Court OKs Hallucinogenic Tea

Posted on Feb 21, 2006

Washington Post: The Supreme Court decided unanimously yesterday that the government cannot prohibit a small religious sect in New Mexico from using a hallucinogenic tea as part of its rites, ruling against the Bush administration in a case that pitted religious freedom against the nation’s drug control laws.

The ruling upheld findings by lower courts that the government failed to demonstrate a compelling interest in barring the Brazil-based sect, O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal , known as UDV, from using hoasca, a sacramental tea that contains a banned hallucinogen.

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