- Court: U.S. Supreme Court
- Citation: 546 U.S. 418 (2006)
- Decided: 2006
- Church-State Issue: Freedom Of Religion
Description
A religious sect brought suit, seeking to preliminarily enjoin the government from enforcing the Controlled Substances Act to ban the sect's use of hoasca, a tea containing a hallucinogen, in religious ceremonies. The Court found that the government had the burden to demonstrate a compelling interest, and that the government failed to demonstrate that its interests in protecting plaintiffs' health and safety, preventing the diversion of hoasca from the church to recreational users, and complying with the 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances in barring the sect's sacramental use of hoasca, were compelling, especially given the well-established peyote exception. Therefore, the Court affirmed that government interference with the sect’s use of hoasca violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
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