A church whose members’ sincerely-held religious belief involves the consumption of a controlled drug is not entitled to 501(c)(3) charitable exemption without having received a waiver from the Drug Enforcement Agency permitting the use of the drug, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled. It has affirmed the decision of the Internal Revenue Service and the trial court denying exemption. The Iowaska Church of Healing uses Ayahuasca, a tea containing the hallucinogenic drug dimethyltryptamine which is regulated by the federal government under the Controlled Substances Act, as part of its religious ceremonies. It applied for charitable exemption as a church from the IRS...