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A new faith group in Utah uses “Psychedelic Mushroom” Under the state’s religious freedom laws, a legal victory was achieved this week.
Lee Jensen, the founder of the nonprofit, called Strangeism – sued Provo and Utah counties in December, claiming a violation of protection According to the U.S. Constitution, State Constitution and Utah Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The complaint says Jensen, the for-profit division of the Strange and Faith Group, Psychological Rehabilitation and Bridged LLC DBA Psychological Therapy Journey: “Use the Eucharist psilocybin Tea to obtain sacred, open spiritual pathways and carefully challenge the human mental clinic with modern clinical practice to relieve human suffering to make human suffering and modern clinical practice.
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The dry “Gorilla Wizard” is arranged along with other psilocybin mushrooms on a dehydrated tray at Benji “Teopixqui Dez” Dezaval, founder of the Pack Life community is Colorado’s first psychedelic church, February 18, 2025. (Jason Connolly/AFP via Getty Images)
Law enforcement searched the spiritual center of Strangeism, seized items that included “sacrament psilocybin used in Strangeism rituals” and threatened the landlord to evict Strangeism from the property, court documents said.
Jensen “now faces criminal charges related to psilocybin, and the only minority religious group, the singularism, has the potential to be expelled and erased by overly zealous authorities,” the lawsuit said.
US District Judge Jill Parrish, appointed by former President Barack Obama, approved the plaintiff’s request for a preliminary injunction Monday, saying the county put a “significant burden” on sincere religious freedom.
“The irreparable harm to the plaintiff is not only theoretical,” Parrish wrote. Based on records in this case, the court again pointed out that its rulings indictment were brought in malice, part of a greater effort to harass the plaintiff with his interesting religious practices and hopes to provide the government with a second opportunity to litigate the official lawsuit in such a case, in which case, the matter of litigation being heard. ”
“The conclusion that prosecution has resulted in the loss of many practitioners and branches of the Singularism and forced the plaintiffs to wait until the criminal proceedings end to ensure their right to free movement would be equivalent to issuing a death order for their newborn religion,” the judge continued. “For these reasons, the court approved the plaintiff’s motion to request a counter-claim injunction to the final judgment in this court, demanding further action against Mr. Jensen in a state criminal case, as the case sued him for violating the Utah Controlled Substances Act injunction against psilocybin. ”
A bunch of psilocybin mushrooms are ready to be distributed to fellow countrymen by Colorado Springs on February 18, 2025 at the Pack Life community of Benji “Teopixqui Dez” Dezaval in Colorado’s first psychedelic church. (Jason Connolly/AFP via Getty Images)
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In most cases, psilocybin is illegal in Utah and is considered to be classified as an I Supervice I controlled substance under state law, which falls into the same category as substances such as heroin and LSD. A state pilot program legal in March 2024, allowing two major hospital systems in the state to use psilocybin and MDMA treatment Treatment of sexual health problems under strict regulations for patients aged 18 and above.
The judge noted that the defendant “contends that the medical psilocybin exemption cannot be based on religious distinction because it applies to all licensed health care providers regardless of their religious belief or affiliation.”
“Their observation, while correct, missed the point. The free practice clause focused not only on fairness between religions, but on uniformity between religion and non-religion,” Parrish wrote. “Specific secular exemption
psilocybin has no accompanying religious immunity, indicating that the law does not fairly consider between religious and non-religious because it “prohibits religious conduct while allowing secular conduct to undermine the interests claimed by the government in a similar way.”
The mushrooms are dried and displayed in a glass bowl. Dried psilocybin mushrooms. (iStock)
Utah is considered one of the most religious nations in the United States, largely due to the strong influence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church.
The state law, known as the Utah Religious Freedom Recovery Act, came into effect in May 2024 and expanded protections and established legal standards for when religious activities can be intervened. It specifically “prohibits the governmental entity from substantively burdening a person’s free exercise of religion unless the burden is essential to promote compelling government interests, which is the least restrictive means to promote such interests.”
Jansen welcomed the court’s victory on Monday, although the final judgment on the case is still under trial.
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The founder of the founder of Faith Group said: “The judge realized this because of what it is. Tell KTVX. “When you protect the freedom of one religion, you can protect the freedom of all religions.”
