Controversy Brews Over New Mexico Church's Hallucinogenic Tea Ritual : NPR

Why is any religious group having to fight for their right to exist and worship according to the tenets of their faith?? Isn't that what freedom of religion is. It's the right to practice one's religion freely, as the vast majority of religions in this country already do.

A small church in Santa Fe, N.M., has grown up around a unique sacrament. Twice a month, the congregation meets in a ritualized setting to drink Brazilian huasca tea, which has psychoactive properties said to produce a trance-like state.

The Supreme Court confirmed the 's right to exist in 2006. The church doesn't seek new members and prefers to keep a low profile. It did, however, agree for the first time to open up to a journalist.

UDV stands for Uniao do Vegetal — literally translated "the union of the plants." Huasca tea is brewed from two plants: a vine and the leaves of a bush found in the Amazonian forest. The concoction contains DMT, which is considered a by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Anthropologists who've trekked to the Amazon to try the "vine of the soul," as it's called, have described the intense experience it produces as death, returning to the cosmic uterus and rebirth.

Controversy Brews Over New Mexico Church's Hallucinogenic Tea Ritual : NPR