"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion..."

If Native Americans can get the green light regarding Peyote because it's their religion, can't the rest of us get the green light on mushrooms, ayahuasca, etc., because it's our spiritual choice? Why is it that a religion is deemed more "legitimate" just because it is larger and older? What about my own personal religion or spiritual practice? Once you begin trying to define "religion," you step on the toes of all the people out there who are following their own path, yet ascribe to a certain spirituality, which could be classified as religion.

I feel like someone more well-versed in law could do a better job of thinking this out, but I do believe there is a possibility here for a connection to be made that would prove a convincing argument for the legalization of all substances based on the 1st Amendment of The Constitution.

~RS

Complicated topic. Some of which is centered on ideals of "legitimacy" which is a variable distinction to make, but it's made nonetheless.

The Divine Assembly is a legitimate non-dogmatic religion that uses mushrooms specifically. So that's some progress.

https://www.thedivineassembly.org/

One love

The thing with all things written on paper is that in the end it all boils down to how people are going to interpret it.

On paper, russia is a democracy and a constitutional state. In real life it obviously is quite the opposite of both a democracy as well as a constitutional state.

I suppose there is some jurisprudence that you could look at though. There are a couple of religious or spiritual organisations that can legally use some psychedelic substances. My guess would be that in those cases something has been written down that specifies what is considered a "legitimate religious or spiritual practice", either by the D.A. or state or federal courts.

Russia is a Federal Republic, not a Democracy. The United States of America is a Constitutional Republic, also not a Democracy.

The US Constitution limits the powers of Government upon We The People. But where the rubber meets the road or in the real world that we currently live in, The Powers That Be are going to interpret what that means and what they will and will not allow, Constitution be damned. Not fair, not Constitutional, but that is where we are currently. As TMK often said, “We have the money, the power, the medical understanding, the scientific know-how, the love and the community to produce a kind of human paradise. But we are led by the least among us – the least intelligent, the least noble, the least visionary. We are led by the least among us and we do not fight back against the dehumanizing values that are handed down as control icons.”