The IRS Attacks Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Before we all partake of the high holiday of 4/20, there is another annual event that isn’t so joyous to stoners – or anyone else for that matter – Tax Day. Sure it’s extended three days this year until April 18, but it’s coming just the same. But at least when you pay your taxes, you expect the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to play fair. However, when it comes to the federal government’s war on medical marijuana, the IRS’s latest tactic could land a deathblow to medi-pot dispensaries across the USA.

As reported in March by The American Independent, at least 12 dispensaries in California were audited by the IRS based on the decision that past dispensary business deductions were invalid due to a clause in the federal tax code that prohibits businesses trafficking in Schedule I or II drugs from making tax deductions.

Marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug according to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), meaning it has no accepted medical use in treatment – despite the fact that the Feds annually provide medical marijuana to a select group of patients and certain government agencies have endorsed medicinal cannabis just in the last year.