Ayahuasca Religious Freedom Suit Barely Survives Dismissal

The Arizona Yagé Assembly and the North American Association of Visionary Churches failed to convince a federal judge in California that the federal government should be preemptively blocked from investigating their use of ayahuasca in sacred ceremonies.

Ayahuasca is a tea that contains dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a Schedule I controlled substance, and causes psychotropic effects upon ingestion, according to Judge William H. Orrick’s Monday opinion for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The churches claimed that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act entitles them to an exemption from the Controlled Substances Act, and that a raid on a ...