MAPS: Actions against non-native peyote users

[RickMAPS@xxxxxxx]

To Forum readers:

Despite Arizona's passage of a bill authorizing the medical use of Schedule 1
drugs when prescribed by a physician, which expressed public support for a
more enlightened approach to drug policy,  the following police action was
just taken by local authorities against some non-Native America advocates of
the religious use of peyote. The Peyote Foundation has received support from
MAPS in the past for its efforts to try to catalyze a  scientific study of the
role that the use of peyote in a religous context can play in reducing
alcoholism and drug abuse. Such a study still seems years away.   From my
perspective, this incident highlights both the continued excesses of the war
on drugs and also the need for reform on a federal level.



This is Leo, Tim & Raven's account of what just happened at The

 Peyote Foundation:

 



PRESS RELEASE - Jan. 11, 1999



Kearny, Arizona. Peaceful family home ransacked. Religious liberty

threatened. Sacred Peyote Conservatory

gardens shoveled up. 11,323 endangered plants taken. Church grounds

desecrated. Family left in the cold. This

story has happened three years after Pinal County authorities returned

700 Peyote plants confiscated in 1995.

Are we to tolerate hate crimes and religious persecution inflicted by

law enforcement?



On January 8th, 1999, several officers of the Pinal County

Multi-Jurisdictional Narcotics Task Force served an arrest warrant for

$1,000 of child support arrearage on

Leonard Mercado,co-founder of The Peyote Foundation (TPF). This type of

warrant is usually served by Sheriff's deputies, not the Task Force.

Several Task-Force

officers immediately surrounded the Mercados? residence and the

surrounding area. After forcing their way into the house, the officers

asked Mercado to please

accompany them outside. He was arrested immediately and placed in

handcuffs. Soon after, another resident of the property, Michael Grey,

was placed in handcuffs

but not arrested. Three of the officers dispersed about the property to

search for other people and found Tim Castleman resting in his

residence, a 24-ft RV. Tim was

also handcuffed but not arrested.



Only after multiple requests to either be arrested or released from the

handcuffs, were Mr. Grey and Mr. Castleman released from the handcuffs.

Mr. Mercado was

taken off the property shortly thereafter.



Mr. Mercado's wife, Raven, and their son Moses arrived from the woods,

where they had been gathering firewood, and were detained. Except for

one occasion, from

that point on no one was permitted to enter any of the buildings, nor

was anyone allowed to use the phone to call legal counsel or anyone

else.



At this point Raven, Moses, Mike and Tim were all told that they would

have to leave the property. It was decided that Raven and Moses would

leave on bicycles to go

to town and make phone calls. Mike and Tim elected to try and stay in

order to witness the actions of the officers, but were soon ordered to

leave the property under

threat of arrest. They were not allowed to take even a sleeping bag, but

were promised that if the investigation was not complete by 11:00 PM

they could return and get

their sleeping bags. When they did return at 11:00 P.M., they were

refused their sleeping bags and told to sleep in the cold. (The search

warrant itself states that

operations were to be conducted only before 10:00 PM or after 6:30 am.)

It was also at this time they were informed that Pinal County was

seizing the entire property

until a search warrant could be obtained, on the pretense that they had

seen a Peyote plant through the window. The officers were alone on the

property from that time

on, even though they didn't have a search warrant and nobody was under

arrest for the Peyote plant they had allegedly seen. Just before dark,

Raven and Mike

returned to ask for permission to get a coat for Moses, an 8-year boy.

They were refused access to their home or the coat.



Meanwhile, the Pinal County Attorney's office was contacted by two

ranking members of the Native American Church, informing them of their

support of The Peyote

Foundation and of Leonard and Raven, as well as confirming Leo and

Raven?s membership in that church.



That evening Leonard was released after paying the $1,000 arrearage. He

then joined several other members of TPF in an all-night prayer vigil

held at a friend?s nearby

residence. Mercado contacted Sergeant Strang by phone, offering full

assistance and cooperation. The Sergeant was also advised of Mercado's

service to and

membership in the Native American Church, and the delicate nature of

Peyote if mishandled.



Early the next morning Raven returned to the property and spoke with

detective Aubrey Keck at the gate. She informed him that they were

members of the Native

American Church and that the Peyote on the property belonged to the

church and was not solely their property. She also offered reference to

state law 13-3402(b),

which states that Peyote is allowed for use as an integral part of

religious belief.*



Later that morning more officers arrived with two trucks, in order to

remove the Peyote Gardens. As the removal of the sacrament got under

way, members of the

Foundation and several other members of the Native American Church from

local tribes prayed and sang church songs, separated from the trucks by

a barrier, armed

guards, and K-9 units. These Elder representatives requested that they

be allowed to take charge of the sacrament, to no avail. Foundation

members continued to sing

and pray all day as the trucks were loaded.



Finally, on the evening of January 9th, just before sundown, the

residents of the Foundation were allowed to return, after being informed

that 11,323 plants had been

removed. Still, no search warrant had been actually served. A copy was

"left somewhere on the property" according to Sgt. Stang, lead detective

in this miscarriage of

justice.



Nothing could have prepared this family for the destruction inflicted on

the homes and property. Covers on the greenhouses were slashed, and

little more than potholed

ground was left to indicate the site of the cherished Sacramental

Gardens. Trucks had been driven across the ceremonial grounds,

flattening trees and shrubs in the

process.



Inside the houses, drawers had been emptied, curtains pulled from the

window, family photos scattered on the floor and other senseless acts of

destruction were

evident. Particularly disturbing was the discovery that officers had

taken Raven?s medicine box of church instruments and feathers, made for

her by her father, and

dumped its contents on the floor. Her personal jewelry box was also

taken. Moses' medicine box was also opened, its contents disturbed and

spilled about.



Three computers, cancelled checks and all cash, ($117) were taken, as

well as family photo albums and scrapbooks with newspaper articles

concerning Peyote and the

Foundation's history. Other ruthless and mean-spirited acts that were

perpetrated on the peaceful family home included the ridiculously

juvenile posting of a sanitary

napkin on the cabinet where this church's sacrament had been kept.



All evidence of needless destruction was captured on video as well as by

a photojournalist. Fortunately, nearly two hundred mistreated but living

Peyote plants were

found by the crew of 12 who worked all the following day to make

reparations to their homes, sacramental gardens, and church grounds.

This difficult but ultimately

joyous day was finished with sweatlodge prayer services, food, and

fellowship. Native American Church members have planned a prayer service

for the following

weekend.



The Mercados had previously suffered the confiscation and eventual

return of 1,000 Peyote plants at the hands of Pinal County authorities

in the winter of 1995.



The actions taken by the Pinal County authorities are a complete

violation and desecration of our home and church. This is a HATE CRIME

of the worst magnitude as

our public servants and government officials under the color of law

inflicted it.



Our rights to freedom of religion, privacy, due process of law and

protection against unreasonable search and seizure have been grossly

violated. As Officer Morgan,

one of the armed guards at the trucks, said, they "didn't want to argue

about the Bill of Rights".



The members of The Peyote Foundation are continuing their prayer vigil,

thanking God for the blessings of the sacred plants they are still

protecting, and seeking

intercession in the return of their sacrament.



* Arizona revised statutes 13-3402 . Possession and sale of peyote;

classification



A. A person who knowingly possesses, sells, transfers or offers to sell

or transfer peyote is guilty of a class 6 felony.



B. In a prosecution for violation of this section, it is a defense that

the peyote is being used or is intended for use:



1. In connection with the bona fide practice of a religious belief, and



2. As an integral part of a religious exercise, and



3. In a manner not dangerous to public health, safety or morals.

Leo  and Raven	Mercado	
PO BOX 491		
KEARNY	AZ	85237		
(520) 363-5389 or 363-7715 



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