Native American Church's sacred plants destroyed during raids in CA, suit says
A Native American Church affiliate in Southern California says a sheriff's department seized and destroyed 'thousands' of psychoactive plants revered as sacred, interfering with members' religious practices.
In a lawsuit against the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and Sheriff Shannon Dicus, California Evergreen Farms Native American Church says officers raided the church's place of worship in the Mojave Desert, in violation of their right to practice religion freely, in November and January.
Members of the Native American Church, as part of centuries of spiritual tradition among Indigenous people, use 'sacred plant medicines such as peyote, cannabis, and other entheogenic sacraments,' according to the lawsuit, which was moved to federal court on May 21.
The use of peyote and cannabis as entheogens, psychoactive substances used religiously and ceremoniously, are 'essential to (the Native American Church's) worship,' a complaint says.
'This case is about protecting the constitutional right to religious freedom — specifically, the right of sincere minority faiths to practice their sacrament without government interference,' attorney Daniel S. Miller, who is representing the case, said in a statement to McClatchy News on June 2.
The sheriff's department is actively investigating the church after responding to the church's site in November and January, public information officer Mara Rodriguez said to McClatchy News on June 2.
The department said in a statement that an investigation 'resulted in evidence of criminal activity associated with an illegal marijuana cultivation operation where multiple arrests were made, and additional evidence was seized.'
The agency didn't comment on the lawsuit, which accuses it of intimidating church members and failing to recognize their sincerely held religious beliefs, in violation of the First Amendment.
For Indigenous people in North America, the Native American Church is 'the most widespread religious movement,' the Associated Press reported in December.
California Evergreen Farms Native American Church was founded as a non-profit by James Mooney, who is named as a plaintiff in the case, as a local offshoot of the national organization in Oro Grande, about a 100-mile drive northeast from Los Angeles.
Mooney is described in the lawsuit as a 'medicine man' and 'war chief' of the Seminole tribe.
The complaint says he's previously fought for the legal right to use sacramental plant medicines religiously.
With the raids of the church's property in November and January, the complaint argues the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department 'instilled fear among members, discouraging attendance at religious gatherings and violating their ability to freely exercise their faith.'
The agency is also accused of wrongly obtaining warrants to support the raids.
Specifically, the filing says the agency obtained warrants without informing the court that it was searching property belonging to a church.
This would've required the court to appoint a 'special master,' the complaint says.
'The raids not only deprived (California Evergreen Farms Native American Church) of a core sacrament but also intimidated and deterred participation in religious ceremonies, chilling their First Amendment rights,' Miller wrote in the filing.
The church asks the court to declare and recognize its legal right to grow and use sacred plants, including marijuana, for religious reasons without the government interfering.
The church also seeks an injunction to ban future 'raids, code enforcement actions, civil and/or criminal claims' against the church 'or its members.'
Miller told McClatchy News the case is 'in line with recent federal decisions,' pointing to Jensen v. Utah County, in which he said a preliminary injunction 'affirmed that unfamiliar religions deserve equal protection under the law.'
'We're hopeful this case will reinforce a growing legal consensus: that the free exercise of religion includes sincere, sacramental use of entheogens, and that outdated drug laws cannot override constitutional protections,' Miller said.
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