Opinion ID: 163852
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances

Text: 63 Believing the Government's strongest arguments for prohibiting Uniao do Vegetal's hoasca use to be health and diversion risks, the district court did not ask the parties to present evidence on the Convention at the hearing. However, in issuing a preliminary injunction, the court qualifiedly rejected the Government's assertion that the Convention requires the United States ban Uniao do Vegetal's sacramental hoasca use. The court concluded the treaty does not cover hoasca. 64 On appeal, the parties take opposing views of whether the Convention's proscription includes hoasca. At this point, we do not believe the resolution of this argument is necessary to the appeal. We therefore decline to grant what could only amount to an advisory opinion. 65 Although treaties are recognized by our Constitution as the supreme law of the land, Breard v. Greene, 523 U.S. 371, 376, 118 S.Ct. 1352, 140 L.Ed.2d 529 (1998) (per curiam), that rule does not decide this case. Here we are presented with a conflict between the government's obligations under the 1971 Convention and its obligations under RFRA. In such a situation, the Supreme Court has directed that an Act of Congress ... is on a full parity with a treaty, and that when a statute which is subsequent in time is inconsistent with a treaty, the statute, to the extent of conflict, renders the treaty null. Id. ( quoting Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1, 18, 77 S.Ct. 1222, 1 L.Ed.2d 1148 (1957) (plurality opinion)). See also Whitney v. Robertson, 124 U.S. 190, 194, 8 S.Ct. 456, 31 L.Ed. 386 (1888) (if treaty and statute conflict, the one last in date will control the other). 66 Thus, even if the Convention does apply to hoasca, the United States has obligations under its laws and other international treaties to protect religious freedom. Treaties are part of the law of the land; they have no greater or lesser impact than other federal laws. Ex parte Cooper, 143 U.S. 472, 502, 12 S.Ct. 453, 36 L.Ed. 232 (1892). The freedom to manifest religion ... in worship, observance, practice and teaching encompasses a broad range of acts including ritual and ceremonial acts and participation in rituals. U.N. Hum. Rts. Comm., General Comment No. 22, at 4 (1993). Moreover, a compelling interest in abiding by certain laws, including the CSA and the Convention, does not suffice, standing alone, to carry the Government's burden under RFRA. Hardman, 297 F.3d at 1125. RFRA requires that an asserted compelling interest be narrowly tailored to the specific plaintiff whose religious conduct is impaired. Id. 67 The Government cites the declaration of Robert E. Dalton, a State Department lawyer for the Treaty Affairs Office, opining that, [t]he need to avoid a violation of... the treaty ... is undoubtedly a compelling interest, and that violation of the Convention would undermine the United States' leadership role in curtailing illicit drug trafficking. Yet, Mr. Dalton speaks only in the most general of terms regarding the United States' interest in complying with the 1971 Convention, and he does not provide any specifics about why such compliance, resulting in the burdening of the UDV's religious freedoms, represents the least restrictive means of furthering the government's compelling interests. This statement falls short of the government's burden. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-1(b); Hardman, 297 F.3d at 1130-32 (mere speculation or a record devoid of hard evidence indicating that the current regulations are narrowly tailored to advance the government's interests which does not address the possibility of other, less restrictive means of achieving those interests is insufficient to satisfy the government's burden under RFRA). Based on the record before us, we cannot conclude the government has demonstrated that application of the burden to the [UDV] (1) is in furtherance of a compelling government interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling government interest. 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-1(b).