Pubdate: Mon, 08 Jan 2001
Source: Santa Fe New Mexican (NM)
Copyright: 2001 The Santa Fe New Mexican
Contact:  202 E Marcy, Santa Fe, N.M. 87501
Fax: (505) 986-3040
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Author: Robert Gehrke

PEYOTE PARIAH

James Warren Mooney Faces Charges For Giving Hallucinogen To Non-Indians

BENJAMIN, Utah - James Warren "Flaming Eagle" Mooney says he has seen the
mystical power of the tiny peyote cactus free people from drug addiction and
mental illness.

Now the medicine that he administers to his followers could cost Mooney his
own freedom.

On Oct. 10, sheriff's deputies raided Mooney's home and his adjoining
church, seizing a ceremonial pipe, a computer and 33 pounds of peyote.
Mooney was charged with a dozen counts of drug trafficking and one count of
racketeering.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

He has also become a peyote pariah, scorned by medicine men convinced the
peyote should be reserved for American Indians.

A defiant Mooney says he will do what it takes to get the medicine to those
who need it.

"Being prosecuted and facing these charges - this is coming from my heart -
I consider it an honor," he said.

For the roughly 250,000 members in 100 branches of the Native American
Church, peyote ceremonies are a sacred sacrament, the flesh of God put on
earth to provide clarity and bring followers closer to the Creator.

It is illegal to ingest peyote, a hallucinogen, in Utah and at least 27
other states. But in 1994, Congress carved out exemptions for "the practice
of a traditional Indian religion" by members of federally recognized tribes.

Utah County Attorney David Wayment argues the exemptions don't apply to
Mooney, who is not enrolled in a tribe and administers peyote primarily to
white people.

"Whether or not Mr. Mooney can possess peyote, certainly he cannot be
distributing peyote to non-Indians," Wayment said.

Mooney said he had been a member of the Oklevueha Seminole Band - which is
not federally recognized - until the new chief threw him out for conducting
peyote ceremonies. He makes no apologies for giving peyote to whites.

Prohibiting anyone from taking part in peyote ceremonies would amount to
denying religious freedom and would violate the First Amendment, he argues.

Mooney has sued Utah County in federal court claiming religious
discrimination. He wants the county to return roughly 12,000 small bulbs of
peyote seized from his home.

The tiny, spineless peyote cactus grows in the desert of southern Texas and
northern Mexico. The bulbs are either eaten or brewed into a tea consumed
during prayer ceremonies that can last all night, said Edward Anderson, a
botanist at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix and author of Peyote: The
Divine Cactus.

The plant is bitter and can cause vomiting. It also contains a small amount
of mescaline, which heightens perceptions of colors and intensifies other
senses. The effect is similar to LSD, but about a thousand times less
powerful, said Anderson.

Mooney, 57, hardly fits the mold of a drug trafficker.

He says he is a descendant of the great Seminole chief Osceola and was
blessed by his grandfather to be a medicine man at age 4 after narrowly
surviving a violent sexual attack.

He is a practicing Mormon but also leads the Oklevueha Earthwalks Native
American Church.

He spent 10 years in law enforcement, six working in the Utah State Prison
and volunteering to perform Indian rituals. A framed commendation from Gov.
Mike Leavitt for his prison work hangs on the wall of his church.

While working in prison, Mooney met Victor Bailey. Bailey had bounced in and
out of prison, unable to stay out of trouble until he started taking peyote.
Now he says his life is in order, he is married and is an active Mormon.

Others tell similar stories: Gaylen Nebeker said peyote weaned him from
cocaine and saved his marriage. Shauna Sudbury said it enabled her to stop
taking medications for manic depression. Lianne Morrow said it healed
emotional scars from a divorce.

"This has brought me a lot closer to God. It has helped me to heal," said
Nebekar.

"The medicine is first in my life," he said. "If it's not here, then I will
go where it is."

Mooney said he was cured of manic depression by peyote and was commanded by
his chief, Little Dove, not to deny peyote to anyone.

"It's an edict. How can I deny that when it saved my life and healed me?" he
asks. "Since I have been on this planet with the peyote, we have helped
thousands of people get off heroin, come to terms with whatever their
same-sex identities are" and overcome other personal challenges.

But Wayment argues Mooney heads a drug-distribution ring, complete with his
own "roadmen" who travel the state dispensing peyote. Distribution charges
against one of Mooney's roadmen, Nick Stark, are pending in Weber County.

Mooney has also earned the scorn of a number of medicine men who bristle at
his practices, including sharing peyote with whites and the recommended $200
donation to attend a service.

Mooney said he recommends the donation to offset church costs but no one who
couldn't afford it has been turned away.

He has been disavowed by branches of the Native American Church and was
forced to resign as vice president of a Salt Lake City NAC chapter.

"Indians have no remorse for what has happened to him," said Dan Edwards,
director of American Indian Studies at the University of Utah, of the
charges against Mooney. "It's like (whites) have taken our land, you've
taken our culture and now you're taking our religion, and Indians feel it's
sacrilegious"

Church leaders also fear that spreading ritual peyote use beyond American
Indian groups could ultimately result in Congress rescinding the exemptions
the groups worked hard to win.

Mooney said it is a vocal minority that opposes his actions and the medicine
is powerful enough to fend off abuses.

"My only concern is to heal the pain of this society," he said. "These
Native American ceremonies sustained this culture through the greatest
atrocities and holocaust this world has ever known. Can you imagine what it
can do for the ailments of this society that is crying for peace?"
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