| NEWS | Scott Stanley Churchfrom p 12 lawsuit against the DEA that followed. Another church, in Tucson, is still battling for legal recognition from the U.S. govern- ment after seizures of its own ayahuasca. The Church of the Eagle and the Condor was founded, in part, “to help protect our sacred right to use ayahuasca,” explained physician and church founder Joe Tafur in a podcast last year. Tafur, of Phoenix, is Colombian-American and works in naturopathic medicine. He calls himself an “ayahuascero,” having studied traditional uses of the brew in the jungles of Peru for seven years. Tafur declined to comment for this story, saying he is directing questions to his attor- neys now that the lawsuit has been filed. But he has been an outspoken advocate of reli- gious freedom for ayahuasca congregations, numerous YouTube videos and material on the church’s website make clear. Ayahuasca’s legal status in the U.S. is complex. That’s because brew is made from several plants native to the Amazon basin, which, when stewed together, activate the hallucinogen N,N-dimethyltryptamine, or DMT. Under the Controlled Substances Act, DMT is illegal. But other U.S.-based congregations — notably, the New Mexico- based União do Vegetal and the Santo Daime churches in Oregon — have won legal battles arguing that their religious use of ayahuasca is protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. These successful court cases, however, have not protected other ayahuasca churches from seizures or prosecution. As New Times reported last year, Clay Villanueva — the late leader of the Vine of Light Church — was raided and jailed in 2021 for his possession of ayahuasca (though he faced other drug charges as well, for selling pot and for possessing psilocybin mushrooms). The Church of the Eagle and the 14 Condor had its own ayahuasca seized by CBP in September 2020. The church had ordered a shipment from Peru, and it was confiscated in transit, in Los Angeles. By that point, the church had been operating for around two years, holding virtual talks, The Arizona Yagé Assembly holds ayahuasca ceremonies in the desert near Tucson. ayahuasca ceremonies, and other gather- ings at different locations in the Phoenix area, including a community center in Mesa it rents out. It does not have a single brick-and-mortar location. The 2020 seizure — and an accompa- nying warning that fines or criminal charges could be on their way — had a “chilling effect on the members of the church engaging in their religious prac- tices,” said Gilbert Carrasco, one of the attorneys working with the Church of the Eagle and the Condor on its case. It amounted to a violation of the RFRA, he said, which prohibits the government from burdening a religious practice. Carrasco, along with co-counsel Jack Silver, has worked on high-profile ayahuasca cases before, including the land- mark Santo Daime case in Oregon, which began in 2008. In that case, a small Oregon branch of the Brazilian Santo Daime church, which ritually uses ayahuasca, had a shipment seized. Its religious leader was arrested. The church sued the federal government and won its case, which was upheld by the ninth circuit of appeals. “Mr. Silver and I are helping this church and this congregation in Arizona, now,” Carrasco told New Times recently. As it turns out, the seizure of the Church of the Eagle and the Condor’s ayahuasca in 2020 was part of a rash of ayahuasca shipment seizures that year — which included the Vine of Light Church in Phoenix and the Arizona Yagé Assembly, a church based in Tucson. Tafur, in a video from May 2021, described “many, many reports” of seizures from that time period. Both of the other Arizona churches have confirmed in court documents that they experienced seizures then. Charles Carreon, the attorney for Villanueva and the AYA, said he believed the uptick in seizures was due to the implementation of a new means of drug testing by CBP that occurred nationwide. According to the Church of the >> p 17 JUNE 30TH–JULY 6TH, 2022 PHOENIX NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | NEWS | OPINION | FEEDBACK | CONTENTS | phoenixnewtimes.com
