That’s what my friend says about hoasca (also known as ayahuasca), the hallucinogenic tea that just got a freedom of religion stamp of approval from the Supreme Court.

When we drink too much vodka, we assume the vomiting comes from the fact that we’re poisoning ourselves, but the ayahuasca ceremony apparently demands a certain “no pain, no gain” ethic. And for some reason (we’re a bunch of over-privileged Americans with too much time on our hands?) ayahuasca has taken off here in Paonia.

Unfortunately the Supreme Court’s ruling of religious tolerance comes too late for most of my barf-bucket enlightenment friends: Twelve of them just flew down to South America to do the ayahuasca ceremony in a country where they can’t speak the language.

Call me crazy, but gut-wrenching vomit spasms in a foreign land is something I normally try to avoid.