Utah’s magic mushroom church is selling grow-your-own-sacrament kits
Steve Urquhart, a former Republican state representative who started The Divine Assembly church with his wife, Sara, unpack[ed] a psilocybin, or magic mushroom, grow kit in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. Urquhart’s church uses psilocybin as sacrament and is selling kits so others can grow their own sacrament. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has said the spores used to grow these mushrooms are not illegal, even though the mushrooms that sprout from them are.
Urquhart said his members’ cultivation and use of psilocybin is legal based on a 2006 Supreme Court ruling in Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal. The nation’s high court found that people practicing the União do Vegetal religion could legally use ayahuasca because of protections under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act… “I weigh concerns. I weigh legal jeopardy. …I want to be responsible, and I don’t want to put law enforcement in that awkward position, so I do my best,” Urquhart said. “But at the same time, if this is how I worship, and other people want to worship, I think we’re entitled to do that.”
Original Article (Sltribe):
Utah’s magic mushroom church is selling grow-your-own-sacrament kits. Is it legal?
Artwork Fair Use: Rand Workman