RETURN OF PEYOTE URGED : DRUG USED IN RELIGION, AMERICAN INDIANS TELL COURT.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Noontime prayer services featuring drumming and chanting at the Ventura County Government Center are daily reminders of the determination of two American Indians to reclaim peyote sitting in the sheriff's evidence room.

``All we want is to have our medicine and leave,'' said Paul Skyhorse Durant. ``We don't have time for this. We need to do things like save the world.''

Ventura County sheriff's deputies seized 250 pounds of peyote - a hallucinogen used in religious ceremonies by the Native American Church - during a Nov. 22 traffic stop. Durant and Buzz Berry, of Oregon, were arrested on suspicion of possessing peyote with intent to sell.

Judge Steven Hintz has set a hearing in Ventura Municipal Court for Tuesday on a motion by public defenders representing the men that seeks an order to release the peyote. Hintz also ordered sheriff's officials to ensure that the peyote is kept in refrigerated storage.

Angered by the delay, both Berry and Durant spoke out in court with Hintz patiently listening to their concerns Tuesday.

``I have committed no crimes and I would like to have my medicine back,'' said Berry, who noted that wood pipes, eagle feathers and other items also were confiscated. ``With these things, I pray for all people, I pray for all things.''

The men sought the judge's order to at least keep the peyote in refrigerated storage because they fear it will deteriorate.

``It's been almost three weeks to this day and we're very, very concerned about it,'' said Durant, visibly frustrated that prosecutors have not dropped the case.

``We have people waiting for us,'' he said. ``This is what we're asking for, our rights to religious freedom.''

Hintz ended the proceeding, saying, ``I'll be happy to vindicate your rights, but I'd like to do that in an orderly manner.''

The two men were released following their arrest last month and have not been charged. Yet they have been frustrated in efforts to reclaim the peyote they were transporting to Washington state for use as a sacrament in religious ceremonies. As church members, Durant and Berry contend that federal law allows them to have the peyote.

``That's criminal. They should be protecting our rights,'' said Berry, a member of the Siletz Nation.

Both men have been outspoken both in and out of Municipal Court this week, charging county authorities with violating their rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act signed into law by President Clinton three years ago.

``We stand on our right to be able to have the medicine,'' Durant, a member of the Ojibway Nation, said in court. ``We're not trying to challenge anybody. We only ask that the Sheriff's Department follow the law.''

The county District Attorney's Office has opposed returning the peyote because the case stemming from the traffic stop is still being investigated.

``There is no filing at this time. However, there is an ongoing legal investigation,'' Deputy District Attorney Bill Redmond said in court.

Sheriff's officials completed their investigation and recommended that charges be filed. Prosecutors and the courts must decide whether the men can legally possess the peyote, said Sgt. Arnie Aviles, who directs the sheriff's narcotics unit.

``We thought the case was a fileable case. We knew the religious freedom issue would come up and those are constitutional issues,'' Aviles said.

The public defenders representing the men contend that they are members in good standing in the Native American Church and therefore may use peyote for sacramental religious purposes.

Durant also has said he believes that county prosecutors are treating him unfairly because he and another man were acquitted in a 1978 murder trial.

Both Durant and Richard Mohawk were among a group of American Indian Movement followers who moved into Box Canyon, near Simi Valley, in the early 1970s. They were charged with the 1974 murder of George Aird, an Inglewood cab driver who sheriff's officials said was kidnapped and brought to the Box Canyon camp. Marvin Redshirt later admitted to stabbing Aird to death.

At a hearing before Hintz on Monday, Durant and Berry provided letters from church representatives that showed Durant is Ojibway and Berry is Siletz.

Durant and Berry purchased their peyote from a licensed grower in Texas and were transporting it in Berry's car to the Suquamish Nation in Washington.

Peyote is a perishable cactus that produces a small bud, or button, that is ingested. The men were transporting 10,000 buttons, or about 250 pounds.