Oregon v Smith Supreme Court Ruling. Deals with the legality of the religious ingestion of peyote that is common amongst Native American tribes.

The Peyote Cactus has been the basis of the religion of a number of Indian tribes in North America. The small, turnip shaped cactus is considered to be a sacred medicine that, when taken as a sacrament, allows an individual to communicate with the Creator and obtain spiritual enlightenment. When ingested, peyote produces an altered state of consciousness that may cause users to experience a wide range of reactions, such as psychic manifestations. <…

…major problem concerning the courts. This radical change from past cases, such as Sherbert, where individuals were given unemployment benefits for jobs lost due to religious beliefs, completely altered the way that the courts would look at future cases that were concerned with such issues. Thus, if issues similar to Oregon v Smith were to arise again then they would most likely be dealt with in a similar manner as that case was dealt with.