FATHER FIGHTS FOR DRUG USE IN RELIGION

WHITE CLOUD, Mich. -A member of an American Indian tribe wants to be
able to give peyote to his 4-year-old son during spiritual ceremonies.
It's a matter of religious freedom, he says. Jonathan Fowler, a member
of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, belongs to
the Native American Church of the Morning Star, where the hallucinogen
plant is taken as a sacrament.

Mr. Fowler, a 35-year-old resident of Traverse City, wants his son to
join him in the rite, if the boy wishes. His ex-wife, Kristin
Hanslovsky, objects, saying it could harm her child.

A judge may bar Mr. Fowler from allowing his son to be given peyote in
a case that pits the Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom
against a mother's wish to protect her child.

The couple split up soon after their son was born in 1998. In October
2000, a judge granted Mr. Fowler custody of his son but prohibited him
from giving peyote to the child. Mr. Fowler challenged that portion of
the decision in the Michigan Court of Appeals, which returned the case
to the lower court so it could determine whether peyote use could harm
the child. The next hearing is set for March 21.

Mr. Fowler, who earns a living by selling food and crafts at powwows,
credits his use of peyote with helping him overcome alcoholism and
forge a relationship with God.

Peyote, a bitter-tasting cactus that grows in southern Texas and
northern Mexico, has been a part of Indian culture for thousands of
years. People who ingest the plant - usually drunk as a tea or eaten
as a greenish paste - believe it provides enlightenment and other
spiritual and physical benefits.

The plant's active chemical ingredient is mescaline, a hallucinogen.
The U.S. criminal code classifies peyote as a controlled substance,
and in most instances a person caught with more than 4 ounces faces
the possibility of a 20-year prison sentence.

But during the last century, peyote's use in religious rites spread
among American Indians throughout the United States, including the
upper Midwest. Congress recognized this sacramental use of peyote
eight years ago by amending the American Indian Religious Freedom Act
of 1978 to protect the practice in all 50 states.

Mr. Fowler's attorney, Thomas Myers, of Michigan Indian Legal
Services, said the case was about ensuring that "rights guaranteed to
Native Americans by treaty or statute are secured, and I think that
would include constitutional rights."

Martin Holmes, who is representing Ms. Hanslovsky, did not return a
call to his office. Ms. Hanslovsky has said she does not want to
violate anyone's religious freedom, but that feeding the boy peyote
"could cause him harm or long-term neurological defects."

Testifying on Mr. Fowler's behalf at a court hearing last month, John
H. Halpern, a psychiatrist and researcher at Harvard Medical School,
said he has found no evidence of a child or adult being harmed by the
use of peyote in Indian religious services.

"This is a sacred ceremony," said Dr. Halpern, who has conducted an
extensive study of peyote use among Indians. "It's not something to
entertain people."

About 300,000 Indians who belong to the Native American Church of
North America, the nation's largest church for indigenous peoples,
ingest some form of the cactus, he said.

But some members of these types of congregations do not believe
children should take the substance.

Anne Zapf, who with her husband runs the Peyote Way Church of God in
Klondike, Ariz., feels children should be allowed to attend spiritual
ceremonies where peyote is dispensed, but should not ingest it.

At Ms. Zapf's church, where peyote is used once or twice a year, a
person must be at least 18 - or 14, with parental permission - to take
it.

"I'm not even into handing peyote to anybody who's under 30 because
most people aren't emotionally mature enough or prepared by life
enough for the experience," she said.

"Peyote is an introspective experience. It's a God experience and
generally you have to have a few sins under your belt."