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The arrest in December of a 70-year-old Somerset West woman who had been offering psilocybin - known also as sacred mushrooms - during spiritual growth sessions involving hundreds of people over the past five years has highlighted the ongoing question of the illegal use of psychoactive sacraments in religious and traditional rituals or for personal adult consumption.

A current constitutional court challenge by the 'dagga couple', Julian Stobbs and Myrtle Clarke, might help her case. By MARIANNE THAMM.

For the past five years in her home, located only three blocks from the Somerset West police station, the 70-year-old Monica Cromhout has openly hosted SOMA ceremonies - where a small quantity of the hallucinogenic psilocybin found in mushrooms - is ingested by participants, some of whom make the journey from overseas - hoping to find healing and spiritual enlightenment.

On the night of 20 December 2014, Cromhout hosted one such session at The Healing House, as Monica's home is known. The house is surrounded by an unfenced verdant garden with pathways, a tree house for those who wish to stargaze, as well as a ceremony room lined with comfortable cushions for reclining. Those attending usually do so by invitation or through ...

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South Africa: The Ongoing Challenge to Decriminalise Marijuana and Other Sacramental Substances