- What do you know about the legal cases fighting for the right to access therapeutic use of psilocybin? - November 22, 2024
- Course: Critical Perspectives on Knowledge Production in Psychedelic Science 2025 - November 20, 2024
- Indigenous Shamanic Knowledge Systems, Art and Creative Processes - November 14, 2024
Wednesday, September 20th from 9am-12pm PDT
Cost: $150
Cost: $40 for CE credits
Register here.
Are you involved with a Church that uses psychedelic sacrament? Do you want to learn how to protect your sacrament? Or are you just generally curious about the laws surrounding the religious use of psychedelic plant medicines? Come join us, get informed, and put to rest some of the myths that circulate around the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)–and learn the realities of this law–that affect plant medicine communities in the US. This workshop will be presented through the lens of Chacruna’s Guide to RFRA and Best Practices for Psychedelic Plant Medicine Churches, which teaches churches using psychedelic plant medicines as sacrament how to understand protections offered under the RFRA. The Guide includes an overview of current RFRA case law, definition of “sincerely religious beliefs”, benefits of single/multiple sacraments, as well as practical considerations such as the value of incorporating as church and 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, insurance, liability waivers, sacrament record keeping, storage, and importation issues. This workshop will also go through the history of RFRA claims filed for exemptions from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), including the cases of the Santo Daime and UDV churches, which have been granted exemptions. Attendees will gain clarity and guidance on how psychedelic churches may navigate the risks of and right to religious exercise with psychedelic sacrament, as well as explore implementing best practices in response to shifts in the psychedelic landscape and applicable law, and how such shifts may impact the legal analysis of the right to the religious use of sacrament(s).
Dr. Beatriz Caiuby Labate (Bia Labate) is a queer Brazilian anthropologist based in San Francisco. She has a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. Her main areas of interest are the study of plant medicines, drug policy, shamanism, ritual, religion, and social justice. She is Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines and serves as Public Education and Culture Specialist at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). She is also Visiting Scholar at Naropa University’s Center for Psychedelic Studies and Advisor at the Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition. Dr. Labate is a co-founder of the Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies (NEIP) in Brazil and editor of its site. She is author, co-author, and co-editor of twenty-seven books, two special-edition journals, and several peer-reviewed articles (https://bialabate.net).
Allison Hoots is an attorney with Hoots Law Practice PLLC. She has had a diverse experience practicing law, including in the legal areas of employment, corporate, employee benefits, tax, and intellectual property and advising churches’ on operation and limiting liability in their religious use of sacraments. She is a member of Chacruna’s Council for the Protection of Sacred Plants and the lead author of Chacruna’s Guide to RFRA and Best Practices for Psychedelic Plant Medicine Churches. Allison is also President of Sacred Plant Alliance, Inc., a self-regulating organization and professional society of spiritual practitioners with religious communities dedicated to the advancement of the ceremonial use of psychedelic sacraments within the United States. Since 2017, Allison has been a founding member of the Board of Trustees and officer for a nonprofit church that uses plant medicine in prayer. Allison lives in the Hudson Valley of New York with her beloved musician husband, Sean, and two children, Vera and Archer.
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