Forrest is an Assistant Professor of Law at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, where he is an affiliated faculty member of the Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute. His scholarship focuses on the intersection of intellectual property laws and religious freedom, with particular focus on the laws in the United States concerning the use of peyote. He is an enrolled member of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma.

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In recent years, the medical model has reigned supreme over dialoague, legislation, and funding of psychedelics in America.

And yet, there exists another uniquely American route to the legal use of psychedelics: religious practice, protected by the First Amendment.

A patchwork of federal legislation and judicial precedents, including the unanimous UDV vs. USA Supreme Court ruling in 2006, uphold the ability to use psychedelics within sincere religious contexts.

However, the existing legal affirmations were very hard-won for their petitioners, and there exists much gray area in determining to whom and how they apply, and much risk for group seeking clarity.

In this session, we will consider the legal relationship between religious freedom and spiritual practices that use psychedelics.