Ian Benouis, Esq.
Entheogenic Church Formation Attorney; Co-Founder, Church of Psilomethoxin
West Point grad. Former Blackhawk pilot. Co-founded 60+ entheogenic churches — the largest church-formation practice in the country.
Biography
Ian Benouis, Esq. is a West Point graduate, former U.S. Army Blackhawk pilot, and combat veteran who has become the most prolific entheogenic church-formation attorney in the United States. With law partner Greg Lake, he has founded over 60 entheogenic churches in the U.S. — by far the largest church-formation practice in the country. These include an ONAC chapter and a U.S. Santo Daime chapter linked to a Brazilian government-approved church.
Benouis was 'Patient Number One' at Mission Within, where he pioneered veteran treatment programs using iboga and 5-MeO-DMT in Mexico, and served as former General Counsel there. He has 30+ years of ethnobotany practice. He is featured in the documentary 'From Shock to Awe' and has been a panelist at MAPS Psychedelic Science (2018) and the World Bufo Alvarius Congress (2019).
His RFRA expertise — combined with the 508(c)(1)(a) tax designation strategy he and Lake have refined — is the legal backbone of dozens of psilocybin and psychoactive sacrament churches across the country.
Organizations
Why They Matter to the LearnShrooms Community
If you're founding an entheogenic church in the United States, there's a good chance Benouis or Lake's legal templates are the foundation of what you're building. The 60+ churches they've helped create are the institutional backbone of the U.S. sacramental psilocybin movement.
Legal Context
For the legal landscape where Ian Benouis, Esq. operates, see psilocybin laws in Texas.