Hi,
Individual letters would probably work better than a petition. Of course, don't talk about the danger of being nabbed by the DEA or the police. The safety issue to talk about is whether it is safe to take ayahuasca in group settings under unqualified, inexperienced people.
Now, we don't want to say that ayahuasca is nothing but dangerous and that it should be banned for anyone to use. Ayahuasca is a powerful therapeutic tool in the right hands, and there should be open paths for research and for legitimate therapy. But if a precedent were set that anyone could call themselves a "church" and be able to serve ayahuasca to the public indiscriminately, for money, that would be a nightmare. Not only because people can suffer psychological harm in the wrong hands; it is also that ayahuasca can make people deeply suggestible (which is one of the reasons it can have profound therapeutic effects in the right hands) so putting it freely into the hands of manipulative cult leaders would REALLY be a disaster. (There are already some ayahuasca cults around, but they are mostly small and underground because of the legality issues.)
Individual letters would probably work better than a petition. Of course, don't talk about the danger of being nabbed by the DEA or the police. The safety issue to talk about is whether it is safe to take ayahuasca in group settings under unqualified, inexperienced people.
Now, we don't want to say that ayahuasca is nothing but dangerous and that it should be banned for anyone to use. Ayahuasca is a powerful therapeutic tool in the right hands, and there should be open paths for research and for legitimate therapy. But if a precedent were set that anyone could call themselves a "church" and be able to serve ayahuasca to the public indiscriminately, for money, that would be a nightmare. Not only because people can suffer psychological harm in the wrong hands; it is also that ayahuasca can make people deeply suggestible (which is one of the reasons it can have profound therapeutic effects in the right hands) so putting it freely into the hands of manipulative cult leaders would REALLY be a disaster. (There are already some ayahuasca cults around, but they are mostly small and underground because of the legality issues.)