Here's the blurb from the BBC article, which has considerably less to it than the other one:

"A man, 48, and woman, 46, were arrested in Dartington after police searched their property on Wednesday.
A substance which is believed to be Ayahuasca, and contains the Class A drug DMT, was seized at the property.
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive drug used by the South American Santo Daime Church, which one of the detainees claims to be a senior member of.
Both have been released on bail until 1 December."


http://www.thisissouthde...0610-detail/article.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/new...k-england-devon-11167874

It's such a shame that this is what law enforcement is wasting their time on. There aren't words to express depth of the disgust and sorrow I feel towards this incident.

peace,
SB

Why not destroy cocaine and heroine dealers..
So much more beneficial to humankind.
Instead they show the "small" guys, how hard they are able to persecute.

Oh man my heart goes out to these folks. Crazy world.

What a shame. And just below the second article there's a link to another article about a murderer who was released from jail and ended up committing more violent crimes. All this while people were sitting in jail for ayahuasca and other medicines...

I am curious as to how they were caught. The articles say nothing. Was it airport controls? Or what?

Most likely charges will be dropped. If they were a random find it is normal that they will be given some hard time, as it is expected when you carry class a stuff without an explicit excuse.

But if they were targeted as part of a police operation or whatever, then yeah, what a waste of time and money!

too close for comfort! lovely place to trip! however we should take some small solace in these words

"Det Sgt Stuart Gilroy, who led the Dartington raid, said: "As far as we can tell there has only been one other successful prosecution for the drug in this country and that was in another part of UK."
He described the drug as a "psychotropic hallucinogenic" used by members of the religion "to get in touch with their inner selves".
He said that it is believed the drug is used as a sacrament in the same way wine is used in Christian ceremonies"

this propagandas not as bad as it could be, although the press love the cult angle. he even made a comparison to legal and common religious sacrament. not what I expected.

Suddenly it strikes me that the religious freedom to use Entheogenic Sacraments should become a topic of discussion in the UN council, in the EU council and in organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Unfortunately much of the leadership in the western world is not sympathetic. It is very sad.

The "Serious and Organised Crime Investigation Team". O cmon... Are they insane? I bet those 2 had never caused any trouble in their life!

Seems strange to store it as aya though. Would of thought everyone would just brew as needed.

It is amazing how deeply they disrespect religious freedom.
If the man was a Santo Daime member he SHOULD be free of prosecution and able to take his sacrament without a fuss.

Here in the Netherlands police officers entered the 2 Dutch Santo Daime churches DURING A SERVICE and they seized the Huasca and arrested the Church leaders!
Then Santo Daime started a legal defence in court appealing for the law of Religious Freedom. They were granted the Religious freedom to use their sacrament without being prosecuted. SO the police can no longer dick around with Santo Daime here.


Haven't they got religious freedom in the UK too? Wasn't the UK-branch of Santo Daime also legally permitted to use huasca without prosecution?
I think serious charges should be pressed against whoever intended to prosecute these brittish Santo Daime members:
They are after eliminating religious freedom. Now THAT is a serious crime that deserves prosecution.

Imao we should focus on freedom of consciousness exploration in general rather that religious freedom, why should an atheist have less rights to drink ayahuasca than a member
of Santo Daime ?

I'm wondering the same thing.

I'm concerned that it will eventually become acceptable for a person's home to be raided if root bark or other plant material is found in transit to their address.

I feel very fortunate to live in the static void where such concerns do not apply but I do worry about my fellow spice heads.

It'd be interesting to know if this seizure is in any way connected to the recent customs seizure of MHRB (reported in the Sun as seizure of DMT). I've seen assertions that this was going to Santo Daime in the UK.

I completely agree. Except the law on Religious freedom is a constitutionally recognised right. Unfortunately the Individual Right of freedom to explore consciousness is not, as of yet, a recognised Law. We should off course strive to make this law constitutional and internationally recognised and respected.

But what we have NOW, to work with, is the law on Religious Freedom.
See it as the first mayor crack in the international drug-prohbition scheme.
And even the Law on Religious freedom isn't respected or protected by the law from the backwards War on Drugs.
How do you suggest we make policiticans go into debate about individual rights of exploring consciousness?

We could raise awareness about entheogens to the public via various local and internet media, but how do we get such issues to be considered and discussed by politicians?