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Legal use of entheogens... someday

Started by Peacetrain Charlie, August 10, 2018, 06:17:35 PM

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Peacetrain Charlie

Via the Establishment clause of the 1rst amendment, the Uniao do Vegetal and Santo Daime are able to legally use 5 meo as a sacrament, the Native American Church, mescaline as theirs.  Why then couldn't these human rights victories be leveraged as a means to gain the use of those and other entheogenic sacraments for spiritual growth within the formation of another organization, (church, religion, what have you)?
  There is more to these molecules than how we might regulate them for medical value. They also fall under another profoundly important category called entheogen.  As far as I know this is not a category that the government acknowledges or has the right to regulate. And in regard to the hard won Supreme Court victories of the NAC, and UDV, they don't.  And it would be wrong not to note here that Jeffrey Bronfman, of the UDV, was a primary force behind these victories.
  It's all well and good that the medical-research community is studying these substances, and wonderful if they can someday be used by therapists, but at the end of the day who will have access?  Does the medicalization of these molecules help humanity evolve?  Will those of us who wish to use entheogens for spiritual evolvement be forced to remain in the shadows, wondering about their sources and quality, forever in legal jeopardy?
  I view the use of psychedelics as a human rights issue just like any of the human rights recognized recently, such as the abolition of slavery and segregation, freedom of religion, speech, a woman's right to divorce, a woman's right to vote, or birth control. All of these were social-cultural evolutions in human consciousness.  This is about basic human rights, a citizen's right to personal sovereignty.
  The Establishment clause of  the first amendment reasonably should be a path to the legal use of all entheogenic sacraments for spiritual purposes within the framework of a properly conceived structure (church-religion whatever constitutional law demands).  And this is where I advocate we start. These are constitutional, civil rights issues, the nut of which must be cracked by lawyers, the members of psychedelic societies at law schools and legal academia in general.  In this case the cart must go before the horse. We need some real smart constitutional law minds to manufacture we citizens a  "religion" that will survive the legal challenge that you know will surely come.  All we want as citizens, as human beings, is the right to use these entheogens with the ceremonially reverence that these sacraments deserve; the way they have been used in countless cultures for millennia, in safety, in community, and out in the open with the respect that they deserve.
May Peace Prevail on Earth