10th Circuit says court should not have blocked Utah psychedelic mushroom prosecution

The 10th Circuit overturned a federal injunction blocking Utah’s prosecution of Singularism founder Bridger Jensen over the religious use of psychedelic mushrooms.(CN) — The 10th Circuit gave the green light to the state of Utah to continue its prosecution of a man using psychedelic mushrooms in a religious setting after a ruling on Monday that overturned a lower court’s order.With its ruling, the panel overturned a U.S. District Court for the District of Utah order that prevented Utah from pursuing its criminal prosecution of Bridger Jensen, the owner and founder of a spiritual organization in Provo, Utah, known as Singularism.Jensen filed a lawsuit against Utah County and the city of Provo after police sent an undercover officer and then raided his center in 2024, seizing 450 grams of psilocybin, the naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in psychedelic mushrooms used in Singularism’s practice. He argued the police violated his religious freedom.U.S. District Judge Jill Parrish, a Barack Obama appointee, sided with Jensen in 2025 and blocked the state criminal proceedings. The state appealed.Much of the 10th Circuit’s question hinged on whether a lower court can block the prosecution of a religious leader’s drug use in state court.“We answer no,” U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Bacharach, also an Obama appointee, wrote.“This appeal involves the intersection between the exercise of religion and a state’s authority to criminalize drug use,” he continued. “Individuals can freely exercise their religion, and states can criminalize drug use. But what happens when a religious tenet includes the use of a drug that is otherwise prohibited under a state’s criminal law?”Jensen argued the state’s 2024 law allowing medical institutions to use psilocybin experimentally in controlled settings while criminalizing it in religious ceremonies violated his religious freedom.“This inquiry arises because a state allowed qualified healthcare systems to use an experimental drug under a regulatory scheme and disallowed use for religious purposes without medical oversight,” Bacharach continued. “Does this distinction violate the right to freely exercise a religion? We again answer no.”The 10th Circuit concluded the lower court should have let these issues play out in state court under the Younger abstention doctrine, which requires federal courts to refrain from interfering with state court proceedings when important state interests are at stake.Jensen argued federal intervention was necessary because the criminal prosecution was brought in bad faith and would cause him irreparable harm. But this required a heavy burden of proof Jensen failed to satisfy, the 10th Circuit found.Jensen’s First Amendment argument also failed because Utah’s medical exceptions for psilocybin use were not comparable with Singularism’s religious use.“Given state law, state regulations and actual practice, Mr. Jensen and Singularism haven’t shown a similarity in the health risks from secular and religious uses of psilocybin,” Bacharach wrote. “To the contrary, the statutory and regulatory safeguards render secular use less likely to undermine the government’s interests than Singularism’s religious use.”However, the 10th Circuit declined to rule on one of Jensen’s key claims.Jensen argued Utah’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act also protected his use of psilocybin, which the 10th Circuit left for the lower court to resolve.The state law, enacted in 2024, prohibits the government from burdening a person’s religious freedom unless it satisfies strict scrutiny.Jensen’s case is the first to apply the statute.“I think the biggest point is that this case continues and now is set to be resolved on the plane that’s going to be the most important, which is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” Jensen’s attorney, Tanner Bean, told Courthouse News in a phone interview. “As far as losses go, it’s not bad for Singularism because the best claim is still in district court.”The lower court relied on the statute to grant a preliminary injunction returning the seized items to Singularism. Utah authorities have not appealed the injunction or addressed the claims under the statute, the 10th Circuit noted.Bean, of Fabian VanCott, said Utah has made other individual exemptions for Native American tribes to use peyote in religious ceremonies.“What’s the harm?” he asked.Prosecutors have not refiled charges against Jensen as of Monday.Richard Federico, a Joe Biden appointee, and David Ebel, a Ronald Reagan appointee, joined Bacharach. A spokesperson for the defendants did not respond to requests for comment.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads