Let's help Pastor Dave

[Dr. Greenthumb]

The church was never bothered until now
Dear Marc Emery: I write this to you from prison in Switzerland. I’m in solitary detention here in a jail in Bern, unable to see my wife and children. I have been here since June 9th, 2006. My laptop, books and money have been confiscated. There is some kind of investigation of me in regards my Church of the Sacred Mushroom and our distribution of the wonderful mushrooms.

For years I tried to tell local Swiss officers of what I was doing: that I, Pastor David, was doing missionary work with the sacred mushrooms. I was ignored, now to be treated very harshly. They read my mail and perhaps are seizing correspondence sent to me. I am now in big trouble. My lawyer, jailers and the police have all said I may be extradited to stand trial in the United States for my mushroom work. I have been told that I have been indicted twice already by a US grand jury.

If you can, please publish news of my fate. I can be reached at:
Pastor David Schlesinger
Regionalgefängnis Bern
Zelle 309, Genfergasse 22
3011 Bern, Switzerland.
The mail will be read by authorities, so please be careful.

Swiss authorities have treated me like I’m the Taliban. I believe the Swiss are violating my citizenship by finding ways to have me extradited to the USA. If I make bail, I will inform you, but so far after four weeks I have no prospects for release. I’m being held without bail because officials see a “danger” of “collusion” as long as I can talk and write. I doubt my tongue and fingers will be cut off like worshippers of Teonanacatl experienced 500 years ago.

I asked for jurisdictional clearance from the police, they let me go on for years, and then when their ‘non-action’ was “understood” by me over these years, the police, without warning, raid me and put me in jail. I was naive, no doubt. But now I sit here waiting to find out if I will be sent to the US to spend my eternity in jail there.

My children of course do not understand, and my wife is heart broken. The religious community of Teonanicatl is now without support.

Teonanicatl bless you all,

Pastor David
In Jail in Bern,
Switzerland


• Editor’s Note: Running for a number of years has been an advertisement in Cannabis Culture Magazine for the Sacred Mushroom Church of Switzerland. This business should be considered defunct under the current circumstances.
• The website for the Sacred Mushroom Church is www.sacred-mushroom-church.ch/web/english/.
• To find out more about how to help Pastor David, please visit this forum on the Sacred Church website.
• As of July 10th, David is still in jail, the church’s banking accounts have been seized, and their computer seized. This is the same sort of activity that stopped Marc Emery Direct Seeds, and Pastor David now faces the same unjust and oppressive penalties as the BC3 (Marc Emery, Michelle Rainey, and Greg Williams). Please speak out against this War of people who cherish fruits of the earth!



Other Recent News about Magic Mushrooms:

Mystic mushrooms spawn magic event
Findings could lead to treatments for addiction, depression
CNN.com

NEW YORK (AP) -- People who took an illegal drug made from mushrooms reported profound mystical experiences that led to behavior changes lasting for weeks -- all part of an experiment that recalls the psychedelic ‘60s.

Many of the 36 volunteers rated their reaction to a single dose of the drug, called psilocybin, as one of the most meaningful or spiritually significant experiences of their lives. Some compared it to the birth of a child or the death of a parent.

Such comments “just seemed unbelievable,” said Roland Griffiths of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, the study’s lead author.

But don’t try this at home, he warned. “Absolutely don’t.”

Almost a third of the research participants found the drug experience frightening even in the very controlled setting. That suggests people experimenting with the illicit drug on their own could be harmed, Griffiths said.

Viewed by some as a landmark, the study is one of the few rigorous looks in the past 40 years at a hallucinogen’s effects. The researchers suggest the drug someday may help drug addicts kick their habit or aid terminally ill patients struggling with anxiety and depression.

It may also provide a way to study what happens in the brain during intense spiritual experiences, the scientists said.
Funded in part by the federal government, the research was published online Tuesday by the journal Psychopharmacology.

Psilocybin has been used for centuries in religious practices, and its ability to produce a mystical experience is no surprise. But the new work demonstrates it more clearly than before, Griffiths said.

Even two months after taking the drug, pronounced SILL-oh-SY-bin, most of the volunteers said the experience had changed them in beneficial ways, such as making them more compassionate, loving, optimistic and patient. Family members and friends said they noticed a difference, too.

Charles Schuster, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and a former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, called the work a landmark.

“I believe this is one of the most rigorously well-controlled studies ever done” to evaluate psilocybin or similar substances for their potential to increase self-awareness and a sense of spirituality, he said. He did not participate in the research.

Psilocybin, like LSD or mescaline, is one of a class of drugs called hallucinogens or psychedelics. While they have been studied by scientists in the past, research was largely shut down after widespread recreational abuse of the drugs during the 1960s, Griffiths said. Some work resumed in the 1990s.

“We’ve lost 40 years of (potential) research experience with this whole class of compounds,” he said. Now, with modern-day scientific methods, “I think it’s time to pick up this research field.”

The study volunteers had an average age of 46, had never used hallucinogens, and participated to some degree in religious or spiritual activities such as prayer, meditation, discussion groups or religious services. Each tried psilocybin during one visit to the lab and the stimulant methylphenidate (better known as Ritalin) on one or two other visits. Only six of the volunteers knew when they were getting psilocybin.

Each visit lasted eight hours. The volunteers lay on a couch in a living-room-like setting, wearing an eye mask and listening to classical music. They were encouraged to focus their attention inward.

Psilocybin’s effects lasted for up to six hours, Griffiths said. Twenty-two of the 36 volunteers reported having a “complete” mystical experience, compared with four of those getting methylphenidate.

That experience included such things as a sense of pure awareness and a merging with ultimate reality, a transcendence of time and space, a feeling of sacredness or awe, and deeply felt positive mood like joy, peace and love. People say “they can’t possibly put it into words,” Griffiths said.

Two months later, 24 of the participants filled out a questionnaire. Two-thirds called their reaction to psilocybin one of the five top most meaningful experiences of their lives. On another measure, one-third called it the most spiritually significant experience of their lives, with another 40 percent ranking it in the top five.

About 80 percent said that because of the psilocybin experience, they still had a sense of well-being or life satisfaction that was raised either “moderately” or “very much.”

• THE STUDY: Volunteers who took psilocybin, an illegal drug made from mushrooms, reported profound mystical experiences that altered their attitudes and behavior for weeks.

• THE CONFIRMATION: The drug has been used for centuries in religious practices, but the new work demonstrates its effects more clearly than before.

• THE PAYOFF: Psilocybin may prove useful in treating drug addicts or terminally ill patients with depression. It may also enable the study of what happens in the brain during intense spiritual experiences.

[Dr. Greenthumb]

The transcription of Pastor David's hand-written letter to Marc and Jodie Emery

Pastor David Schlesinger
July 23rd, 2006. Dear Marc and CC Team: Here's David in Swiss detention writing again. I have been told that my letter to you was published on a forum - but naturally, I cannot check this, as I'm spending my 7th weekend in jail.

Almost no investigation seems to have taken place - I was interrogated one time about weird stuff I'm not allowed to talk about. A very simple and easy case is made to look complicated just to be able to keep me imprisoned without trial.

Therefore, from July 26th I'm starting a hungerstrike with total refusal of anything other than plain table-wafers. I'm expecting this to bring me into a hospital within days or few weeks, depending on the weather.

As Minister of Teonanacatl, I believe that it's time for this demonstration of my will to say no to the methods of Swiss officials who seem to use the same thought-patterns as Afghani Taliban - so I call them Swissliban now.

I feel I need to start the hardest possible hungerstrike to express my opinion in a way that leaves no doubts about my devotion for God, the human rights and our religion.

Thank you for your support!

Teonanacatl Bless you!
Pastor David

[Dr. Greenthumb]

www.freedavid.org