Beyond religious freedom: Psychedelics and cognitive liberty

This chapter will examine the blurred boundaries between the sacred and the secular when it comes to psychedelic experiences, and the inevitable ensuing arbitrariness involved in protecting some such rituals and not others. It will put forth the argument that there is a need to move beyond simply seeking exemptions from drug prohibition in the name of religious freedom; rather, there should be a broader right to ingest psychedelics as an aspect of cognitive liberty. Cognitive liberty is the right to control one's own consciousness. It is a concept that equates to freedom of thought, a right protected internationally by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and enforceable in Europe through Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights.