Ayahuasca-Using Church’s Tax Status Claim Faces Skeptical Court

An Iowa church that used a psychedelic drug in its sacrament faced an uphill battle Monday trying to convince a federal appeals panel that it remains entitled to a tax exemption as a religious organization.

The IRS denied tax exempt status to the Iowaska Church of Healing, whose members consume the Sacrament of Ayahuasca, a tea containing the Schedule I hallucinogen dimethyltryptamine, as part of their religious practice. ICH appealed after a federal district court agreed with the government that the church couldn’t be tax exempt because its practices likely violated the Controlled Substances Act.

There’s “no question” that the ...