Push for medical marijuana voiced in Iowa Senate despite bleak future

DES MOINES – Iowans battling chronic health issues appealed to a legislative panel Thursday to establish a system whereby they could legally access medical marijuana to help manage their pain.

Proponents urged Iowa lawmakers to join 17 other states that have some provisions for chronically ill patients to use marijuana for therapeutic purposes so they no longer will be regarded like criminals for seeking a treatment they testified provides them hard-to-find relief.

“I'm not a criminal. I'm not a drug user,” said Jimmy Morrison, leader of Iowa Patients for Medical Marijuana, who noted that he suffers from a bipolar disorder that would not be covered even if Senate File 266 were to pass the Legislature and get signed by Gov. Terry Branstad. “I've been turned into a criminal by our laws.”

Jeff Elton of Altoona told the two subcommittee members that he has run out of patient with the legislative inaction at the Statehouse and plans to move to Colorado or Oregon where he would be able to use medical marijuana inhaled through the help of a vaporizer to get relief from the nausea, vomiting, shakes and tremors associated with a paralyzed stomach condition.

“I don't want to leave but I gotta,” he said. “The only thing that helps is cannabis.”

“I highly encourage you to make this available,” he said, but added “I don't see in happening in Iowa.”

Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa, said there is a lot of interest in the legislation and he believed Iowans were ahead of lawmakers in supporting limited access to marijuana for therapeutic purposes but not recreational uses.

“The advocates have to talk to members all around the state and convince them that this makes sense,” Bolkcom said. “This bill provides an opportunity for them to come together and make their case.”

However, Bolkcom said it probably was unlikely S.F. 266 would clear the Senate Human Resources Committee next week before the March 4 deadline that sidelines policy bills from further consideration this session if they have not cleared at least one standing committee in the House or Senate. The measure would establish a medical marijuana act that would allow possession and use by qualifying patients that possessed a registry identification card and had been diagnosed by a physician with a debilitating medical condition that included cancer, glaucoma, hepatitis C, HIV, Crohn's disease and other maladies.

The bill would authorize the creation of nonprofit dispensaries that could acquire, possess, cultivate, manufacture, sell or dispense marijuana to qualifying patients.

Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, an outspoken critic of medical marijuana programs around the country that he believes are methods of gaining legal access to a popular recreational drug, said the issue would stall in the Republican-controlled House if it managed to win Senate approval.

“It's a waste of their time and paper,” said Baulder, a former state trooper who is chairman of the House Public Safety Committee. “Medical marijuana – not on my watch, never.”