRA guidelines. The Santo Daime, through the União do Vegeta (UDV) church, is only one of two “legally” operating Churches in the US. (The other is the Native American Church who was given previous exemption.) By virtue of being one of the first to challenge the law, in 2006, the Supreme Court concurred that the federal government had failed to prove they had a compelling interest in forbidding the UDV church’s use of Ayahuasca as outlined in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). This means that the law requiring the federal government to prove their interest in public safety overrides the restriction of a controlled substance, which they did not. 

As a result, Santo Daime is only one of two permitted plant medicine churches in the United States. After this ruling, the DEA began to take a more rigid and more restrictive approach toward prosecutions and the “permitting” of plant medicine churches. 

This means no other churches currently have legal status, despite their claims. 

The Closely-Watched, Precedent-Setting SoulQuest Case

The SoulQuest case is one example. After seeing SoulQuest’s website, the DEA proactively contacted SoulQuest (an operating church in Florida) to invite them to apply for an exemption. Unfortunately, the DEA determined that SoulQuest did not meet the standards for religious consideration and denied them. As a result, the US is in an upsetting limbo between two opposing camps. For an excellent deconstruction of the SoulQuest case, I encourage you to read DEA Denies Soul Quest’s Religious Exemption, a legal analysis of the past and future of religious exemptions and churches. 

Other examples of spiritual organizations in litigation include the Arizona Yagé Assembly and the Church of the Eagle and the Condor. Both churches have separate suits before the federal government alleging that the Federal government is confiscating their sacramental medicines via the mail, which infringes upon their right to religious freedom. 

Consequences of Petitioning for Psychedelic Church Status

While we’ve explored the perceived legal protections and risks, an additional factor in keeping churches vulnerable is that transporting Scheduled Substances remains illegal, even if the lawful use has debatable merit with the court. To learn more about what can happen simply by receiving a shipment, read “I Was Arrested for Ayahuasca” by Kat Courtney. 

When “invited” to apply for approval, you must reveal highly private and sensitive data, such as the church leaders' names and how you source your sacrament. The churches now see their plant medicines confiscated in the mail, especially now that the DEA has, in writing, the recipient, the sender, and the contents. This violation of the 5th Amendment protecting Americans from self-incrimination is one of the core allegations of the Arizona Yage Assembly and the Church of the Eagle and Condor. While practicing and operating as a church, in general, may be legal, using the mail to import scheduled substances remains illegal. 

This puts the invited applicant into a strange double bind - you have to halt the use of the entheogen as a part of the application process. Yet the DEA claims the church’s halting of the entheogen as proof it is an unnecessary sacrament for the church. The applicant is forced into a dangerous Catch-22.

Peyote decriminalization via church status presents another unintended consequence. Indigenous members of the Native American Church are currently the only people allowed in the US to ingest peyote legally. Indigenous leaders have grave concerns that both naming peyote in church applications and further decriminalization efforts will continue the adverse effects of overharvesting, already severely damaging the natural peyote growth in the Southwest. 

Is It Legal for the DEA to Have the Authority to Make Psychedelic Churches Illegal?

The DEA believes it has the power to determine the legitimacy and sincerity of entheogenic religions. As the Controlled Substances Act outlines, the DEA only has the power to grant exemptions to engage with controlled substances for medical, scientific, research, and industrial purposes. Neither the CSA, RFRA, nor the US Constitution gives the DEA authority to decide if a religion is sincere. Continued efforts to do so puts unearned authority in the hands of the white, male colonizers. As Decriminalize Nature states, “it's still an act of control by the government - we still have to ask their permission to work with nature, and to do so in a very exposed, controlled way.”

The Important Take-Away Lesson

We urge you all not to get complacent with the false sense of security the solution of churches gives to do the work. We completely understand why people go this route; it is the path the system has laid out for us that SEEMS safe and just. However, the standards of proof for religious intent are still very onerous. The laws do not provide a safe and legally decriminalized setting for those who use plant medicine shamanically. Churches are no substitute for decriminalization. In addition, there are a lot of myths and uncertainties around the establishment of churches to be able to practice safely and securely. While the protections found in the First Amendment state that “Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion” should be sufficient enough legal grounds, sadly, they are not. This is why we assert that church designation is not the solution we hoped it would be; the DEA does not and should not have the authority to determine the sincerity of a religion. It is a dangerous and slippery slope. But these are the times we live in.

For an interesting and compelling article to help you deconstruct all of this, check out this fantastic article in Double Blind; “The DEA Is Playing God With Psychedelic Churches.” 

About the Author

Rachel Griffin is the newest addition to the Plant Medicine People team as Director of Communications. Her friendship with Kat goes back decades, starting with their time together in Portland, Oregon; learning tarot, showcasing new music on public access radio, and examining their spirituality. Her degree in History from the Univ. of Colorado at Boulder and extensive experience in community organizing has shaped her values to see the bigger picture of our actions. As the saying goes, “those who don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it”. Her connection to this community began when multiple stars aligned. After repeated emotional traumas, synchronicity reconnected her with her old friend. Faced with a crossroads; she could keep struggling to craft a life that was not meant for her, or make much-needed changes in her perspectives, actions and goals to get through a challenging dark night of the soul. She hopes to bring a voice of relatability and experience to the team by sharing her healing journey with those in need of a comforting space.