Utah Church That Uses Marijuana, Psychedelics And Vapes As Sacraments Sues Over Police Raids

*“One officer openly referred to the religious operation as a ‘loophole’
and laughed when corrected. He also said ‘look how stupid they are, they
wrote it all down.'”*

*By Alixel Cabrera, Utah News Dispatch*

Months after Utah’s ban on flavored vapes, Blackhouse, a former Sugar House
vape shop, became a sanctuary and a safe haven for those searching to get
flavored cartridges—for spiritual and religious practices.

The electronic cigarettes joined other sacraments that have been at the
center of religious legal challenges in the state like psychedelic
mushrooms and cannabis. But, after Utah law enforcement agencies raided the
Sugar House location, as well as the Salt City Sanctuary in South Salt Lake
in August, all of these sacraments have been put into legal question, with
the Sugarleaf Church, the institution overseeing both sanctuaries,
initiating a lawsuit to keep them.

“Officers arrived using riot gear, AR-15s, pry bars, and battering rams,
forcibly entered both sanctuaries, and immediately began disabling the
security systems and surveillance cameras with a crow bar,” the church said
in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City in August.

During the raids officers confiscated cannabis and psilocybin products,
which the church called “sacramental property,” as well as thousands of
flavored vape cartridges, blank checkbooks, waivers, clergy rosters, cash
donations, tablets and membership records.

The church is asking a judge to order law enforcement to stop interfering
with members’ free exercise of religion and to award compensatory damages.
The institution is also asking the South Salt Lake Police Department and
the Utah State Bureau of Investigation to undergo mandatory religious
sensitivity training and for the immediate return of property.

At Salt City Sanctuary the agents seized “4.24 kilograms of packaged
marijuana flower; over a kilogram of ‘fresh flower’ marijuana; 956 1-gram
pre-rolled marijuana joints, 8 display jars of marijuana flower, 152.5
grams of psilocybin mushrooms, mushroom gummies and sample packs, numerous
edibles with THC, and rolling papers,” according to a motion to
dismiss filed by the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office.

At Blackhouse, officers confiscated “significant quantities of raw
marijuana; psilocybin mushrooms; THC vapes, cookies, gummies, candies,
syrups, oils, and similar products; psilocybin cookies, gummies, and
similar products; and over 3,000 flavored vape cartridges and order
receipts,” the district attorney’s office said in its motion.

Joshua Robers, a church reverend, was also arrested and booked into Salt
Lake County Jail during the Salt City Sanctuary raid. He faces multiple
charges in 3rd District Court, including possession of a controlled
substance with intent to distribute, a third-degree felony.

The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to dismiss
the lawsuit this month and declined to comment because the litigation is
ongoing.
The church

The Sugarleaf Church is a non-denominational church with branches in nine
states and Mexico that uses psychoactive substances for sacraments,
including cannabis and psilocybin mushrooms. Members have to sign an
agreement committing to following the church’s code of conduct.

“These are not casual practices,” the church wrote in its lawsuit, “they
are intentional, structured, and rooted in decades of education, experience
and legal precedent.”

The church cited protections under the U.S. Constitution and federal law
that guards religious freedom in the filing. It also mentioned a federal
judge’s recent decision siding with a small Provo-based faith group that
uses psilocybin mushrooms as part of its practice and ordering Utah County
to temporarily stop criminal proceedings against the organization and its
founder.

The Provo case partially hinged on a 2024 state law that made it easier to
sue government entities if they restrict a person’s right to exercise their
religion.

The Sugarleaf raids came a day after that decision, the church said.
According to a sanctuary volunteer’s statement, officers refused to read
waivers, doctrinal statements and clergy notices. They also “mocked the
religious affiliation.”

“One officer openly referred to the religious operation as a ‘loophole’ and
laughed when corrected. He also said ‘look how stupid they are, they wrote
it all down,’” the church’s lawsuit says.

However, prosecutors argue the Utah sites are best defined as shops and not
churches, since Department of Commerce records indicate that multiple
business entities were operating at the same location as Blackhouse
Sanctuary, including Blackhouse Vapor Company LLC. That fact, the
prosecutors wrote, rebuts the claims that the activities at the Sugar House
location were solely religious.

The District Attorney’s Office also pointed out that “plaintiffs assert
religious use of marijuana and psilocybin; they do not assert any religious
belief or practice relating to flavored vape cartridges.”

*This story was first published by Utah News Dispatch.*

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Sacraments Sues Over Police Raids appeared first on Marijuana Moment.