Legal

Legal

First and foremost:

• Human beings deserve the compassion and kindheartedness to not have access to the most precious and sacred gifts (Sacraments) found in this universe prohibited by any person, government, or church.
• OMS is an established religous organization with devoted members and allies in every state in America who depend on OMS for the Sacraments required to practice their religion, or to exercise their unalienable right to Life, Liberty, and Happiness.
• Mankind has been very focused on scientific advancement and made tremendous progress over the past 2,000 years, but our spiritual advancement has sat, nearly, untouched for those 2,000 years. If you look at a world and the people there and you see that they have advanced their weapons and technology tremendously over 2,000 years, battled each other countless times, and have epidemics, despair, and poverty affecting over 4 billion, or 50% of the inhabitants and they are currently promoting what is toxic and prohibiting what is good, and then you look and see that they have not equally advanced their spirituality in those 2,000 years, what might you recommend? With that in mind, OMS offers a way for people to advance their spirituality, or religious practice, and does so out of the legal, ethical, and spiritual obligation to do so, as not providing our services would equate to complicit inaction on our part.
• Studies are consistently confirming what many people have known all along that these Sacraments are good for people and will decrease human suffering, addiction, crime rates, prejudice, etc.
• Nobody has the right to punish, abduct, or torture people for, peacefully, utilizing or providing access to the most divine, beautiful, and precious spiritual gifts that the universe has to offer. Powerful governments may have the power to do that, but they do not have the right to do that, at least not in this day and age where a logical reason for doing so is nonexistent, and especially not in America, which was founded to ensure religious freedom.
• All people have the legal, ethical, and God-given right and moral obligation to protect a person or people from being unduly harmed, even if that harm is coming from their own government. OMS assists in the war against the negative effects of abuse-type drugs that lead to addiction, crime, and suffering and minimizes collateral damages caused by the Drug War by ensuring people have a means to access Sacraments.
• Prohibiting Sacraments from people, in this day and age, will cause undue suffering for billions of people and all sentient inhabitants of Earth. However, regulation of Sacraments, only by those who are qualified and competent in the field, is supported to ensure optimum results, on a percentage basis, for the society that utilizes Sacraments.
• The American people and the people of many other nations have reached a point in their intellectual, scientific, and technological maturity that they can handle the gifts of the Sacraments and incorporate them into their society, while advancing to morally and scientifically optimum practices, industries, systems, etc.
• If anyone questions the authenticity of Sacraments being essential to a religious, or spiritual practice, or necessary to advance the human species then all they need to do is (within the proper context and with a bit of guidance) hike to a hilltop, sit down, utilize a Sacrament, and then observe. Sacraments are not some fairy tale substance or something like a unicorn or a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. They are a tangible piece of universal matter that one can see, hold, and put into their body to increase neural connections and ranges of perception. The effects perceived as magical or mystical, merely speaks for our spiritual immaturity stemming from a lack of Sacrament utilization and corresponding scientific research. In due time, what was once magical or mystical will be common sense and scientifically understood, allowing us to then pursue greater mysteries and achieve advancements unfathomable to our current level of consciousness.
• Sacrament utilization is not exclusive to Native Americans, it is a doctrine that is inclusive to any and all ethnicities and while there are some Sacraments that are unique to different ethnicities, many Sacraments are common to all of them, with the only difference being the carrier plants of the molecules of interest, and even the Sacraments they don’t have in common still share an overall similarity of spiritual effects and benefits. European Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Middle Eastern Americans, Oceanian Americans, and so forth all have the inherent and Constitutional right to practice their native religion or the religious doctrines of their ancestors, or to practice the doctrines of any culture that has ever existed on this planet, and they have the right to revise, modify, or pick and choose which parts of those doctrines they wish to apply to their lives. The U.S. government must not demand that these ethnic groups adhere only to traditional ways, as much of the data regarding their indigenous practices has been lost, and many of the traditions must be revised as many of them are no longer considered ethical or moral in today’s world.

Second, according to the laws of man:

• THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE v. JEREMY D. MACK (OMS Member), February 13, 2020, OUTCOME: All charges were dropped
• Constitutional rights to the free exercise of religion
• Declaration of Independence states that people have the right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
• Federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act
• Reinforced New Mexico Religious Freedom Restoration Act (though OMS members reside throughout the country)
• Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA)
• Legal precedents set forth in multiple Supreme Court cases regarding Sacraments

NEW HAMPSHIRE v. JEREMY D. MACK (OMS Member)
At the time of this trial, OMS had already dissolved its partnership with ONAC and was operating as its own organization and member base, not as a branch of ONAC, but information like that isn’t useful in news articles. This win is what we prayed and fought for, day and night for decades and worked to piece together historical data and create a context for public officials to review and understand why Manna and all sacraments are essential religious tools. Happy hardly describes the feeling when we heard that the high courts of America respected the virtues which it was founded upon. Jeremy was a trooper and stuck with his gut and convictions, and in this case goodness prevailed and more road was paved on this path of securing religious freedom for all and restoring sacraments to the rightful place of respect and reverence, not slander and mockery.

The following article is by Mark Hayward New Hampshire Union Leader:

Jeremy D. Mack of Colebrook was using psilocybin mushrooms as part of a shamanic, Earth-based religion, according to court documents. In 2017 he joined the Oratory of Mystical Sacraments branch of the Oklevueha Native American Church

The New Hampshire Supreme Court on Tuesday upended the 2018 conviction of a North Country resident for possession of psilocybin mushrooms, ruling that the conviction conflicts with the Native American-based religion he practices.

In its unanimous ruling, the four sitting justices said that the New Hampshire Constitution’s right of religion is stronger than protections under the U.S. Constitution, which requires a stricter balancing test in cases of religious use of illegal drugs.

According to the decision, Jeremy D. Mack of Colebrook had practiced a shamanic, Earth-based religion for years and in 2017 joined the Oratory of Mystical Sacraments branch of the Oklevueha Native American Church.

The church issued him a membership card, which allowed him to ingest the mushrooms sacramentally. The church had restrictions for the sacrament — it should be taken in seclusion, not in public or around children. And it should not be taken when operating a motor vehicle or shooting firearms.

Mack went on to become a minister in the church. Efforts to reach him on Tuesday through his public defenders were unsuccessful.

The justices said the trial judge in a Coos County Superior Court case erred in legal rulings following Mack’s conviction. The court remanded the case to the trial court level.

“We have long recognized that in Part I, Article 5, there is a broad, a general, a universal statement and declaration of the ‘natural and unalienable right’ of ‘every individual,’ of every human being, in the state, to make such religious profession, to entertain such religious sentiments, or to belong to such religious persuasion as he chooses, and to worship God privately and publicly in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience and reason,’” wrote Supreme Court Justice James Bassett, quoting a 150-year-old opinion from 1868.

In 2018, Mack was convicted of psilocybin possession after state police discovered the mushrooms while searching for weapons that were under a confiscation order in an unrelated civil case.

Psilocybin is known for its hallucinogenic effects on users. The federal government classifies psilocybin as a Schedule 1 drug, which means it has a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. Other drugs in the category are heroin, LSD and marijuana.

Following his conviction, Mack’s lawyer asked trial Judge Peter Bornstein to throw out his conviction on religious grounds, and the veteran Superior Court judge refused.

While the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees free exercise of religion, that had led some justices, including former U.S. Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia, to say that government had a compelling interest to enforce laws even if a potentially illegal activity is part of religious practices. Other cases have dealt with the drug peyote and with religious processions on streets.

Bassett rejected Scalia’s argument, preferring to rely on the New Hampshire Constitution.

He wrote that the U.S. Constitution protects religious beliefs, while the New Hampshire Constitution protects both beliefs and practices.

Part 1, Article 5 of the New Hampshire Constitution deems that every person has a “natural and unalienable right to worship God” according to his own conscience, and the person “shall not be hurt, molested or restrained” in doing so “provided he doth not disturb the public peace or disturb others in their religious worship.”

“The framers of our State Constitution expressly provided that these ‘rights of conscience could not be … surrendered; nor could society or government have any claim or right to assume to take them away, or to interfere or intermeddle with them, except so far as to protect society against any acts or demonstrations of one sect or persuasion which might tend to disturb the public peace, or affect the rights of others,’” Bassett wrote, quoting the 1868 Supreme Court ruling.
[email protected]
Published by New Hampshire Union Leader on December 20, 2020

Legal

OMS and its members have legal and God-given rights to utilize Sacraments such as Psilocybe Fungi, Acacia, Amanita Muscaria, Syrian Rue, Cannabis, Peyote, San Pedro, Iboga, and natural plant-based extracts, such as Ayahuasca – or any other element or organism and any combination thereof – according to the laws of the land and the laws of nature. Addictive or harmful substances that are obviously not spiritual sacraments are not permitted as OMS Sacraments.

There are two bills that were passed by US Congress, to protect Religious Freedoms. They are:

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)

Which is a 1993 United States federal law that “ensures that interests in religious freedom are protected.”

What is religious freedom? In simple terms, Religious Freedom is the right that we all have to practice our own religion, whatever we personally define that to be, as long as we are not infringing on another person’s rights or safety.

As quoted by the American Civil Liberties Union in their article “Your Right To Religious Freedom”:

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that everyone in the United States has the right to practice his or her own religion, or no religion at all. Our country’s founders — who were of different religious backgrounds themselves — knew the best way to protect religious liberty was to keep the government out of religion. So they created the First Amendment — to guarantee the separation of church and state. This fundamental freedom is a major reason why the U.S. has managed to avoid a lot of the religious conflicts that have torn so many other nations apart.”

Sacraments, such as peyote, cannabis, san pedro, ayahuasca and many others, are able to be possessed and utilized by members in good standing of sincere religous organizations that meet the government defined requirements. These religious rights have been confirmed by a number of state, district, and federal court cases including those brought before the Utah Supreme Court, US 9th Circuit Court, US 10th Appeals Court and the US Supreme Court. In addition, interstate commerce and transportation of sacraments and spiritual symbols are protected under RLUIPA.

5-18-15: Attorney Charles W. Galbraith (of the prestigious Kilpatrick Townsend law firm) was the White House Associate Director of Inter-Governmental Affairs and Public Engagement. He was instrumental in drafting the policies that confirm that the Federal Government respects the sovereignty of Native American Tribes and their ability to choose if they want to grow and sell cannabis and other plants on the reservations. Galbraith emphatically declared that, by law, government agencies such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) the US Forestry Service and the Department of the Interior have no legal right or authority to mandate or restrict what is sacred land or what is or is not a sacrament (called medicine by many tribes).

The government is bound by a standard known as the governmental compelling interest standard to not interfere with the religious lands, ceremonies or sacraments chosen by any religious organization unless those items have proven to threaten the safety or rights of the members and others. Even if they find a cause of action, they are compelled to use the “least restrictive” way to further that compelling interest. This is further clarified by RLUIPA with mandates requiring that the courts exercise “strict scrutiny” of any proposed “substantial burden” upon religious freedoms before taking any action.

Blessing received on August 23, 2017 from Rosebud Sioux Tribe Chief Keith Horse Looking Sr. at Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota.

OMS is America’s first religious organization to successfully serve thousands of people throughout America with Manna and Acacia (extract). Many years ago OMS worked alongside ONAC in the quest to provide people with sacraments and protect them from religious persecution, and after some years of doing so I, Gavin Kaiser, travelled to the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota to obtain the same blessing James Mooney received which granted him and ONAC the legal rights to provide sacraments and authorize independent branches. After speaking with the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Officials I was directed to meet and speak with Chief Keith Horse Looking Sr., who they said could provide the type of blessing I was requesting, but he would need to spend some time with me and I would need to travel up there.

This was in August 2018 right when a solar eclipse was about occur, so I drove to be in the direct path of the solar eclipse for an Acacia ritual in Nebraska and left from there to Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota and met with Chief Keith Horse Looking Sr. I spent several days there and finally he approved my request to receive a blessing. OMS has had the rights to authorize independent branches for nearly 4 years now, but it was deemed better to not rush anything. However, now is a good time to open branches after OMS Supreme Court win last year and a ten year track record of successfully operating and serving members nationwide.

The Oklevueha document and card are displayed only to show evidence of past encounters and steps that were taken on this path. OMS no longer shares member data with, or partners with Oklevueha NAC (ONAC), due to the misconduct observed in ONAC, numerous allegations, such as theft, fraud, coercion, and acquiring a statement (in the audio clip) from the son of Leslie “Fool Bull” at Rosebud Reservation indicating that ONACs blessing was forged, listening to the real NAC’s frustrations with ONAC, a fatal shooting at an Oklevueha NAC resulting in a police officer shot and a member dead, and other similar incidents it was deemed necessary to separate.

OMS honors not only Native American spirituality as it relates to Sacraments and mysticism, but also Native European Spirituality, Native African Spirituality, and any and all ethical methods of native or modern spirituality that we discover and find useful. Our ancestors are indigenous to Germany, France, England, Wales, Scotland, & Ireland where sacraments and mysticism run as deep as in the Americas, and we fuse the essence of our ancestral spirituality with the essence of all native or modern spiritualities. Though we may have received blessings in the past, prior to 2019, referring to OMS as a NAC, any longer, limits OMS members’ ability to practice the broad range of spiritualities, or religions that exist, and distracts from OMS’ intention to honor and build upon the spiritual philosophies of all Earth’s peoples. OMS is more of a universal religious organization, or native earth organization, than a Native American Church. OMS does have NAC blessings, but it chooses to not use NAC titles or references in how it promotes itself.

People must be afforded the opportunity to pick from any religious/spiritual philosophy or technology that crosses their path, especially in the technologically advanced 21st century when the internet can introduce a person to endless spiritual modalities in mere seconds. As history has shown us, it is illogical and dangerous to allow great inventions and technological advancements to occur without, also, taking the time to advance our spirituality, morality, religious practices, and understanding of ourselves and this world. And an aspect of advancing is “going back and rediscovering the precious values that we left behind,” as MLK Jr. once said.

There have been several other churches that have been holding sacred ceremonies with sacraments such as Peyote and Ayahuasca throughout America for decades and ever since the early 1990s.

The other churches are:

The Peyote Way Church  (who works with the sacrament of Peyote)
The Santo Daime Church of Brazil, located in Oregon (who works with the sacrament of Ayahuasca)
The União do Vegetal (UDV) Church of Brazil, located in New Mexico (who also works with the sacrament of Ayahuasca).

About the UDV:

On November 22, 2000, the UDV filed a lawsuit against certain agencies of the federal government for violations of the First Amendment to the US Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). This was brought on because government officials previously raided the Church, and seized several gallons of the sacramental Ayahuasca tea.

On February 21, 2006 the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision affirming Religious Liberty in the case of Gonzales vs. O Centro Espirita Beneficente União do Vegetal.

Both James ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney and The Oklevueha Native American Church and Jeffrey Bronfman and the UDV faced the Supreme Court and won, both winning their respective court cases unanimously and unquestionably.

The American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA)

This is a United States federal law, passed by the US Congress in 1978.

It was enacted to protect and preserve the traditional religious rights and cultural practices of American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, and Native Hawaiians. These rights include, but are not limited to, access to sacred sites, freedom to worship through ceremonial and traditional rights, and the use and possession of objects considered sacred.

The Act requires any governmental agencies to eliminate interference with the free exercise of Native American religion. That means, particularly pertaining to us, the government cannot interfere with our Native American Ceremonies with our sacraments & sacred plant teachers such as Ayahuasca, Peyote, San Pedro etc.

A primary reason that this Act was created is because the US Government continued to deny Native Americans their First Amendment right of “free exercise” of religion. So this Act was created to add further protection to Native Americans and the free exercise of their religion.

As President Jimmy Carter said, in a statement about the AIRFA:

“In the past, Government agencies and departments have on occasion denied Native Americans access to particular sites and interfered with religious practices and customs where such use conflicted with Federal regulations.”

In many instances, the Federal officials responsible for the enforcement of these regulations were unaware of the nature of traditional native religious practices and, consequently, of the degree to which their agencies interfered with such practices. This legislation seeks to remedy this situation.

ONAC has been to court under felony indictment for the use and distribution of Peyote. The case eventually ended as the Utah Supreme Court directed the dismissal of all charges and reprimanded the Utah County attorney for ever prosecuting the case. They indicated in their decision  that Peyote is a valid sacrament and that the state cannot restrict membership to only those who are of native blood or tribal membership. It is also true that the County DA tried to get the federal government to prosecute them on similar charges which they began to do, but after doing massive research chose to rescind all charges. UDV, another sacrament church went clear to the US Supreme Court to defend their right to use Ayahuasca and won.

On Jun 22, 2004, the Supreme Court of Utah ruled a unanimous decision in James Mooney’s favor, and ONAC won their court case. Quoted from the official court ruling “On its face, the federal regulation does not restrict the exemption to members of federally recognized tribes. We therefore rule that the exemption is available to all members of the Native American Church.”  ONAC: “Multiple court cases around the country have have dismissed charges for several native sacraments.”

We, as a religious organization & as American citizens, are legally within our rights to use any plant or earth based natural medicine or sacrament (terms somewhat interchangeable as the native definitions of those terms are slightly different than the general definitions in common use) that any indigenous people use for those purposes (spirituality and healing). Two of the ways, but not the only ways, for that to be secured at a greater level would be to change these laws through the democratic legislative process to pass a bill, or taking one of these cases to a superior court (US District, State or US Supreme Court) and wins as ONAC or UDV did, until then there is still some grey area when working sacraments other than peyote. A large percentage Sacrament Organizations in America work with sacraments other than peyote, and they and their members have been allowed to function without interference. We believe that those sacraments are being upheld and will be upheld within the legal protection of constitutional, civil and sacred religious freedoms and other laws currently on the books.

There are some ONAC members that did not overcome their charges. In most cases those were cannabis related (very large or much more than personal amounts) and in many of those cases, it can be traced to their violation of the Code of Ethics and/or the Code of Conduct but there are a couple of exceptions. This type of statistic is not unusual when it comes to these types of matters, or any human, religious, or civil rights matter. Even in medical marijuana states, such as California, there were many regular medical dispensaries and medical growers who had their rights violated but still the majority of people and dispensaries went unscathed and unhindered. History has always shown us that advances in and protection of civil rights take time to be fully secured, and we should all be happy, hopeful, encouraged, and for a system offering a 90-99% success rate. Please be aware, and in order to avoid legal issues, that membership does not allow one to produce sacraments for distributing to others, rather, among other things, to allow individuals an opportunity to practice and enhance their religion or spirituality with sacred Sacraments after learning about them in educational courses that offer the proper guidance, direction, and context to attain favorable results, especially those Sacraments that have contributed to the development and philosophy of the world’s many religions and spiritual technologies.

To those employed by the government, serving in the military or on probation (conviction) of crimes previous to joining OMS. In all these situations, your “rights” can be affected by the employment agreement you sign or the terms of your probation. Every employer can set policies for their employees including having to pass drug testing to be demonstrably free of “illegal” substances whether they have a legal right to possess and use those substances or not. This is especially true for government work. Some people have received specific exemptions in order to participate in native ceremonies with these substances, but the government and other employers are not required to grant those exceptions. With a good lawyer, a member may be able to force their employer to allow the use of these items under medical necessity or religious freedom reasons, but we do not know of anyone doing so at this point. Those who are on probation can only participate if their Parole Officer gives them specific, written permission as they otherwise may be sent back to jail for not following the direction of their PO or violating the terms of the probation.

We believe it to be true that we have a legal right to use, possess and transport these medicines/sacraments, but be aware of the fact that ignorance, prejudice, and any illegal religious persecutions may vary from different communities and jurisdictional districts.  You may stand up for your inalienable constitutional rights by refusing to “plea bargain” and by demanding that the authorities as well as the court (including the judge) have lawfully satisfied the basic “government compelling interest” test. Also, by challenging any officers, prosecutors and judges who must prove to you that the court has lawful jurisdiction over the case. We, as an organization, are doing our best to educate those in law enforcement, and all American citizens, as to these concepts.

We encourage all members of OMS who have had positive experiences and have been able to overcome addiction, illness or other troubles through the ceremonies and sacraments we work with to share their stories through the website forum or emailing us. Telling your story is testimony to the power and blessings of these sacred ceremonies and medicines and helps us show to law enforcement and judicial personnel that we are indeed using these things to heal and bless people and that the central purpose of all we do is spiritual. You can submit those stories to [email protected] and we will keep your information as private as you desire. You can also share them directly with other members through the forum pages which are only available to OMS members.

CONSEQUENCES FOR VIOLATING THE CIVIL LIBERTIES OF OMS’ MEMBERS

Federal, State and Local Law Enforcement Officers, Mayors, Council persons, Judges, Nursing Home Proprietors, Security Guards, etc. The named bearer of an OMS Membership Document or Card has specific rights under the Titles below. Violation of those rights carries penalties as described. We honor you in your efforts to enforce Constitutional Law and offer this in a desire to help you in your responsibilities to do so. Bearers of said cards are not exempt from traffic laws or public behavior laws, but are protected in the use and possession of certain sacraments including most naturally grown plants including but not restricted to peyote and cannabis. Thank you for respecting our rights and freedom of religion.

Conspiracy Against Rights

Title 18, U.S.C., Section 241
This statute makes it unlawful for two or more persons to conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person of any state, territory or district in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him/her by the Constitution or the laws of the United States, (or because of his/her having exercised the same). It further makes it unlawful for two or more persons to go in disguise on the highway or on the premises of another with the intent to prevent or hinder his/her free exercise or enjoyment of any rights so secured. Punishment varies from a fine or imprisonment of up to ten years, or both; and if death results, or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years, or for life, or may be sentenced to death.

Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law
Title 18, U.S.C., Section 242
This statute makes it a crime for any person acting under color of law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to willfully deprive or cause to be deprived from any person those rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution and laws of the U.S. This law further prohibits a person acting under color of law, statute, ordinance, regulation or custom to willfully subject or cause to be subjected any person to different punishments, pains, or penalties, than those prescribed for punishment of citizens on account of such person being an alien or by reason of his/her color or race.Acts under “color of any law” include acts not only done by federal, state, or local officials within the bounds or limits of their lawful authority, but also acts done without and beyond the bounds of their lawful authority; provided that, in order for unlawful acts of any official to be done under “color of any law,” the unlawful acts must be done while such official is purporting or pretending to act in the performance of his/her official duties. This definition includes, in addition to law enforcement officials, individuals such as Mayors, Council persons, Judges, Nursing Home Proprietors, Security Guards, etc., persons who are bound by laws, statutes ordinances, or customs. Punishment varies from a fine or imprisonment of up to one year, or both, and if bodily injury results or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire shall be fined or imprisoned up to ten years or both, and if death results, or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.