In his latest update that you can watch at Patreon
Without further ado, here is my first lecture of the Fourth Series entitled, “Introduction to Federal and State Free Exercise Statutes.” This video is, as titled, an introduction to this lecture series. However, due to time constraints, I was only able to scratch out a rough outline for the federal Religious Freedom and Restoration Act portion of the series. However, I provide a general breakdown of this initial portion as follows:
- Legislative history of RFRA; Relevance of Smith’s facts to RFRA’s application to CSA; What the legislative history can tell us about the issues many entheogen-based religious practitioners face today.
- Analysis of RFRA statute and the key definitions contained therein.
- Analysis of entheogen-based free exercise claims before and after RFRA (does the game remain the same?).
- Analysis of the Uniao Do Vegetal’s battle for their ayahuasca religion under RFRA.
- Analysis of the Santo Daime’s similar legal battle; discussion of other entheogen-based free exercise litigation (both pending and resolved cases).
- Relevance of the psychedelic-based medical/scientific research to RFRA claims/defenses.
- Remedies under RFRA; Analysis of Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Tanzin v. Tanvir.
- Relevance and importance of expert testimony in asserting RFRA claim or defense.
- Constitutional and other issues with RFRA as a defense.
- Constitutional and other issues with government’s enforcement of CSA against entheogen-based religious practitioners.
I will have a formal syllabus to publish here in the coming days. I will announce it in my video and attach it for your edification. As stated in video, it will be subject to change and revision although I promise to do my best to stay on its track as much as possible.
