FIRST AMENDMENT, FREE EXERCISE CLAUSE, ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE, RELIGIOUS
FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT OF 1993, INTERNATIONAL TREATY COMPLIANCE,
NARCOTICS ENFORCEMENT

Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal, et al.
(04-1084)

Oral argument date: Tuesday, November 1, 2005

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 ("RFRA") generally
prohibits the federal government from restricting the use of controlled
substances in bona fide religious ceremonies. A small North American
sect of the Brazilian group, "O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do
Vegetal" ("UDV") has challenged the government's enforcement of a ban
on DMT, a Schedule I narcotic and principle ingredient of "hoasca", a
tea imported from South America that is central to UDV's religious
rituals. The government argues that its restriction on UDV falls within
narrow RFRA exceptions because of the health risks associated with the
use of DMT, the potential for diversion of the substance to non-
religious uses, and the 1971 United Nations Convention ban on the
importation of DMT. In this case the Supreme Court will decide whether
RFRA's prohibition extends to the use and importation of Schedule I
narcotics, which are those substances the federal government deems most
harmful.