Texas Court Decision
Judge Maloney of the Fifth Circuit Court
ruled against the
Peyote Way Church of God in Arizona
on October 28, 1988 stating
that:
1 ) There is a limited supply of the Holy Sacrament peyote,
and all of it is needed for the Native American Church of North
America.
2) The government is authorized to make laws to protect the
public even if those laws infringe on the Church's religious
rights, therefore the Federal and Texas State drug laws are
legitimate.
3) Federal and Texas State laws are not racist, they're
political. Native American Church members belong to a sovereign
nation.
"The court therefore concludes that regardless of the
sincerity of Peyote Way's members' beliefs in peyotism, the
exemption provided the Native American Church cannot be expanded
to include non-Native American Church use of peyote.
The Court further concludes that the overriding interest of
Congress to control the use of narcotics and psychotropic drugs
outweighs the interest of expanding an exemption that clearly was
meant to be a grandfather clause, and not a full-scale exemption
of religious peyote use.
Finding that Congress' intent to exempt the Native American
Church is not meant to extend to other Churches which use peyote,
the Court finds that Peyote Way's claims for violation of the
free exercise clause and establishment clause of the First
Amendment must fail. "
| —Judge Robert Maloney U.S. District Court Judge |
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