Friday, July 11, 2008
Peyote!
I'll be the first to admit that I did not know peyote was specifically associated with the Native American Church, in fact I had never really even heard of the Native American Church before. Where was that segment in social studies class on the "religions of the world" unit? Yet another letdown. I think peyote is really interesting because it is another hot-button issue with the U.S. government. I have heard about many court cases involving peyote use and the question of its legality. Someone's blog today mentioned reservations being soveriegn nations, which I think is such an important point to make-especially in terms of peyote use. I have always thought that peyote use is perfectly legal on reservations because they are "soveriegn" (what a loaded word). Looks to me like yet another way for the government to try and play puppet master with supposedly free and independent Indian Nations.
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4 comments:
I learned about this controversey in a class I took my freshman year. I knew about peyote being used but didn't know that it was legal, I thought the Native Americans did it illegally. So is peyote legal or not. I agree with how stupid the word "soveriegn" is but do you know what legal implications come with the word. I feel very confused...
I also wonder why we didn't learn more about other religions a long time ago. I took a class where we introduced to several different religions, but those included relgions in the United States, and a couple from other countries. They included nothing about Native American relgion. I have also heard of peyote use among native americans, but I am a little confused on how legal peyote use was, and when it became illegal and started causing issues in court.
Legal issues are always very complicated when it concerns people's religious freedoms. One one hand, the government has an obligation to allow people to worship freely yet, on the other hand, how many people that are not Native American would be using peyote and claiming that it is for religious purposes if the government completely backed off? I'm not saying I'm on the government's side on this one, far from it. In fact I haven't been on the government's side about any issue since starting this class. I just know how anxious people would be to find a loophole like this. For example, a lot of people fraudulently claim to be needing other types of drugs for their medicinal and pain-killing properties. Not fair to Native Americans for people to act that way but I'm sure it would happen if the government was completely unconcerned with peyote use.
Here is an answer to your question about, Is peyote legal?
United States federal law (and many state laws) protects the harvest, possession, consumption and cultivation of peyote as part of "bonafide religious ceremonies" (the federal statute is 42 USC §1996a, "Traditional Indian religious use of the peyote sacrament," exempting only Native American use, while some state laws exempt any general "bonafide religious activity"). American jurisdictions enacted these specific statutory exemptions in reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990), which held that laws prohibiting the use of peyote that do not specifically exempt religious use nevertheless do not violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Peyote is listed by the United States DEA as a Schedule I controlled substance. Although many American jurisdictions specifically allow religious use of peyote, religious or therapeutic use not under the aegis of the Native American Church has often been targeted by local law enforcement agencies, and non-natives attempting to establish spiritual centers based on the consumption of peyote as a sacrament or as medicine, such as the Peyote Foundation in Arizona, have been prosecuted. The Peyote Way Church of God [1] in Arizona is a spiritual center that welcomes all races to Peyotism.
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