Couple agree to end peyote use if feds drop drug charges

Hello,

This article can be read there:
- [sltrib.com]


A Utah County couple who battled for years for the right of non-Indians to use peyote in religious ceremonies have agreed to stop using and distributing the hallucinogenic cactus, in exchange for the dismissal of federal drug charges against them.
The deal between prosecutors and James "Flaming Eagle" Mooney and Linda Mooney was filed Wednesday by defense attorney Steven Killpack in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City. It includes a requirement that the Mooneys make a public declaration about the agreement if requested by the government.
"We're very happy that the case is resolved," said Killpack, who represents James Mooney.
Prosecutors also were satisfied with the resolution, saying it avoids a lengthy trial and stops the illegal use of peyote. They will be able to refile the charges if James Mooney, 61, founder of the Oklevueha Earthwalks Native American Church, or Linda Mooney, 51, violates the deal.
James Mooney, who claims membership in a Seminole tribe that is not federally recognized, contends that all church members have the right to use peyote. But federal authorities say only members of federally recognized tribes are eligible to use the hallucinogen as part of their religion.
The dispute started in 2000, when police raided the Oklevueha Earthwalks church in Benjamin and seized 12,000 peyote buttons. The Mooneys were charged in 4th District Court with a dozen first-degree felony counts.
After prosecutors refused their demand to drop the charges, the two appealed to the Utah Supreme Court. The justices ruled unanimously in 2004 that the Mooneys and other church members, regardless of race, legally can use the hallucinogenic cactus under a federal exemption passed in 1970 that is incorporated into Utah law.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said the Mooneys and the non-Indian members of their church still were prohibited under federal law from possessing or using peyote.
Last year, the pair were indicted on 13 counts each of conspiracy to possess peyote with intent to distribute, conspiracy to distribute peyote and possession of peyote with intent to distribute. James Mooney also was charged with an additional count of attempted possession of peyote with intent to distribute.
Also named in the federal indictment was self-styled medicine man Nicholas Stark, 54, of Ogden, who was charged with one count each of possession of peyote with intent to distribute, distribution of peyote and possession of coca leaves. He has pleaded guilty to the coca leaf possession count and is scheduled to be sentenced March 27.
The Mooneys' agreement was finalized the day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the government cannot bar a New Mexico congregation from using a hallucinogenic tea during religious rituals. Richard Lambert, head of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office, said the issues considered in that matter are similar but do not affect peyote cases.
The Mooneys have the right to resume use of peyote if changes in federal law allow that. The Utah Legislature passed a bill this session that limits peyote to members of federally recognized American Indian tribes who use it as part of their religion.

Hi Yann. This points up a basic difference between the French system and our system of justice. In France, if a drug is illegal, it is illegal. Over here, we make all kinds of loopholes for all kinds of things. Religion over here means that the state cannot define it, and all manifestations of faith are accepted. You had your scarf issue which also was along those same lines. Over here, we allow all religious displays in school, (students) while youall allow none in the classroom. This makes the American system bend in ridiculous ways and allows for corruption to take hold. If you want to agree with the gov't, it will make exceptions in the criminal code for you. The above is a perfect example.

This Native American exemption for peyote is also part of the fiction of the reservation system. A reservation is treated by law like a different country. They have their own police, courts, etc. State laws are not enforced on the reservation, nor are state taxes collected. Many reservations make a living selling gasoline and cigarettes to white people because without the state taxes, the products are much cheaper. This is also why Indian Reservations can erect casinos and white people can't, without state government permission.

The last sentence says it all: only Federally recognized Indians can operate this way. (Since peyote is not native to Utah, I wonder how a Utah tribe can claim to have used it before the Europeans came over.) However, the Indians themselves decide who is Indian and who isn't. I have enough Indian blood to be accepted into the Micmac tribe(also spelled Mique-maque), but will not persue it. In the case of the Micmacs, all you need is one Indian great-grandparent. It would only complicate matters, but it would give me the right to cross into Canada without clearing customs since the Micmacs are one of the few bi-national tribes.

So the result is that the government, with its battery of lawyers and bottomless pit of money, can really determine who can be treated like an Indian and use drugs and who has to be made to bend to its will. The only thing that scares the Bushies more than drugs is sex, and they'd like to ban that too.

12,000 buttons, gee I hope they weren't collected in the wild.

Hi Pete,

Thanks a lot for you very interesting answer.

> 12,000 buttons, gee I hope they weren't collected in the wild.

So do I!


Yann

Flexibility on the unimportant works much better than rigidity.

I like the comment about the "tradition" for indians there. It reminds me about the battle for "traditional hunting" in some regions of France which were prohibited by common European laws. In such "traditional" hunting were put some gun hunting with 4X4 in the mountain Pyrénées, where the traditional was net hunting...The battle for stupid unimportant things avoid having a reflection about important ones.
In addition, the "right" for natives goes to stupid as I read in a book written by the musher who crossed all far north Canada and was taken in a snow storm, where he could gun a sort of deer protected except for the inuits. Greeting to that, he and the dogs survived. When he arrived to a town, he was almost jailed because of that, whereas the "inuits" could hunt this beast with skidoos for their leisures. The same said that when he crossed an inuit village all children were around him because they never saw a dog attelage before....

Hi,

>12,000 buttons, gee I hope they weren't collected in the wild.

Of course they were.
Licensed 'peyoteros' from south Texas dont grow themselves (or so few). Moreover I'm not convinced that peyote growing is legal for NAC members. Possession / consumption is one thing. Growing is another story.

>(Since peyote is not native to Utah, I wonder how
>a Utah tribe can claim to have used it before the Europeans came over.)

By trading with other tribes. This is well known. Peyote religious use originally came from Mexican tribes such as Huichols (the last tribe doing yearly peyote pilgrimage in order to harvest plants in Real de Catorce area, SLP, Mex. in a place they call 'Wirikuta", 3000m asl, Cora and Tarahumares.
Then it spread up north and Indians communications across the Rio Grande spread the use to USA.

As far as I know, there is bona fide NAC members even in Canada..

Hi,

>12,000 buttons, gee I hope they weren't collected in the wild.

Of course they were.
Licensed 'peyoteros' from south Texas dont grow themselves (or so few). Moreover I'm not convinced that peyote growing is legal for NAC members. Possession / consumption is one thing. Growing is another story.

>(Since peyote is not native to Utah, I wonder how
>a Utah tribe can claim to have used it before the Europeans came over.)

By trading with other tribes. This is well known. Peyote religious use originally came from Mexican tribes such as Huichols (the last tribe doing yearly peyote pilgrimage in order to harvest plants in Real de Catorce area, SLP, Mex. in a place they call 'Wirikuta", 3000m asl, Cora and Tarahumares.
Then it spread up north and Indians communications across the Rio Grande spread the use to USA.

As far as I know, there is bona fide NAC members even in Canada..

Pierre