Psychedelic Tea Brews Unease

A woman in Brazil picks one of the two plants used to make the potent tea.

Santa Fe Residents Fight Church's Planned Site, Say Drink Endangers Public Safety

By STEPHANIE SIMON
WSJ

SANTA FE, N.M. -- A secretive religious group that fought a long legal battle for the right to drink hallucinogenic tea in pursuit of spiritual growth now plans to build a temple and greenhouse in a wealthy community here -- to the dismay of local residents.

The church was founded in Brazil in 1961 and remains most popular there, but about 150 people in the U.S., including about 60 in Santa Fe, practice the faith, which goes by the Portuguese name Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal, or UDV. Members say the church is based on Christian theology but also borrows from other faiths and finds spirituality in nature.

Since the U.S. branch of the religion emerged in the late 1980s, practitioners have imported from Brazil their sacramental tea, known as hoasca, which is brewed from two Amazonian plants and contains the psychedelic compound dimethyltryptamine, or DMT. The U.S. government classifies DMT as a Schedule I controlled substance, the same designation given to heroin and marijuana. But in a unanimous ruling in 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the UDV had the right to use hoasca in its ceremonies.

Now, the Santa Fe branch has drawn up plans to build a greenhouse for growing their own sacred plants, a ceremonial kitchen for brewing the tea and a 7,100-square-foot temple, complete with a children's nursery and foot-thick walls to ensure privacy.

They are seeking a zoning change and county permits to build these facilities on 2½ acres in the Arroyo Hondo neighborhood, a secluded community of horse ranches and million-dollar homes. The grassy lot, which sits at the entrance to the neighborhood, is held in trust by Jeffrey Bronfman, the local leader of the UDV. He also owns a stately private home across the street. Mr. Bronfman is a grandnephew of Samuel Bronfman, the patriarch of the prominent Canadian family that owned Seagram Co. and other assets.

(More here.)