Brazilian church in the US wants ban of hallucinogenic tea lifted by Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether worshippers of a Brazilian-based Christian faith can use hallucinogenic tea during their services, in a case that could shape the federal government's obligations toward religious practitioners. The Bush administration, which has frequently sided with religious practitioners seeking special accommodations under the law, is in this case asking the court to ban the substance over the objections of the church and lower courts. The tea, called 'Hoasca', is made of two Amazonian rain forest plants and contains a substance that is banned under federal drug laws. Members of the Centro Espirita Beneficiente União do Vegetal, which has roughly 140 adherents in America, say the tea connects them to God and claim the right to drink it under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The law requires the government to accommodate religious practices unless it can show a compelling interest in not doing so. So far, lower courts have sided with the church and issued injunctions preventing the government from interfering with use of the tea.