The Supreme Court versus Peyote: Consciousness Alteration, Cultural Psychiatry and the Dilemma of Contemporary Subcultures
Anthropology of Consciousness September 1, 2001 Joseph D. Calabrese 11 citations
The Supreme Court's decision in Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith ignored accepted ethnographic research on the Native American Church's use of Peyote. This paper argues that Peyote's Schedule I status contradicts ethnographic findings, which show the substance is safe and therapeutic when used in this tradition. The Court's ethnocentric assumptions and rationale for denying religious freedom are unsupported by both ethnographic evidence and legal precedent. The right to use Peyote involves not only religious freedom but also the rights to raise children in one's culture and to access culturally relevant therapeutic treatment.