A Santa Fe congregation that uses a hallucinogenic brew of South American plants as a sacrament thought its battle with the government was over in early 2006.

It had won a unanimous ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that year that said federal drug regulators hadn’t met their burden under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in trying to restrict importation and use of the tea.

But it wasn’t until last week that the case actually ended.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 -- A unanimous Supreme Court decision on Tuesday gave a small religious sect the right to keep importing a hallucinogenic tea, central to its ritual observance, that the government wants to ban as a controlled substance under federal narcotics law.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that a small congregation in New Mexico may use hallucinogenic tea as part of a four-hour ritual intended to connect with God.

The Supreme Court takes up a case involving a New Mexico sect that could be important for other minority religions.

The question is, when is a "compelling governmental interest" really, truly, a compelling governmental interest? At some point in its October term, the Supreme Court will take one more look at that abiding question.

The Supreme Court accepted a Bush administration request to rule on a clash between religious freedom and drug-control law yesterday, announcing that it will review a lower court's ruling that blocked enforcement of a federal ban on a church's importation of hallucinogens.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider whether a church in New Mexico can continue using hallucinogenic tea in its religious services.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that a New Mexico church has the right to use a hallucinogenic tea in its services, rejecting a government argument that the tea is illegal and potentially dangerous.

The Bush administration on Wednesday won a Supreme Court stay that blocks a New Mexico church from using hallucinogenic tea that the government contends is illegal and potentially dangerous.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act Shows Its True Colors

A federal court has ruled for the third time that the Santa Fe-based affiliate of a Brazilian religious sect should get back the hallucinogenic tea its practitioners take as a sacrament.

Armed with a favorable decision from a federal appeals court, lawyers for members of a Brazilian religious group in Santa Fe are seeking the return of a hallucinogenic tea used as a sacrament.

A federal appeals court has decided that a New Mexico church's use of hallucinogenic tea is likely to be protected under freedom of religion laws.

The Associated Press, Oct. 15, 2002
http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/101502/LOCillegaltea.shtml

ATLANTA -- A man from Peru faces federal drug charges for importing jungle vines and leaves that he planned to make into tea for a religious ceremony.

Alan Thomas Shoemaker said he uses the Peruvian jungle vine ayahuasca and huambisa leaves to make a bitter, rust-colored tea that is part purgative and part-hallucinogen.

South American shamans use the tea to heal the sick, bring contact with spirits and divine the future. Shoemaker said it's part of a religious ritual that has been used for centuries by Amazon Indians.

But federal prosecutors in Atlanta say the tea violates federal drug laws because it contains the hallucinogen DMT, an illegal controlled substance.

Because Shoemaker imported the vines and leaves into Atlanta, he has been indicted for illegal drug importation and possession.

Shoemaker and his son were charged in April, a year after U.S. Customs officials at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport found three crates of the vines and leaves aboard a flight from Peru.

Shoemaker, 49, is free on $50,000 bond and living with relatives in Elizabethton, Tenn., but he faces 20 years in prison if convicted. Prosecutors recently dismissed charges against his son in exchange for his cooperation.

Shoemaker moved to South America 10 years ago to study shaman folklore and healing. He considers his home to be Iquitos, Peru, a jungle city 600 miles northeast of Lima. He has run an art gallery and a tourist business, taking groups to Machu Pichu and into the jungle.

When asked in a brief telephone interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, whether he considers himself a shaman, Shoemaker said he does not. "A lot of people tell me I am," he said. "But I am forever a student."

In Peru, Shoemaker became a member of a religious order with a combination of Amazon Indian, Catholic and African tribal beliefs.

Ingesting the ayahuasca and huambisa tea causes LSD-like hallucinations as well as heavy vomiting and diarrhea, said to be a means of spiritual purification.

The tea has been used in religious ceremonies in Santa Fe, N.M., by a sect known as the "Union of the Vegetable." Although no criminal charges have been filed, federal authorities seized jungle vines and leaves from the church. But in August, a federal judge ruled that the church members' rights were being violated and ordered the tea returned.

The only prosecution for illegal possession of the jungle vines and leaves occurred in 1990 in Boston, where a religious leader was acquitted of all charges.

Shoemaker's lawyer, Page Pate of Atlanta, said his client planned to use the tea solely in religious ceremonies.

"This is an unwarranted extension of the so-called war on drugs to a substance that has no use as a recreational drug and doesn't pose any real threat or danger to American society," Pate said. "Government resources could be best used elsewhere."

U.S. Attorney Bill Duffey stands by the charges.

"This is a very dangerous hallucinogen," he said. "We will do whatever we can to keep it out of our district and prosecute anyone who tries to bring it in."

The Guardian, Aug. 24, 2002