Colombian busted in TX for Ayahuasca

[digital_phreedom]

Forgive me if this was already posted here elsewhere, but...

Original article

"On Tuesday, October 19, 2010 while en route to leading traditional Ayahuasca ceremonies in Oregon, indigenous Colombian healer Juan Agreda Chindoy was detained in the Houston International Airport. He was formally arrested by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for possession of his traditional medicine Ayahuasca. He is now being charged as a federal criminal and is facing up to 20 years in federal prison. Taita Juan is certified by his community and by the Colombian ministry of health as a traditional healer. He is one of the few remaining indigenous spiritual leaders in the world that holds the ancestral medicinal knowledge of an ecosystem that is rapidly disappearing. Taita Juan is a father, a husband and a godfather to more than 20 children. With more than 3000 supporters from several countries in the world, his life and work have touched many."

"His baggage was searched and he was formally arrested by ICE (Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement) for possession of his ancestral medicine, ‘Yaje’ or ‘Ayahuasca’. Upon revealing the presence of DMT in the liquid medicine, he was charged with possession with intent to distribute a “Schedule 1 Drug”.

After a judge found probable cause for Taita Juan’s conviction on Friday, October 22, he is now being held in Joe Corley Federal Detention Facility in Conroe, in the vicinity of Houston, Texas. Since then, a group of his close friends and students have been working around the clock to build his legal defense and to support him and his family in Colombia.

Based on the charges Juan is facing up to 20 years in federal prison."

This saddens me beyond words.

 

[Malaclypse]

Uggggg.

How easy is it for them to keep a Columbian in our jails? I would think they would just deport him.

 

[Astralking]

This is disgusting.... How come aya isn't allowed to have legit healers but the Native American Church are? Where do you judge to be one better or worse than the other? Strange...

 

[ms_manic_minxx]

And didn't the Daime win in Oregon? Sooo, how does all of that work?

 

[Apoc]

This is very very sad. My only hope is that cases like these will help people realize how absurd the current laws are. My God. They are destroying good peoples lives. A war against the benign and the spiritual. I hope this case encourages prosecuters and law makers to understand the difference betweeen criminal drug abusers/sellers/ traffickers/ violent gang leaders, and the difference between spiritual users. Hopefully, also people will realize there is a difference between entheogens and other substances associated with addiction, violence, poor physical health, human trafficking, violence and crime. Entheogens have nothing to do with any of that. I hope they realize no one is being protected from entheogens being illegal. The laws themselves are hurting people far more than the substances are.

 

[Soulshine]

My heart sank further and further as i read the words of the article. Its both sad and frustrating. I think in the past month i've read 3 or 4 posts with people getting arested for possession. I don't remember the dates of the posts.

If it doesn't bleed it dosen't lead..... Will there ever be any positive news articles/stories of this sacred molecule?

I agree Apoc, on the brighter side of this particular case (i know its not very bright ) at least it was a holy man and not some smuggler. I don't think it reflects quite as negatively, there may be a chance. I just hope the legal team that was put together pulls through.

 

[Malaclypse]

Here you go Soul. Not exactly a big main stream source but my wife recently saw this article. The person writing the article was definitely not an advocate for them before writing this.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/10/warning-these-drugs-may-be-therapeutic.php

 

[Soulshine]

Thanks Malaclypse. That was a good read. Definitely a step in the right direction. We need more articles like this in more sources to promote positive, safe, consciousness expanding, use of psydelics to those who wish to persue them. Easier said then done i guess...

 

[digital_phreedom]

Since this guy is assembling a (hopefully) very good legal team, this could end up becoming something of a landmark case. While Ayahuasca has been deemed ok for certain religions in the US (just two I think, right?), it's still not legal for personal spiritual use. From what I've read this guy isn't a member of either of those religions, but he is obviously a certified shamanic healer.

So what constitutes personal, responsible, spiritual use of entheogens? Obviously DMT isn't a recreational drug, but I think the talking points in this case are things like what separates recreational drug use from spiritual drug use? And healing? Should shamanic healers be recognized and given certain exemptions?

I wish I was in a better financial situation so I could donate for this man's defense, but unfortunately that's not something I can do right now. Although I did just get a new job today (yay)! So in time, if I can scrounge up an extra $20 I will certainly be donating to help his cause. I urge anyone else who feels the way I do about this to consider doing the same.

 

[DMTripper]

I don't believe this guy will ever go to jail.

 

[vibrancy3]

Hang on i thuoght possessing aya was perfectly legal ?

I bet they do kind of feel a little bit guilty for arresting someone for spiritually heal people

next you'll have customs and DEA taking a trip down to the forest and arresting all the indigenous people for suspisicous activity involving dmt.. (the killer menace drug, soon to take over meth and kill our chrildren and society)

 

[digital_phreedom]

^^
The constituent plants that are used to make Ayahuasca are uncontrolled, but the admixtures contain a schedule I narcotic, making their legal status fuzzy. However, once brewed into a DMT containing tea it's usually considered illegal.

From erowid, about Mimosa (substitute any admixture, DMT containing plant for Mimosa and it says the same thing)

"Mimosa hostilis (and other Mimosa species) are not specifically controlled species in the United States. Live plants and seeds are bought and sold and are not generally considered illegal. However, DMT, one of the chemicals contained in these plants, is Schedule I in the U.S. Practically, this means that if an extraction is done on DMT-containing Mimosa species, the resulting DMT is illegal to possess.

Large scale (especially commercial) extraction of DMT from Mimosa species falls into the realm of "clearly illegal" and would very likely be prosecuted. It is also possible that importation of DMT containing Mimosa species into the United States could result in problems with customs, especially if large volumes are imported."

Thankfully, Ayahuasca and it's plant components are legal in most (all?) of their countries of origin.

 

[Blue]

What follows is the content of an email i received earlier. What follows from this event could have tremendous legal repercussions for this community.





"Hopefully you all have heard about this by now, but if not it
is imperative you learn of what has happened.

On Tuesday, October 19, 2010 while en route to leading traditional Ayahuasca
> ceremonies in Oregon, indigenous Colombian healer Juan Agreda Chindoy was
> detained in the Houston International Airport. He was formally arrested by
> ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for possession of his traditional
> medicine Ayahuasca. He is now being charged as a federal criminal and is
> facing up to 20 years in federal prison. Taita Juan is certified by his
> community and by the Colombian ministry of health as a traditional healer.
> He is one of the few remaining indigenous spiritual leaders in the world
> that holds the ancestral medicinal knowledge of an ecosystem that is rapidly
> disappearing. Taita Juan is a father, a husband and a godfather to more than
> 20 children. With more than 3000 supporters from several countries in the
> world, his life and work have touched many."


The website where you can donate is http://www.freetaitajuan.org/

And I encourage you to read and add to the comments on the posting about
this @

http://teleomorph.com/2010/10/26/colombian-shaman-arrested-in-tx-charged-with-ayahuasca-possession/#comments

 

[mistmann]

to open the mind is to free the spirit. thats the last thing the govn wants, is some one opening eyes of the public to there scandalis bull shit they pull ever day. to make it were "society" cant have a grasp on your life and thus cant influence you. fuck uncle sam

sorry im bitter toward this cause i am 19 *two years ago* facing 25YEARS in a FEDERAL prison because i smoked cannabis near a school, 675g is not a whole lot in the scheme of things. prohibition doesn't work, war on drugs is ineffective... you wanna see were are money goes look into gang leaders and crooked ass politicians keeping it illegal. you wanna know WHY its illegal cause back in 1912 it gave MEXICANS SUPER HUMAN POWERS!!! that's how it all started, go ahead obama keep it illegal spend 5-8 billion dollars on statistics that just raise every year on drug use. not that if given to the public you'd make 10-15 billion dollars you would quit having to export 250-500 million to Canada to buy hemp, not that its an alternative to gasoline and you could get gas down to 1$ a gallon... not that you would free up our drug task force to stop real threats... fucking morons

^^^ sorry, vent, amen, have a good day

 

[jbark]

There was another post here last week about this, but I never got around to posting. Not to be a cynic, but has anybody seen any legitimate articles about this guy? I mean, all there is out there is fundraising site and a couple of slim articles on fringe websites with links to the fundraising site. Is no one else raising an eyebrow to this? Sounds to me like something the media would be all over - yet not ONE article in any wide release paper or news-site that I could find...

JBArk

EDIT : i guess the threads got merged!!

 

[Ice House]

Hmmmm, jbark you are right. A little fishy indeed.

 

[vovin]

Being a ex convict from a federal prison I can speak on this matter with experience. Although my crimes were not drug related, I have been in prison with people that were put there for things you cannot imagine. Anything done on federal land is a federal offense. One kid was put into a camp for 6 months because a ranger found 2 pot seeds in the floorboard of his truck. Another was given a 18 months sentence for picking up a rock in a cave on government land. It is outright insane how some people wind up in federal prison. The big issue is there is little good time so when you get 20 years your going to do 18 of them.

The federal government is not in sync with common sense and regulations limit judges ability to make the punishment fit the crime. Minimum mandatory sentencing requires them to give a certain amount of time if a person is found guilty. The funny thing is that federal prisons are teaming with native americans as their native lands are considered federal property and minor crimes will come with a federal sentence simply due to this fact. There were many there for simple DUI's.

As far as deporting they will do this once the sentence is served and if that person ever returns to the united states they face a minimum 10 years sentence as per guidelines.There are prisons full of people spending allot more time than they should for the crime committed simply due to restrictions on sentencing. The only thing that can be done to prevent this in our current government is if the prosecuting attorney drops the charges which as we all know they rarely do.

One of the theories as to why they do these things is money. there is a company in the federal system called UNICOR. It is a major supplier to the us military and the workers in prison make a average of 50 cents a hour. Only politicians can own stock in this company and those are the very same people who sign off on military purchases. They have a vested interest to keep a slave army working for their profit. The commissary system is just as corrupt guess who own Keefe one of the main products brands in the prison system. The bush family with a percentage owned supposedly by the bin laden family, although I cannot say for sure about the bin laden aspect.

 

[Eluna]

This is so sad. I have donated

 

[alzabo]

One of the theories as to why they do these things is money. there is a company in the federal system called UNICOR. It is a major supplier to the us military and the workers in prison make a average of 50 cents a hour. Only politicians can own stock in this company and those are the very same people who sign off on military purchases. They have a vested interest to keep a slave army working for their profit. The commissary system is just as corrupt guess who own Keefe one of the main products brands in the prison system. The bush family with a percentage owned supposedly by the bin laden family, although I cannot say for sure about the bin laden aspect.

~4% of the world's population
~25% of the world's prisoners
GO USA

 

[polytrip]

What happened to religious freedom? Oh, it only seemed to have aplied to WASPs in the first place.