Church of the Holy Light of the Queen documents
These documents relate to the
landmark case in which the Church of the Holy Light of the Queen (CHLQ; the
Santo Daime Church in Oregon) filed suit in Federal court against the United
States government, represented by Attorney General Robert Mukasey, United
States Attorney for Oregon Karin Immergut, and the Federal Secretary of the Treasury
Henry Paulson. The CHLQ sought relief
from the Controlled Substances Act, which was being used by the United States
government to prevent the Church from using Daime tea in the practice of their
religion. Daime tea contains several
psychoactive substances, including N,N-dimethyltryptamine
(DMT) and harmala alkaloids. The CHLQ
claimed that the United States
government's restriction on Daime tea violated the Church's freedom to practice
their religion under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
and under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.
The trial started on January 21, 2009. On March 18, 2009, United States District Judge
Owen M. Panner rendered his decision. He
found that the Church's rights were indeed being violated by the government and
that the Church must be permitted to use the Daime tea in their religious
services. This marks the first time in United States
history that the government has lost an actual court trial involving the use of
psychoactive substances for religious purposes (note that the União do Vegetal
case of 2006 was not a trial per se
but an upholding of a preliminary injunction).
I participated in the trial
as an expert witness on behalf of the CHLQ.
I wrote and testified about the pharmacology and toxicology of Daime
tea. My statements and Judge Panner's
decisions are available below.
My expert
witness statement.
My rebuttal
to the US Department of Justice experts.
Judge Panner's Findings
of Facts.
Judge Panner's judgment.
More extensive court documents are available
at Bia
Labate.
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