# Ep. 174 - Andrew Michaels - Ayahuasca and Religious Freedom

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-universe-within-podcast-1273864/ep-174-andrew-michaels-ayahuasca-and-religious-freedom
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-universe-within-podcast-1273864/ep-174-andrew-michaels-ayahuasca-and-religious-freedom.md
Podcast: [The Universe Within Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-universe-within-podcast-1273864)
Published: 2025-11-13T13:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://jasongrechanik.com/podcast/andrew-michaels
Audio file: https://pdcn.co/e/static1.squarespace.com/static/56796d68841abae3f5e4fae3/t/691082d7d0e3181fe9257999/1762690323780/Template%281%29.MP3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-universe-within-podcast-1273864/episodes/ep-174-andrew-michaels-ayahuasca-and-religious-freedom
Duration seconds: 6247

## Resource

Hey everybody! Episode 174 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Andrew Michaels. I got to know Andrew when he came and worked with us. He’s an interesting guy with an interesting story. He is a lawyer by trade and recently released and will publish a paper entitled Ayahuasca and Religious Freedom. This is an important and prescient topic as ayahuasca is being brought to and worked with in the United States. Currently it is illegal and classified as a Schedule 1 drug. However there is now case law and precedent of groups attaining religious exemption under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. We spoke about this process, the case history, why it important, some of the potential drawbacks, and his outlook moving forward. It was a really interesting conversation and I hope you all enjoy it. As always, to support this podcast, get early access to shows, bonus material, and Q&As, check out my Patreon page below. Enjoy! This episode is sponsored by Real Mushrooms. As listeners, visit their website to enjoy a discount of 25% off your first order: https://www.realmushrooms.com/universe To learn more about or contact Sam, visit his websites at: https://lawayra.com To learn more about our work, visit our website: https://NicotianaRustica.org To view the recent documentary, Sacred Tobacco, about my work, visit: https://youtu.be/KB0JEQALI_w I will be guiding our next plant medicine dietas with my colleague Merav Artzi (who I interviewed in episode 28) in: September 1-8, 2026: Remote Online Dieta November 2-30, 2026: Sacred Valley of Peru If you would like more information about joining us and the work I do or about future retreats, visit my site at: https://NicotianaRustica.org Integration/Consultation call: https://jasongrechanik.setmore.com Patreon: https://pa…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-universe-within-podcast-1273864/episodes/ep-174-andrew-michaels-ayahuasca-and-religious-freedom/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-universe-within-podcast-1273864/ep-174-andrew-michaels-ayahuasca-and-religious-freedom.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.