STRAIGHT OUT OF THE GATE: Religious Freedom Restoration Act fails to protect religious freedom

In the first test of the new­ly enact­ed Reli­gious Free­dom Restora­tion Act (RFRA), an Iowa dis­trict court has reject­ed a claim that the statu­to­ry exemp­tion for the reli­gious use of pey­ote vio­lates both reli­gious free­dom and estab­lish­ment of reli­gion.  2024 Iowa Acts chap­ter 1003 (April 2, 2024).

The case was filed by Carl Olsen in 2023 before the RFRA had been enact­ed in 2024.  Olsen’s church uses cannabis for com­mu­nion.  Carl Olsen v. Iowa Depart­ment of Inspec­tions, Appeals, and Licens­ing, Case No. CVCV066477, Rul­ing on Peti­tion, Decem­ber 4, 2024.  Olsen added the RFRA claim at a pre­lim­i­nary hear­ing in the case on May 10, 2024.

When the reli­gious use of pey­ote was added to the Iowa Code in 1967, cannabis was still con­sid­ered a crime in all 50 states.  Since that time, 48 states have accept­ed cannabis as a med­i­cine, and Iowa enact­ed a law this year allow­ing delta-9-THC (the psy­choac­tive com­po­nent of cannabis) to be sold in Iowa gro­cery stores.  2024 Iowa Acts chap­ter 1176 (May 17, 2024).

Doc­u­ments in the case can be found at: https://carl-olsen.com/rfra/olsen-iowa-rules.html