A church that purportedly uses entheogenic plants like psilocybin mushrooms as a holy sacrament was raided by officers with the Detroit Police Department Friday just two days after having a newspaper article about them published in the Detroit Metro Times.

According to a follow up article by the Detroit Metro Times, officers confiscated about $700,000 Friday in psilocybin mushroom products as well as ayahuasca and iboga from Soul Tribes International Ministries at 15000 Southfield Freeway in Detroit. Officers with the Detroit Police Department confirmed the raid took place to the Metro Times but would not comment on what was taken or any other details about what happened there.

Owner of Soul Tribes, ‘Shaman Shu’ (formerly named Robert Shumake) said 15 officers from DPD showed up armed and masked, seized the mushroom products and ordered a closure of the church. Shu told the outlet he believes the actions taken by police were in violation of Proposal E, a 2021 city initiative that decriminalized the use of psychedelic plants and fungi like psilocybin.

“They stole ancient sacrament. It was prayed over and meditated over. It’s a healing sacrament… They blocked my property down without due process. You can’t do that,” Shu said to the Metro Times. “They think we’re not a church. But that’s why the federal government was created, to separate church and state so that cities do not opine on what churches are [and] what ministries are. We’re a ministry and a religious organization.”

The original article said Soul Tribes was operating a “sacrament center” within the church where they sold dried psilocybin fruits, capsules and gummies to church members based on language in Proposal E that included using psilocybin therapeutically under the supervision of religious leaders, though they remain illegal under Michigan state law.

Regardless, Proposal E did not allow for the sale of entheogenic plants and fungi, which is likely where Soul Tribes ran into trouble with the police. The Metro Times asked for comment from the Mayor of Detroit’s office regarding the raid and whether or not DPD’s actions were sanctioned by the City, to which they received the following comment from Doug Baker, the city’s assistant corporation counsel:

“The Detroit Police Department worked in close coordination with the city’s law department and building safety, engineering and environmental department in preparing this enforcement action,” Baker said. “It is the law department’s position that this local ordinance, despite its intent, does not override state law, which considers psilocybin to be a controlled substance. Most importantly, the city ordinance itself does not allow for the sale or distribution of psilocybin.”

DPD Sgt. for media relations, Jordan Hall, told the outlet, “My understanding was that [the raid] was due to a lack of licensing and the amount of substances that were distributed.”

Soul Tribes operates out of a long vacant church on the West side of Detroit on a 60,000 sq. ft campus which Shu purchased about three months prior to the raid. The church planned to open formally in November but the sacrament center opened over Labor Day weekend and Shu told the outlet all the products came from mushrooms he grew himself, citing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as his legal defense for doing so.

“We have a right to our sacrament. We have a right to our belief system,” Shu said to the Metro Times before he was raided. “We’re a small indigenous belief system that believes we can heal the world with these techniques and our plants. You become a member of our church, just like you would any church, temple, or mosque. We’re no different.”

Shu had actually been in talks with DPD prior to the raid and emails reportedly obtained by the outlet showed they were working on setting up a meeting just the week prior.

“As you may already be aware, your ministry has definitely perked up some ears in the community,” said Sgt Crystal Johns in an email to Shaman Shu on Sept. 17. “Many of the questions and documented laws are above my understanding but the City’s legal team and our Police executives would like to have a conversation with you.”

No arrests appear to have been made and it was not immediately clear if Shaman Shu had any legal recourse for a lawsuit, though one Detroit attorney told the Metro Times Shu might have a precedent for his case. Shu maintained to the outlet that he was fulfilling his obligations as a religious leader and had a legal right to do what he was doing.

“We have a Percocet crisis, we have an Oxycontin crisis, and we have a fentanyl crisis,” Shu said. “It’s been proven that the sacred plant medicine has been used to heal people from mental health [issues], and that’s what this is about.”

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A California church that distributes cannabis and psychedelic drugs for sacramental purposes has filed a lawsuit against the City of Oakland and its police department, alleging that a 2020 raid violated federal protections for religious freedom.

The legal action was filed against the city and police by the Zide Door Church. The establishment serves as the Oakland center of worship for the Church of Ambrosia, “a nondenominational, interfaith religious organization that supports the use and safe access” of certain natural psychedelic drugs known as entheogenic plants and fungi, according to the group’s website. A minister wearing a robe emblazoned with cannabis leaves leads the church’s services, where members are permitted to smoke cannabis as a sacrament and pathway to connecting with a higher power.

To join the church, prospective members are required to fill out an online questionnaire asking if the applicant is a member of law enforcement and if they accept cannabis and psilocybin mushrooms as “part of your religion.” Once admitted to the church, members can pay a $5 monthly membership fee that allows them to receive cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms for a donation to the church.

Before the coronavirus pandemic began, the church would hold services on Sundays at 4:20, where founder Dave Hodges would pass out joints. The church opened in early 2019 and now has a total of 60,000 members, according to Hodges. Up to 200 come each day to get cannabis and psilocybin mushrooms.

Cannabis has been legal for adults in California since 2016, and in 2019 Oakland city leaders voted to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms and other entheogenic plants and fungi, although sales are not permitted.

Lawsuit Over 2020 Raid

In August 2020, the Zide Door Church was raided by officers with the Oakland Police Department. Law enforcement officers entered the church and seized approximately $200,000 in cannabis, mushrooms, and cash. Police claimed the establishment was operating as an unlicensed dispensary rather than a legitimate place of worship. No charges were filed in the case, but the cash and drugs seized by police during the raid have not been returned to the church.

An affidavit filed with a search warrant served during the raid states that the city received a complaint that the Zide Door Church was operating as an unlicensed cannabis dispensary in May 2019. Two months later, an undercover police officer visited the church to become a member and subsequently exchanged cash for cannabis. Only days later, the church was raided by police. Hodges was issued a fine and a warning, but no one was taken into custody.

After the raid, critics were skeptical that the church was a legitimate place of worship, alleging that it was instead a front to sell drugs. But Hodges insists that is not the case.

The lawsuit filed against the city and police argues that the raid and seizure violated constitutional guarantees of religious freedom. In the legal action, the church details the “sacramental use” of cannabis, psilocybin and other natural psychedelic drugs as a way to connect with “a higher consciousness, their own eternal souls, spiritual beings and God.” Consuming psilocybin mushrooms is not permitted at the site, however.

“This is not just an excuse to sell drugs,” Hodges told the San Francisco Chronicle. “This is what we truly believe is the origin of all religion and really what religion should be.”

The lawsuit argues that the raid violated the church’s “sincere exercise of religion” in violation of federal law, as well as the church’s right to the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The Oakland Police Department did not comment on the lawsuit when asked by The Washington Post. City Attorney Barbara Parker told reporters the city had not yet been served with the legal action but declined to comment further.

Jesse Choper, a law expert at the University of California at Berkeley, said that the church’s religious freedom argument might prevail if the lawsuit goes to trial.

“If it’s not a sham business,” he said, “I would say the smokers got a pretty good case.”

But Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the University of California’s Berkeley School of Law, said the church is not likely to succeed with its defense that religious freedom exempts it from state drug laws.

“The general rule is that there is no exception to laws for religious beliefs,” he said. “Assuming that the California law applies to everyone and does not have discretion to grant exceptions, then there is not a basis for challenging it based on religion.”

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