April 2025 Psychedelic Law Update

Church of the Celestial Heart: America’s 4th Ayahuasca church recognized

Sean is proud to report that another of his clients, the Church of the Celestial Heart, has been formally recognized by the US government, including the DEA, as America’s fourth fully recognized ayahuasca church. The Church, founded by Kai Karrel, is rooted in and inspired by the Santo Daime and Umbanda traditions, but has crafted its own spiritual practices in the US. The case began after ayahuasca was seized by the government and state agents raided one of the members homes. After a two year legal fight, the government conceded that the organization was a sincere religious practice and should not be interfered with. After recognition of the Church of the Eagle and the Condor last year, this means that half of all formally recognized psychedelic churches in the US are clients of McAllister Law. A hearty congratulations to the Church of the Celestial Heart. Sean is actively representing numerous religious organizations using psychedelics and is happy to meet with you to discuss this topic.

Religious Freedom Webinar, Thursday May 29th

Building on the success of his work with other psychedelic churches, McAllister Law is offering a two hour webinar to deep dive into the law of Religious Freedom related to psychedelics. With this webinar, you will get all of the basic legal information necessary to understand this area of law and start a new religious practice involving psychedelics. The event will include both a form liability waiver and a summary of the basic documents needed to establish a defense under religious freedom.

New Mexico Creates Regulated Psilocybin Program

New Mexico has become the third state in the nation to create a regulated access program for psilocybin with the passage of Senate Bill 219. A copy of the new law is found here. New Mexico’s program has some key differences from Oregon and Colorado – including that access to the program is limited to specific medical conditions, including treatment resistant depression, PTSD, substance use disorders, and end of life care. Regulators and a soon-to-be-appointed Medical Psilocybin Advisory Board are about to begin the crucial years-long process to create the rules and regulations. The program is expected to launch in early 2028.

NMHA Applications, SOPs, Consent Forms, and Liability Waiver Forms

McAllister Law is helping applicants in the Colorado Natural Medicine program develop the numerous standard operating procedures, consent forms, and other plans required by the rules. Sean has developing flat fee SOPs and forms at an affordable cost to help satisfy all the requirements under the rules. For more information, see these lists of forms and cost: for healing centers/facilitators click here, for cultivation/manufacturing SOPs click here.