União do Vegetal

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The Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal (UDV) is a Brazilian religious group that uses ayahuasca in its ceremonies. It was founded in 1961 in Porto Velho by José Gabriel da Costa, known as Mestre Gabriel. The word vegetal refers to ayahuasca, called hoasca in Brazil. Ayahuasca is made by boiling two plants, mariri (Banisteriopsis caapi) and chacrona (Psychotria viridis), which grow in the Amazon. Ayahuasca has been legal in Brazil since 1992.

In the United States, in 1999, customs agents seized more than 30 gallons (about 110 liters) of ayahuasca shipped to the UDV branch in Santa Fe, New Mexico. No charges were filed. The UDV sued in 2000, arguing the seizure violated the church’s rights and asking for a court order to allow its use of ayahuasca. In 2002, U.S. District Chief Judge James Aubrey Parker ruled in favor of the church. In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld that decision, again ruling in the church’s favor.