Psychedelics, Religion, and the Law

Religious freedom laws are intended to support religious practitioners but often reinforce Christian-influenced models of religiosity. This particularly affects practitioners in the psychedelic renaissance, who seek legal protection but who also must conform to court-defined models of religiosity. Attorneys guide practitioners in replicating these frameworks, pressuring them to adapt Indigenous practices. This paper examines the arbitrary nature of these laws and their impact on practitioners. It compares U.S. religious freedom laws with South American regulations that protect psychoactive substance use outside religious paradigms. Ethnographic research contrasts Indigenous ayahuasca use in Peru with U.S. church-based models, revealing how American laws shape religious expression. Ultimately, these laws compel practitioners to adjust to Christian-centric frameworks, perpetuating neocolonial influences under the guise of religious freedom.

In this paper I focus on how transpersonal psychology and law affected individual and collective post-ceremony integration at Soul Quest Ayahuasca Church and inform the current integration approach and engagement with the DEA by Sacred Sanctuary (a new ayahuasca church that emerged from the bankruptcy of Soul Quest in 2024). I look specifically at how Soul Quests’ syncretic approach to ayahuasca integration was made sense of by church members and was situated in the philosophy and ethics of a secular psychedelic integration training program called Being True to You. Being True to you is an integration program which employs a transpersonal psychotherapeutic approach to psychedelic health and healing. I argue that Sacred Sanctuary, who is currently seeking religious exemption from the DEA to use ayahuasca for religious purposes, draws from Soul Quest’s oeuvre as well as nuances their approach based on Soul Quest’s bankruptcy and denial for religious exemption.

This paper examines the complex history and legal status of the Church of Ambrosia, with special attention to the role of the scholar in the legal process. Founded in the Bay area by David Hodges in 2019, the Church identifies Cannabis and Psilocybe mushrooms as its primary sacraments and now claims over 100,000 members. In the eyes of many critics, the church operates largely as an illegal dispensary and was the target of a massive raid by Oakland police in 2020. In turn, the church has sought advice and expert testimony from religious studies scholars (including this author) to try to make the case that it is a bona fide religious organization whose rights to use psychedelics should be legally protected. As such, this case raises profound questions of religious freedom and scholarly ethics that will become increasingly important as ever more psychedelic churches emerge in the twenty-first century.

This paper explores the intersection of psychedelic-assisted therapy, religious freedom, and the legal recognition of place as central to meaning-making. Drawing on Vine Deloria Jr.’s critique of Western legal frameworks, it highlights how U.S. law has historically marginalized the significance of place in Native American religious practices. While the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) has provided protections for some religious uses of psychoactive substances, it often fails to fully address the communal and spatial dimensions of Indigenous traditions. Furthermore, contemporary research on “emplacement” and extended mind theory underscores the importance of culturally meaningful environments in shaping cognitive and emotional experiences. This paper critiques the limitations of standardized therapeutic environments, or “non-places,” and advocates for integrating emplacement as a core design principle in psychedelic-assisted therapy. By bridging religious, legal, and therapeutic contexts, this research highlights how meaningful environments can foster spiritual transformation and inform discussions on religious freedom and healing practices.