The Santa Fe Board of County Commissioners' scheduled vote on the O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal Temple was tabled last week, and it's still not clear when it will go forward.
The BCC was scheduled to vote on whether to approve UDV's plans to build a temple in Arroyo Hondo, but County spokeswoman Kristine Mihelcic tells SFR that the item was tabled after "both sides submitted a substantial amount of additional information."
Chris Graeser, the attorney representing UDV, says the decision to postpone was solely the county's.
"We were ready to present our case and to respond to the concerns raised by the opponents," Graeser said. "In other words, it was not our decision to table it."
The BCC considered scheduling a vote on the issue for March 4, but ultimately voted against holding a special meeting for it, Mihelcic says.
UDV is a Brazilian religion based on the sacrament of ayahuasca, a tea composed of plants containing dimethyltriptamine (DMT) and a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). DMT is classified as a hallucinogen and MAOI changes the way it is metabolized.
A group of UDV members had been meeting in a yurt in Arroyo Hondo from about 1992 to 2009. DMT is a Schedule I controlled substance, but a 2006 Supreme Court decision upheld the UDV's right to use the tea under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Now Arroyo Hondo residents are fighting against UDV's proposal to build a 4,660 square foot temple on the same property, which sits near the intersection of Arroyo Hondo Road and Brass Horse Road, south of Santa Fe.
If an Aug. 20, 2009 community meeting is any indication, the vote will be contentious no matter when it's held. Community members at that meeting, which SFR viewed on a DVD recording, questioned whether UDV members would be safe to drive home when their ceremonies end, approximately four hours after the ingestion of the tea, why community members can't attend ceremonies unless they express a sincere interest in the group's spiritual practices, and whether the tea was vulnerable to theft and misuse by non-UDV members. Local UDV president Tai Bixby failed to quell concerns by pointing out that there were no car accidents or community complaints when the group was meeting weekly in the yurt in past years.
