A Federal judge in Utah orders local officials to return a religious group’s psychedelic sacrament
That raid happened on November 11, 2024, less than eight months after Utah Gov. Spencer Cox had signed the state’s version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). That law likely protects Singularism’s psychedelic rituals, a federal judge ruled last month [Feb. 2025]
Jensen wrote in a September 2023 letter to the Provo City Council and Mayor Michelle Kaufusi. Jensen, who wanted to “establish an open line of communication” with local officials, said he would be happy to answer their questions and invited them to visit the center. Jensen’s optimism proved to be unfounded. The city did not respond to his overture until more than a year later, when Provo police searched the Singularism center and seized its sacrament: about 450 grams of “mushrooms and mushroom-like material” that the group kept inside a locked safe. The seizure was the result of an investigation in which an undercover officer posed as a would-be Singularism facilitator…. Parrish notes that the mushrooms used by Jensen’s group are legally produced in Oregon, which allows psilocybin consumption at state-licensed businesses. The mushrooms are tested for contaminants by an Oregon lab “before being freeze dried for transportation to Singularism’s spiritual center.” Parrish adds that “only facilitators have access to the mushrooms (which are never used other than in the sacramental tea ceremonies), and every voyager must undergo a careful screening process with two or more facilitators, at least one of whom has a background in medicine or clinical therapy.” In 15 months of ceremonies, she says, only one person with “an undisclosed mental-health issue” had a bad trip, which the center handled appropriately by “ensuring that she received the treatment she needed at the hospital.” … “it should not matter whether would-be ayahuasca drinkers sincerely believe in shamanism or simply believe they will derive mental health benefits from the experience.” Nor should it matter whether people seek that experience simply out of curiosity or an interest in self-exploration untethered from “mental health benefits” that a psychiatrist might recognize. But in Utah and nearly every other state, such distinctions still matter. And in that context, decisions like this one count as a partial victory for pharmacological freedom.
Original Article (Reason & Marijuana Moment ):
A Federal judge in Utah orders local officials to return a religious group’s psychedelic sacrament & Federal Judge orders Utah police to return psychedelic mushrooms seized from religious group
Artwork Fair Use: Ian Poellet
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