Accommodating Religious Users of Controlled Substances: A Model Amendment to the Controlled Substances Act
Journal of Drug Issues July 1, 1994 DOI: 10.1177/002204269402400307 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 2 |
| Key points | Argues that federal drug laws fail to accommodate religiously motivated users of mind-changing substances despite millennia of ritual use, and proposes a model for nonsectarian accommodation that retains strict federal drug control. |
Abstract
The relationship between religious experience and alternative states of consciousness is as old as humanity itself. From time immemorial, visionary states have been entered through the ritual use of mind-changing substances. Despite the uncontrovertedfact that particular substances have been used for thousands of years to achieve religious experiences and insights, the federal drug laws fail to accommodate religiously motivated users. The purpose of this article is to present a model from which such a nonsectarian accommodation may be developed, while retaining the federal scheme for the strict control of drugs.