Religious use of Plants and Fungi

Rep. Jeff Shipley
Rep. Jeff Shipley

Rep. Jeff Shipley has been a long-time advocate for plants, fungi, and religious freedom, so I sent him a copy of my last blog post, STRAIGHT OUT OF THE GATE: Religious Freedom Restoration Act fails to protect religious freedom.

Last year, the Iowa District Court refused to apply the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, 2024 Iowa Acts ch. 1003, April 2, 2024, to my request for rules allowing religious use of plants and fungi in the Iowa Controlled Substances Act.

The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing said it would need explicit authority from the legislature to adopt rules allowing religious use of plants and fungi.

Rep. Shipley responded by asking me to draft a bill, so I did.

Here are some of Rep. Shipley’s previous bills regarding psilocybin and psilocyn:

House File 248, February 6, 2019

House File 459, February 9, 2021

House File 240, February 8, 2023

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