reasoning of the new IRS memo, the logic in CHAMP and similar decisions may be of little avail to dispensaries subject to scathing audits.

Both CHAMP and the new memo revolve around the language of Internal Revenue Code section 280E, which mandates an explicit double standard for taxing US businesses: while practically every other American business is allowed to deduct ordinary expenses like rent and utilities when calculating their taxable income, “traffickers” in a Schedule I or Schedule II substance (including cannabis) are disallowed from deducting those same expenses. The result is that many state-legal medical cannabis collectives, like CHAMP, were taxed on much more income than they actually took in after accounting for basic operating expenses, which led to crippling tax bills so high that many claimed theySen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., talks with reporters in Washington, DC on January 22. On Wednesday, Flake said he would vote against confirming Gina Haspel as CIA chief. File Photo by Erin Schaff/UPI | License Photo

The Senate confirmed the nomination of Gina Haspel to be the director of the CIA, with at least five Democrats supporting her nomination. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

May 17 (UPI) -- The Senate on Thursday confirmed Gina Haspel to be director of the CIA, ending weeks of speculation over whether her past role in using torture as an interrogation technique would derail her nomination to become the first woman overseeing the agency.

Though three Republicans signaled they wouldn't vote for Haspel, some last-minute lobbying by former CIA directors John Brennan and Leon Panetta