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Featuring Joe Tafur, Belinda Eriacho, Martha Hartney, Sean McAllister, Rodney Garcia and Bia Labate
Wednesday, March 3rd from 12-2pm PST
Join Chacruna and members of the Church of the Eagle and the Condor (CEC) and their attorneys in a conversation about CEC’S Ayahuasca Religious Freedom Initiative. We will address the current CEC crowdfunding campaign and clarify implications for other groups, transparency around the money raised and potential concerns from the community. The discussion will include seizures of ayahuasca by the Department of Homeland Security and the Church’s plan to investigate the seizures and request the return of their seized sacrament. The Church hopes to carve a path for other churches toward governmental recognition of the right to religious use of ayahuasca. Ultimately, the Church aims to secure a reliable and consistent precedent for churches that use ayahuasca sacramentally under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Join us to learn: Who is the Church of the Eagle and the Condor?, What are the issues? How will the funds help CEC and other Churches? Followed by call to action to support the crowdfunding campaign and Question and Answers
*This is a free event, but attendees must register with their email to receive the Zoom link. *
Support the Fundraiser here: https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/ayahuasca-religious-freedom-initiative
Speaker Bios:
Joe Tafur, M.D., is a Colombian-American family physician originally from Phoenix, Arizona. After completing his family medicine training at UCLA, Dr. Tafur spent two years in academic research at the UCSD Department of Psychiatry in a lab focused on mind-body medicine. After his research fellowship, over a period of six years, he lived and worked in the Peruvian Amazon at the traditional healing center Nihue Rao Centro Espiritual. There he worked closely with master Shipibo shaman Ricardo Amaringo and trained in ayahuasca shamanism. In his new book “The Fellowship of the River: A Medical Doctor’s Exploration into Traditional Amazonian Plant Medicine,” through a series of stories, Dr. Tafur shares his unique experience and integrative medical theories. The book strives to illuminate the intersection between biology, emotion and spirituality. He is Co-founder of Modern Spirit, a nonprofit dedicated to demonstrating the value of spiritual healing in modern healthcare.
Belinda Eriacho is a from the Diné (Navajo) and Ashwii (Zuni Pueblo) lineages. Her maternal clan is “One-Walks-Around” and she is born for the Zuni people. Belinda was born and raised on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. She holds degrees in Health Sciences, Public Health, and Technology. Belinda participated in the MDMA Therapy Training for Communities of Color in August, 2018. Belinda has journeyed through her own inner and physical healing to find her gifts as a Healer and Wisdom Keeper.
Martha J. Hartney is an attorney in Colorado, in private practice in the area of estate planning. She holds a J.D. from the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. Her Boulder firm, Hartney Law, is a regional favorite, receiving the “Best of the West/Law Firm” award six years in a row. She was named a SuperLawyers Rising Star in 2020 and has published and presented on the art and science of death and dying for the last ten years in her professional capacity. Martha is a certified death doula through the Conscious Dying Institute and the first attorney to be admitted to the California Institute of Integral Studies prestigious Certificate in Psychedelic Therapies and Research program. Martha is also a trained mediator and has served as a guardian ad litem for the Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Clinic. Martha came to the plant medicine path later in life—becoming a drug policy reform advocate after witnessing the healing of many people who had encountered our great allies. She champions the religious use of plant medicines; and advocates for excellent standards-of-care, best practices, integration work, and weaving modern trauma science into the powerful indigenous practices being stewarded into the western world. Martha lives with her partner and has two sons who are now grown and in college. She is a member of Chacruna’s Council for the Protection of Sacred Plants.
Sean McAllister is one of nation’s leading drug policy reform lawyers. Sean has pioneered legal and business strategies for entrepreneurs in the cannabis, hemp, recycling, and psychedelics spaces. His work in the psychedelic space has included seeking DEA licensure for a public company manufacturing psilocybin for clinical trials, helping psychedelic assisted therapists understand the risks of these activities, advising companies on opening and operating businesses in decriminalized cities, and understanding new state regulatory laws like Oregon’s Measure 109. Sean’s work on drug policy reform goes back 25 years, starting on the Colorado Prison Moratorium Campaign in the mid-1990s. From 2004-2012, Sean served the chair of the Board of Directors of the organization that ran the Colorado recreational marijuana legalization campaign that voters ultimately approved. Sean has also worked on broader drug policy reform issues as a member of the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. Sean is an appointed member of the Denver Psilocybin Mushroom Policy Review Panel, which was the first ballot initiative in the U.S. decriminalize the possession, cultivation and storage of psilocybin. Sean has been a legal advisor to other cities and states considering psychedelic decriminalization efforts, including the Decriminalize California campaign in 2020 and Decriminalize Seattle in 2021. Sean is a member of Chacruna’s Council for the Protection of Sacred Plants and Chacruna’s co-General Counsel.
Dr. Beatriz Caiuby Labate (Bia Labate) is a queer Brazilian anthropologist. She has a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. Her main areas of interest are the study of plant medicines, drug policy, shamanism, ritual, and religion. She is Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines (https://chacruna.net; https://chacruna-la.org). She is Adjunct Faculty at the East-West Psychology Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco. She is also Public Education and Culture Specialist at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). She is co-founder of the Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies (NEIP) in Brazil, and editor of NEIP’s website (http://www.neip.info). She is author, co-author, and co-editor of twenty-one books, two special-edition journals, and several peer-reviewed articles (http://bialabate.net).
Rodney Garcia is a Curandero and ceremonial practitioner of the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition. He also is an apprentice of the Shipibo Ayahuasca and Master Plant tradition. He is the Minister of The Eagle and Condor Native Americas Church of New Mexico and a Medicine and Wisdom Carrier and Founding Board Member of The Church of the Eagle and the Condor of Arizona. Rodney is a Licensed, Board Certified Anesthesiologist. In the local Traditional Medicine community, he is part of the University of New Mexico’s Traditional Medicine Without Borders Curanderismo educational team. In alignment with his overarching approach to integral health, Spiritual, Medical and Food Sovereignty, Rodney and his family care for a regenerative agriculture homestead in central New Mexico. They produce organically grown vegetables and herbal medicines for the local community. Growing ceremonial tobacco varieties, and the preservation of Native heirloom corn varieties is a special focus of their homestead.
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