It took a five-year legal battle all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court for a Santa Fe group to win its right to drink hallucinogenic tea at its religious services.

But the group may face a tougher challenge with Arroyo Hondo residents over plans to build a temple there.

About 40 people attended Thursday night's neighborhood-notification meeting on plans for 11,000 square feet of structures on 2.5 acres at the corner of Arroyo Hondo Trail and Brass Horse Road.

"I just don't think the physical aspects can be negotiated," said Jerry Levine of Arroyo Hondo. "People here just don't want that kind of usage on that property."

Jacque Dawson of Arroyo Hondo suggested having the temple there would negatively impact property values in the affluent neighborhood when would-be buyers discover the temple is "people sitting around drinking hallucinogenic tea, trying to find themselves."

O Centro Espirita Beneficiente União do Vegetal — Portuguese for Central Beneficial Spirit United in the Plants — or UDV was founded in Brazil in 1961 and now claims 14,000 members in several countries, including about 55 in Santa Fe.

Services include drinking a tea called hoasca or ayahuasca, made from two Amazonian plants with the hallucinogen N.N. dimethyltryptamine or DMT. But members say the amount taken in services is so small that hallucinations do not result, only a state of increased concentration is gained.

Jeffrey Bronfman, whose family founded the Seagrams Corp. in Canada in the late 1800s, started the local group, which began holding services in a yurt near his Arroyo Hondo home in 1992. Now that its use of hoasca has been ruled legal by the U.S. Supreme Court, the local UDV chapter is looking to build its own temple on the same property.

According to an application with the Santa Fe County land-use department, more than 11,000 square feet of buildings are proposed:

• 7,100-square-foot, pitched-roof temple with a main space for religious services for up to 100 people, common room, dining room, two bathrooms, an attic for storage and two kitchens — one for food and another for "preparation of a religious sacrament."

• 1,500-square-foot guesthouse with one bedroom, one bathroom, a den and a kitchen, for a caretaker or "member of the clergy."

• 800-square-foot greenhouse for growing the plants used in the tea.

• 225-square-foot utility building.

• 225-square-foot storage shed.

• The existing 706-square-foot yurt (30 feet in diameter) would remain as is, except for the possible addition of a wood-burning stove.

• 33-car parking lot plus an "upgraded field" to handle an additional 18 cars.

Total water consumption for the development is estimated to be about 40,000 gallons a year from an on-site well with xeric landscaping and recycling of water. Both the temple and the guesthouse would be in a style "consistent with the architectural style of the surrounding neighborhood," according to the application prepared by James W. Siebert and Co.

According to some 300 letters mailed to Arroyo Hondo neighbors by UDV vice president Tai Bixby on July 31, UDV is a "Christian Spiritist religion and exists for the purpose of helping the human being with his or her development in the moral, ethical and spiritual sense."

At Thursday night's meeting at the Arroyo Hondo Volunteer Fire Department, Bixby fielded questions about the possible erosion of Arroyo Hondo as a rural neighborhood, traffic, security for the tea and if temple members would be able to drive safety after ingesting the tea.

Bixby, a real-estate agent, said service generally begins about 8 p.m. Saturday and lasts for about four hours when the tea begins to wear off. By the time temple members begin to leave, as late as 2 or 3 a.m. Sunday, "the effect has diminished and I feel fine to drive. The residual effect is like a big cup of coffee. ... If you think of your consciousness as a radio, it turns the volume up."

UDV member Solar Law, son of photographer Lisa Law, said the group preaches against the use of alcohol and that no one in its leadership drinks alcohol. After members experience "the force we feel from the tea, we all bid goodbye to it," he said. "Nobody is intoxicated."

Bixby said he has also explored other locations for a temple site. Bronfman attended Thursday's hearing but did not speak publicly. Both Bixby and Bronfman declined comment after the meeting. The proposal for the temple has yet to be scheduled for a hearing before the Development Review Committee or the Santa Fe County Commission.

THE LAW AND USE OF RITUAL TEA

May 21, 1999 — Federal agents raid Jeffrey Bronfman and the office of the organization, known as O Centro Espirita Beneficiente União do Vegetal at 176 Valley Drive in Santa Fe. They confiscated 30 gallons of tea that had been sent from Brazil, but made no arrests and never charged anyone.

Nov. 21, 2000 — Bronfman and UDV file a complaint in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, alleging that the government had violated its members rights under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the First, Fourth, Fifth and 14th Amendments to the Constitution, as well as international law and treaties because hoasca is legal for religious purposes in Brazil.

October 2001 — A trial begins before U.S. District Judge James Parker. UDV lawyers say hoasca holds the same significance to UDV members as peyote does for members of the Native American Church. Bronfman testifies that the seizure of the team has harmed "the core of my being."

August 2002 — Parker rules that UDV qualifies for a religious exemption to use hoasca and enjoins the government from further seizures. But U.S. Justice Department and UDV continue to disagree over how the tea is to be regulated. Government, which appeals, wants to monitor the amount given to each person. UDV does not want government involved in rituals.

November 2004 — 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upholds Parker's decision and allows his injunction against the government to stand. UDV lawyers say their clients are free to begin importing and using hoasca again. Government appeals to U.S. Supreme Court, which declines to stop the injunction. Bush administration asks the Supreme Court for a full hearing.

November 2005 — Supreme Court hears the case — the first involving religion under Chief Justice John Roberts. Outgoing Justice Sandra Day O'Connor appears skeptical of government arguments that the tea could be dangerous. Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the decision upholding the Native American Church's use of peyote, suggests the special use allowed the Indian church proves "you can make an exception without the sky falling."

February 2006 — High court unanimously strikes down the government's arguments, upholding both the district and appellate courts. Justice Roberts writes that the government had not shown that UDV's use of hoasca violates federal narcotics laws and "did not even submit evidence addressing the international consequences of granting an exemption."

Soucres: The New Mexican and wire services