Consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms as part of a religious ceremony does not automatically “disturb the public peace” even though eating them is illegal, and therefore the act might be protected by the New Hampshire constitution, the state Supreme Court has ruled. Tuesday’s unanimous Supreme Court ruling does not mean that consuming psilocyn mushrooms is automatically a protected religious practice, however. The court ruled only that the earlier Coos County appeals court decision did not apply the necessarily “balancing test” between religious liberty and government interest, and they sent it back to that court. In its ruling the court noted that New Hampshire’s state constitution is stronger than the federal constitution when it comes to religion because it expressly protects not just religious belief but also religious practices. The unanimous ruling was written by Associate Justice James Bassert. It came in response to a 2017 case involving a Colebrook man who joined the Oratory of Mystical Sacraments branch of the Oklevueha Native American Church, which said he could “grow and use mushrooms as a religious sacrament in accordance with the church’s rules.” State Police discovered the hallucinogenic psilocyn mushrooms while in the man’s house on a different matter and arrested him. […]
