Psychedelic Spokane church working toward legal immunity to consume ayahuasca, a sacred tea considered both a powerful m

[Judi Lynn]

Psychedelic Spokane church working toward legal immunity to consume ayahuasca, a sacred tea considered both a powerful mood stabilizer and a risky experiment
March 3, 2024 Updated Sun., March 3, 2024 at 5:01 p.m.



Connor Mize is the local leader of the Church of Gaia, a religious organization that consumes ayahuasca, a psychedelic tea, as sacrament. His followers are waiting to perform their mind-altering ceremonies on U.S. soil until the DEA gives them legal immunity. (COLIN MULVANY/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)


By Tod Stephens
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As early as this spring, the federal government could allow members of a Spokane religious congregation to lay on the grassy floor of a nondescript building to consume their sacrament – a hallucinogenic tea from South America known as ayahuasca.

The tea is bitter and thick. Brewed from two Amazonian plants, ayahuasca can more closely be described as a watery sludge than a tea. The drink has been consumed by tribes in South America for thousands of years but is illegal in the U.S., though the government has largely looked the other way as these groups, which consider themselves churches, host ceremonies where it’s consumed en masse.

“I’m willing to bet there are folks who have connections to psychedelic churches in every county in this country,” said Pat Donahue, a self-proclaimed psychedelic lawyer from Spokane.

They argue that possessing and consuming psychoactive substances is intrinsic to their religious virtues and thus protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

More:
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2024/mar/03/psychedelic-spokane-church-pushing-for-legal-immun/










- click link below for image -

https://img6.arthub.ai/64b8331f-ec20.webp

Ayahuaska-inspired images.

[EarnestPutz]

1. Judi - I've always enjoyed your interesting posts about things "South of the Border", so I was suprised.....

.....to see your name on a post about my home town, "Spo-Can" (not Spo-Cane). We are in the unenlightened "red" portion of the state, but that's not say that we don't have our fair share of free-thinkers and unreformed hippies. Our legal recreational marijuana (2nd state to get it) had been very successful with what seems like a dispensary on every corner. Still, I am surprised about the ayahuasca tea. I'm glad they are waiting for a decision from the feds.

[Judi Lynn]

2. So very glad to get your information and correct pronunciation of Spokane, had NO idea.

Looks as if there were enough sane people around to keep it from becoming a subject of hysteria when the changes were made regarding marijuana. Great!

I'm surprised, too. I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've heard that in the U.S.

Think of the money and time to be saved if they can work it out!

Definitely have heard the wrong pronunciation of the town enough times over the years. I'd like to mention it's a real shame so many extremists decided they'd try to possess the beautiful NorthWest part of this country. It's far too beautiful and precious to be infested by hate-driven trash, for certain!

[EarnestPutz]

4. Judi - thanks for the nice reply. Don't be too concerned about the extremist element possessing the PNW,.....

......they're here but in very small numbers. They'll take over Texas before they get Washington.

Moved here in 1975 and mispronounced "Spokane" for about a week.

[GreenWave]

3. The posters remind me of a community grocery store where I worked on Saturdays.

Thanks.