“The use of Peyote is likely the oldest religion on the North American continent.”
Biography
Jerry D. Patchen, Houston, Texas Attorney brings four decades of experience and wisdom to the court room as a trial lawyer having litigated civil and criminal cases in 25 states and various foreign jurisdictions.
Jerry’s work includes 40 years of pro bono representation of the Native American Church (NAC) on behalf American Indians to secure and protect their rights to religious freedom. Serving as an Officer in the NAC, he represented individuals charged in various states with possession of Peyote, winning every case. He also represented the Peyote dealers in Texas, who are licensed by the Texas DPS and DEA to dispense Peyote to Indians. Throughout his representation of the NAC Jerry, his wife, Linda, and their three children participated in Peyote meetings with Native American elders for decades.
The US Supreme Court in the case of Oregon vs. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990) ruled that police power was paramount to religious freedom rights. The Smith case overruled a 30 year precedent that required the States and Federal Government to balance the right of the free exercise of religion against police power while giving great weight to religious freedom and using the least restrictive means. A dark cloud hung over the continued religious use of Peyote. Jerry created the strategy of requesting the US Congress to enact the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), 42 USC § 2000bb, and to amend the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA), 42 USC § 1996 to ensure continued religious use of Peyote by the NAC. Working with Senator Inouye, Jerry provided vital support from Texas DPS and the Texas Attorney General’s Office that overcame the concern of various Senators that the use of Peyote could not be effectively regulated. For his efforts, on behalf of Native American Indians, Jerry was awarded the distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award by the State Bar of Texas.
Beginning in 1999, he was on the legal team representing the União do Vegetal (UDV), which successfully secured the right of the UDV to use their sacrament, Ayahuasca, in the US based on RFRA combined with the impact of AIRFA, Gonzales v. Uniao do Vegetal, 546 US 418 (2006). The Santo Daime in the case of Church of the Holy Light of the Queen v. Mukasey, CV 08-3095-PA (2009), used the UDV case as a precedent to obtain a favorable ruling from an Oregon US District Court.
Jerry was formerly counsel and a founding Director of the Heffter Research Institute which is dedicated to promote high quality research of the mind and the effect of mind altering plants such as Peyote and Ayahuasca, and also synthetic compounds. Jerry, with Linda’s presence and guidance, serves on the Board of Integral Transformative Practice International (ITPI), the Wasiwaska Advisory Board and they are active supporter of Esalen and the Houston Jung Center.
Reflections on the Peyote Road with the Native American Church – Visions & Cosmology
Interestingly, Indians’ focus is on experiencing rather than the seeming compulsive questioning and rational investigation of the Western mind.
Transcript abstract
The use of Peyote is likely the oldest religion on the North American continent. Its ancient roots are lost in time. The Witte Museum of San Antonio, Texas possesses two Peyote specimens radiocarbon dated 4,000 B.C.E. which were discovered in hunter-gatherer context in the Shumla cave near the Rio Grande and Pecos Rivers. The Spanish conquistadors of the 16th century chronicled Indians using Peyote for divine revelation. Spanish Priests issued an edict in 1620 forbidding Peyote which was “pagan” and opposed “to the purity and integrity of our holy Catholic faith”; therefore, Peyote was the first psychoactive substance prohibited by law in the Americas. The courageous struggle of the Native American Church (“NAC”), to use their sacrament Peyote in the 50 years since the original ESPD, has been the trailblazing breakthrough in the United States to secure legal rights to use psychoactive controlled substances.
Although, the writer was integrally involved in securing the legal status of Peyote, the focus of this paper is not law. While representing the NAC as an attorney, the writer served as an officer in the NAC and participated in Peyote Meetings with the grandsons of the fabled horse riding warriors of the Great Plains, who were conquered, removed from Indian country and restricted to reservations in Oklahoma, where they established the NAC in 1918. Surprising original correspondence and photographs with Indian elders and psychedelic visionaries such as Humphry Osmond are displayed. Visions of the divine life force, apparitions of deceased, radiating beams transmitting the wisdom of the process of life, time warps and other supernormal phenomena fostered by Peyote in the NAC are explored. The NAC cosmology of our unity with Nature, and communicating with the Spirit of birds, animals, plants and all life is explained, including inviolate commitments with tobacco and practices regarding the sacred use of water. Interestingly, Indians’ focus is on experiencing rather than the seeming compulsive questioning and rational investigation of the Western mind.
