Wednesday, August 30th, 2023 from 12:00-1:30pm PDT

Join the Chacruna Community for an update on the Church of the Eagle and the Condor v. Garland case from CEC leadership and members of its legal team. The team will share where they’ve been since its initial fundraising efforts in 2021 to when the case was filed last year and what’s coming next in its efforts to secure the legal right to use ayahuasca for religious purposes in the United States. The team will demystify litigation, and clear up some misconceptions about litigation processes and procedures. You’ll also get a look at the immense effort required to bring a watershed case to court and how this case, and others, could impact the religious right to use ayahuasca, as this case goes to trial in 2024. If you are part of an ayahuasca drinking community in the US, or more broadly interested in the topic of religious freedom, this event is a must!

Joe Tafur, M.D., is a Colombian-American family physician originally from Phoenix, Arizona. After completing his family medicine training at UCLA, Dr. Tafur spent two years in academic research at the UCSD Department of Psychiatry in a lab focused on mind-body medicine. After his research fellowship, over a period of six years, he lived and worked in the Peruvian Amazon at the traditional healing center Nihue Rao Centro Espiritual. There he worked closely with master Shipibo shaman Ricardo Amaringo and trained in ayahuasca shamanism. In his new book “The Fellowship of the River: A Medical Doctor’s Exploration into Traditional Amazonian Plant Medicine,” through a series of stories, Dr. Tafur shares his unique experience and integrative medical theories. The book strives to illuminate the intersection between biology, emotion and spirituality. He is Co-founder of Modern Spirit, a nonprofit dedicated to demonstrating the value of spiritual healing in modern healthcare.

Gilbert Paul Carrasco is an expert in the laws of civil rights, immigration and constitution. He authored three national casebooks and numerous law review articles. He taught at Lewis & Clark, Oregon, San Diego, Seton Hall, Willamette, Villanova and was awarded a Fulbright to teach LL.M. students at Ukrainian Catholic University. He studied at Oxford, Stanford, and George Washington. He served in the U.S. Department of Justice as a special assistant to the deputy assistant attorney general, a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division, and as a consultant. He was the directing attorney of the National Center for Immigrants’ Rights and served as national Director of Immigration Services for the U.S. Catholic Conference. He was appointed to the Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs, and serves as Chair of the Civil Rights Section of the Association of American Law Schools (2018 – 2019), and is an active member of the bar of California, D.C., and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Martha J. Hartney is a private practice attorney in Colorado. She has a J.D. from the University of Denver College of Law. Her firm, Hartney Law, is a Boulder favorite, receiving the “Best of the West/Law Firm” award six years in a row. She was named a SuperLawyers Rising Star in 2020 and has published and presented on the art and science of death and dying for more than a decade. Martha is a certified death doula and the first attorney to be admitted to and graduate from the CIIS Certificate in Psychedelic Therapies and Research program. Martha is also a mediator and has served as a guardian ad litem. She found plant medicines later in life—becoming a drug policy reform advocate after experiencing profound spiritual healing through our plant teachers. She champions the religious use of ayahuasca; and advocates for excellent standards of care, best practices, integration work, and weaving of modern trauma science with the powerful indigenous practices being stewarded into the western world. Martha lives with her partner and has two grown sons. She is a member of Chacruna’s Council for the Protection of Sacred Plants and the first steward of the Religious Use Subcommittee of the Psychedelic Bar Association.

Belinda is a Dine’ (Navajo) and A:shiwi (Pueblo of Zuni) wisdom carrier, healer, story teller and founder of Kaalogii, LLC focused on cultural and traditional teaching, inner healing, and an international speaker on various topics impacting Native American communities in the United States. Belinda holds degrees in Health Sciences, Technology, and Public Health. She is trained in the MAPS - MDMA People of Color, Eye Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy, and Ketamine Training Programs. In addition, is a board member and co-founder of the Church of the Eagle and the Condor. Her most recent work includes a chapter in “How Psychedelics Can Help Save the World: Visionary & Indigenous Voices Speak Out” edited by Stephen Grey.  In addition, several articles published by the Chacruna Institute and a chapter in Psychedelic Justice, co-edited by Beatriz C. Labate and Clancy Cavnar and published by Synergetic Press.

Church of the Eagle and the Condor Legal Trial Set for 2024