to the continuation, preservation and well-being of our tribal religious traditions." The states have supported the sacramental use of peyote. The State of Arizona, in 1991, passed Senate Concurrent Memorial 1001 (Appendix K) urging the President of the United States to amend the American Indian Religious Freedom Act to protect the sacramental use of peyote. The State of New Mexico, in 1991, passed the Senate Joint Memorial 15 (Appendix L) that supports amendment of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act "so that the exercise of Native American ceremonial and traditional rites are protected and the use of peyote as a sacramental right is preserved". The state of California has similar statutues. The State of Utah has considered similar protection measures and the State of Utah does abide by the federal peyote exemption in the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the U.S. Department of Justice also helps us protect the use of peyote. DEA has an exemption from the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 for our religious use of peyote in the Code of Federal Regulations (21 C.F.R. Section 1307.31). That application has been in place since 1965 when peyote was first listed in the Controlled Substances Act. Since that time, and even before then, the Native American Church has enjoyed a good relationship with the federal authorities. In fact, D.E.A. has written a letter supporting of this effort and to put their regulation into a federal statute. That letter was submitted for the record of these hearings at the Portland Hearing on March 7, 1992. President Zah in his statement before the Senate Commttee on Indian Affairs in Albuquerque on February 9, 1993, stated support for a statutory exemption over a regulatory exemption. Conclusion Thank you for this opportunity to speak. NACNL supports Congressional legislation to amend the American Indian Religious Freedom Act that would solve these problems by creating a uniform national law that would remove these obstacles and legal clouds, and allow our religion to continue, perhaps finally free of the long history of oppression, persecution and misunderstanding that has troubled us for so long. On behalf of the Native American Church of Navajoland, Inc., I urge you and your colleagues to do everything you can to cut through this wall of misunderstanding to introduce and forward legislation that will protect the traditional use of peyote. I plea before this Subcommittee that Congress should restore our right to freely practice our native traditional religion. Respectfully submitted this 16th day of March, 1993. NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH OF NAVAJOLAND, INC. автоим ROBERT BILLY WHITEHORSE, President I. Statement of Peterson Zah, President of the Navajo Nation J. Resolution of the Dine' Traditional Healing Science Practitioners K. State of Arizona Senate Concurrent Memorial 1001 L. State of New Mexico Joint Memorial 15 APPENDIX A TESTIMONY STAFF SERGEANT SHAWN ARNOLD, U.S.M.C. (NAVAJO) NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH MEMBER PRESENTED SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS · SENATOR DANIEL K. INOUYE, CHAIRMAN CONCERNING AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: PRESENTED AT A HEARING HELD IN ON NOVEMBER 12,1992 Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge my appreciation to you Senator Inouye, and fellow Senators and Committee staff members for giving me this opportunity and honor to come before your Committee to express my thoughts and testimony concerning the Discussion Draft called "American Indian Religious Freedom Resolution". Even though there are five titles to the Bill the main focus of my testimony will center on Title Two of the Bill which is "Traditional Use of Peyote". These three American flags before you Sir, belong to my immediate family. The first flag belongs to my grandfather who serviced in WWll, the second flag belong to my father who served during the Korean conflict and the third flag belongs to my brother who recently passed away in July of this year and who served honorably from 1977-81 in the United States Marine Corps. These flags represent three generations of veterans who have passed on into the spirit world like the countless other honorable veterans through out this great country. I just have one younger brother left who also served honorably in the Corps from 1983-86 and distinguished himself in combat both in Lebanon and Grenada. My grandfather, father and brother were active members in the Native American Indian Church too. From WW1 up to the present date Native American Veterans have always distinguished themselves honorably on the battlefield and during peacetime so it goes to say as veterans our feelings are deeply rooted in what the United States Constitution stands for. Recent decisions in the last several years made in the Supreme Court concerning Protection of Sacred sites (Lyng V. Northwest Indian Cemetery Ass. 1988) and Traditional use of Peyote (Oregon V. Sixth 1990) bring us here today. These decisions have had a devastating impact on a lot of Native Americans starting from the Hawaiian Islands to our far Northern State Alaska and from the West to the East coast. The Supreme Court is not sympathetic towards Native American Rights, and these two decisions have had the most discriminatory impact concernig our inherent right to freely exercise or express our traditional (religious) beliefs as afforded to all American Citizens under the First and Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution of American. In 1982, after being honorably discharged following four years of faithful service to our great country, I departed the military and, eight months later, I decided to come back into the service. During that time, I informed the Marine Corps that I was an active member of the Native American Indian Church and that "peyote" was used as a sacrament in our ceremonies. Because of this, the Marine Corps sent a request for a waiver to Headquarters Marine Corps in Washington, D.C.. The waiver came back approved, about two to three weeks after the request was sent from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Along with the waiver, the authorization for my reenlistment was granted October 1,1982. In return, as I did in January 1978, October 1982, December 1985 and June 1991, I raised my right arm and took an oath to defend and give my life, if necessary, in defense of our Constitution in order that, not only |