RELIGIOUS GROUP ASKS EXEMPTION FOR HALLUCINOGEN

Justices To Rule On Use Of Banned Tea Under Religious-Freedom Laws

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court agreed yesterday to consider whether a
church in New Mexico can continue using hallucinogenic tea in its religious
services.

At issue is whether use of the tea, which contains a drug banned under the
U.S. federal Controlled Substances Act, is protected under
freedom-of-religion laws. The U.S. administration contends the tea is
illegal and use of it potentially dangerous for church members.

Justices will review a lower court ruling that allowed the Brazil-based
church -- O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal -- to import and
use the hoasca tea while the case was appealed.

The church, which has about 140 members in the U.S. and 8,000 worldwide,
says the herbal brew is a central sacrament in its religious practice,
which is a blend of Christian beliefs and traditions rooted in the Amazon
basin.

The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling that the church
had shown a "substantial likelihood of success" in winning religious
exemption, rejected the government's request to temporarily ban use of the
drug at the church.

In its Supreme Court appeal of that order, the Bush administration argued
it has a "compelling interest" to prevent an illegal market for the drug.
The government also said the 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic
Substances bars importation of the drug in the tea -- dimethyltryptamine --
except for research.

Allowing the tea use "directly impairs the effectiveness of international
narcotics law-enforcement efforts, frustrates intergovernmental
co-operation, and weakens the government's ability to insist that other
countries adhere to their treaty obligations," the government filing states.

Lawyers for the church countered that tea use by law-abiding citizens
practising their religious beliefs does not constitute drug abuse or put
worshippers' health in danger.

In 1990, the Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that states have a right to
criminalize the use of peyote, which contains the hallucinogen mescaline,
rejecting a challenge by Native Americans seeking a religious exemption.

"We have never held that an individual's religious beliefs excuse him from
compliance with an otherwise valid law prohibiting conduct that the state
is free to regulate," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority.