Psilocybin Church Beats the State of Utah in Court Battle

Good morning and welcome to another edition of The Drop In! We're kicking things off today with news about a psilocybin mushroom church in Utah getting a court ruling in its favor, which is huge.

Here's the tea: A U.S. District Judge just ruled that Utah officials acted in bad faith when prosecuting Singularism, a Provo-based faith that uses psilocybin as a sacrament. The judge not only blocked the case but also slammed the state for granting medical exemptions to use the substance while denying the same protections for religious practice. Without this injunction, Parrish said, the young church would have faced what she called a “death warrant” for its beliefs.

Let's drop in on this, and much more, below.

Stay hydrated this week 💧,

Mary Carreón
Editor-in-Chief

Together With MV.Health

Psychedelic Orgasms?

Want orgasms so powerful they leave you breathless, wrapped in a days-long afterglow of awe, gratitude, and sheer wonder at the beauty of existence?

Then try MV.Health’s award-winning penis vibrator, Tenuto 2. 

It’s a vibrator designed for both partners. It gives stronger, longer-lasting erections AND simultaneously stimulates the penis, perineum, and vulva, giving you both more powerful orgasms.   

(Yes, it’s even clinically proven to help with sensitive sexual issues like ED and performance anxiety.)    

And right now, MV.Health is offering an EXTRA 15% discount for DoubleBlind readers. 

Good sex matters. So instead of random impulse buys, get something to support your best sex life, so you both can live your best lives.

Make your orgasms more psychedelic with an extra 15% off using code DB15.

Judge Blocks Utah’s Prosecution of Psilocybin Church, Citing Threat to Religious Freedom

A federal judge has stopped Utah from prosecuting a psilocybin mushroom church, saying the case could spell the end for the fledgling religion.

A federal judge has dealt a decisive blow to Utah officials’ effort to prosecute a small Provo-based religious group for using psilocybin mushrooms in its ceremonies, calling the case a bad-faith attempt to quash the faith before it could take root.

The ruling, issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Jill N. Parrish, not only rejects the state’s bid to dismiss the case but also halts the criminal prosecution of Singularism founder Bridger Lee Jensen. The decision builds on an earlier order from May, when Parrish directed police to return psilocybin and sacred texts seized during a raid on the group’s spiritual center.

“The prosecution was brought in bad faith as part of a larger effort to harass Plaintiffs for their entheogenic religious practices,” said Parrish. “Forcing Plaintiffs to wait until the conclusion of the criminal proceedings to secure their free-exercise rights would be the equivalent of issuing a death warrant for their nascent religion.”

The judge granted an “anti-suit injunction,” blocking further state-level proceedings tied to psilocybin charges. At the heart of her opinion: Utah’s own laws already carve out a medical exemption for psilocybin use, and denying a parallel exemption for religious practice, she found, undercuts the state’s stated interest in public health and safety.

“A religious exemption for Plaintiffs risks undermining these interests, they claim,” Parrish wrote, referring to state arguments about contamination, unsafe facilitation, and potential abuse. “But these same risks inhere in the secular exemption, too, especially since the medical exemption imposes no sourcing, testing, or chain-of-custody requirements.”

Parrish dismissed as “bordering on disingenuous” the state’s argument that no substantial burden exists because no criminal penalties have yet been imposed. To illustrate the flaw, she conjured a hypothetical: Utah bans alcohol but permits red wine in hospitals. Priests serving communion are charged but not punished. Under the state’s logic, she said, the priests’ religious freedoms wouldn’t be burdened at all—a conclusion she called “ludicrous.”

Her ruling comes amid a growing legal battle over how, and whether, religious groups can secure exemptions from drug laws for sacramental use of controlled substances. Singularism’s case was brought under both constitutional protections and Utah’s newly minted Religious Freedom Restoration Act, passed last year to shield spiritual practices from government interference.

The fight is hardly isolated. A 2024 Government Accountability Office report urged the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to clarify and streamline its process for reviewing religious exemption requests involving controlled substances like psilocybin and ayahuasca, which it said was opaque and “burdensome.”

While rare, exemptions do exist. Last year, the Church of the Eagle and the Condor — a non-Christian group based in Arizona — reached a legal settlement allowing it to import and use ayahuasca as a sacrament, the first such protection secured without a trial. But the DEA later argued that the agreement had no bearing on a similar request from the Iowaska Church of Healing in Iowa, which has been seeking clearance since 2019.

That Iowa church even found an unlikely ally in Sen. Chuck Grassley, a longtime drug-policy hawk. Court filings say the Republican from Iowa helped speed up the appeals process in 2021, though his office has been careful to note that his involvement wasn’t an endorsement of the church’s theology—or its stance on psychedelics.

For Singularism, the stakes are existential. Parrish noted the group has already lost members and affiliates since the prosecution began. The psilocybin, she wrote, is central to the creation of its scripture and the pursuit of “spiritual voyages,” and banning it outright “substantially burdens” the faith’s free exercise.

With the injunction in place, Utah cannot move forward with its case against Jensen for psilocybin possession or use—at least until the federal court reaches a final judgment. Whether that ruling will further reshape the legal landscape for religious psychedelics remains to be seen, but for now, Singularism has secured a rare reprieve in a climate where such protections are more often denied than granted.

The Fascinating Life of a Psychedelic OG

This Friday, we’re bringing you a profound story on the remarkable life of Dr. Gunther M. Weil, a Harvard Psychedelic Club insider who tripped alongside Leary, Alpert, and Metzner, edited the Psychedelic Review, and later traded Millbrook’s chaos for a decades-long career in psychology, music, and values-based mentoring.

From guiding prisoners through psilocybin sessions in the Concord Prison Experiment, to a prophetic dream that sent him packing before the scene at Millbrook imploded, to his late-life return to psychedelics as preparation for “dropping this body,” Weil’s story spans the rise, fall, and renaissance of the movement. At 88, he’s still practicing Tai Chi, still chasing curiosity, and still asking how we live our values… trip or no trip.

Upgrade your subscription to get it in your inbox Friday morning.

DoubleBlind Digs

Calling all psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy practitioners: Sarah Ann Renfrew, a trainee counselling psychologist, is seeking participants for her doctoral research on how therapeutic relationships are navigated in this emerging field. You can take part in a 1:1 interview or a global online survey — both designed to share your expertise and deepen our understanding of psychedelics. Participate in the study or learn more by sending an email to [email protected] 

Need music? Check out Nutritious’ set at Mycologia, the music festival DoubleBlind threw in 2023, on SoundCloud! Listen here.

Psychedelic Student Body: Celebrate five years of groundbreaking ideas at PsychedelX—the premier global psychedelic student talk conference, which took place at the end of June. Check out the talks on YouTube here.

Integrate with intention: Whether you're microdosing or diving deep, Wakeful Travel’s guided journals support every step of your psychedelic journey—from daily reflections to big breakthroughs. Thoughtfully designed, beautifully bound, and made for explorers like you. Get your journal today.

*We may make a small commission from purchases using this link. Proceeds through advertising help to fund our independent journalism.

Together With MV.Health

Arouse the vulva with Legato, the vibrating ring.

Want to take your intimacy to new heights of sensual connection?  

Legato is a multi-award-winning vibrator ring that awakens every inch of her pleasure zones. It’s designed to stimulate the entire vulva—clitoris, labia, and everything in between. With 4 motors and an adjustable shape, it ignites every nerve ending, magnifying sensations everywhere she could possibly want them.  

With a spacious opening for a partner (or another toy) and 16 intensity levels, it gives plenty for both partners to explore. It’s even gained a hot reputation among OB/GYN doctors for heightening arousal and supporting natural lubrication, making it perfect for postpartum and menopause (it’s even FDA-registered). 

Right now, you can save an extra 15% with code DB15. Just click the link below!

Take your intimacy to new heights with Legato.