High court says church can use banned drug in religious rituals

Published: 2006-02-22

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In a unanimous decision Feb. 21, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the right of a small religious sect to use a federally prohibited tea in its religious rituals. The decision in Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal was one of the first to be written by new Chief Justice John Roberts. All the other justices joined in the opinion, except the court's newest member, Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr., who did not take part in consideration of the case because he was not on the court when the case was heard. The Brazilian-based church, which has about 130 members in New Mexico, California and Colorado, had received support in the case from groups that included the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the American Civil Liberties Union, because of its potential implications for government decision-making about what constitutes a religious ritual. The case involved the sect's use of a tea containing the hallucinogenic drug dimethyltryptamine, known as DMT, which is prohibited under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

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