ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 17, 1997 TAG: 9704170064
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: LOS ANGELES TIMES
More than 9,200 service members who belong to the Native American Church until now have been subject to punishment for taking the drug.
Service members of American Indian descent will be permitted to use the hallucinogenic plant peyote in religious services under a draft rule proposed by the Pentagon.
The rule would apply to more than 9,200 service members who belong to the Native American Church, who until now have been subject to court martial or lesser punishment for what they describe as the sacred sacrament of a 10,000-year-old faith.
Implementing a 1994 federal law that legalizes peyote use for American Indians, the draft rule would bar use or possession of the cactus' ``buttons'' on military vehicles, aircraft and ships. It would permit such use on military bases if the soldier has the consent of the commanding officer.
Indeed, Indian soldiers have claimed that the military services have threatened church members with punishment, barred them from some high-risk jobs, and discouraged enlistment by young people who acknowledged their membership in the religion.
Peyote, drawn from the top, or button, of the peyote cactus, has, as an active ingredient, the drug mescaline, which distorts what the user sees and hears. The drug can amplify emotions and cause users to see bright colors and, in some cases, objects that aren't there.
Peyote is used by the Native American Church, which has about 250,000 members, in rituals that customarily begin at sundown and last until daylight. The buttons are typically sliced and eaten or drunk as tea.
The new directive will set Pentagon policy for a law that gave peyote the same legal standing sacramental wine has in Christian churches, said Chaplain Capt. Mel Ferguson.
The Pentagon is ``implementing a law that says this is indeed a sacrament,'' he said. While members of the church now make up 0.6 percent of the military, the number of eligible soldiers is considerably larger. Under the 1994 law, any enrolled member of an officially recognized Indian tribe is eligible to join the Native American Church.
LENGTH: Short : 49 linesby CNB