Pharmacy Board Sends Medical Marijuana to Legislature

So the Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted 6-0 today to recommend that marijuana be reclassified to potentially allow its medical use. That recommendation goes to the Legislature, which has the final call. The board asked lawmakers to set up a task force to study the issue.

The Gazette and The Register have coverage.

From Charlotte Eby's Gazette story:

The board, made up of pharmacists and private citizens, brought up a number of practical concerns about allowing medical marijuana. Those concerns included not being able to control dosages and the potential for abuse, as well as problems distributing it.

But ultimately, they voted 6-0 to recommend the change.

Marijuana currently is classified as a Schedule 1 drug. That classification is for drugs that have no proven or medical use and a high potential for abuse and are authorized for research only. The board is recommending it be reclassified as a Schedule 2 drug, which means it can have a high potential for abuse but has accepted medical uses for treatment.

I was a little surprised, given the board's initial resistance. It took a court order to prod the board to start a review that ended with this vote.

I'd like to think that members listened to Iowans with serious medical conditions who trooped to public hearings around the state to tell stories of how marijuana  eased their suffering. I'm sure public input was a factor. Board members had to be affected by that testimony.

I know I was when I went to a hearing in Iowa City.

But knowing how this stuff usually works, I also think the board saw a chance to toss an emotional controversy into the lawmakers' lap and took it.

Smart.

Other than setting up the task force, I doubt the issue sees much legislative action. A couple of medical marijuana bills missed a self-imposed funnel deadline last week. Democrats have told plenty of folks that their issues will have to wait amid budget woes. 

Clearly, there are exceptions to the budget-only drumbeat, but I don't think medical marijuana will be one.

Oh, yeah, and it's an election year, which is hardly the time to take up campaign-brochure issues that go zero to soft-on-crime in 4.2 seconds. After all, this is a Legislature that's been frightened for years of industrial hemp.

But I think, in the long run, this will happen.

Iowans, under a tightly controlled set of laws, will be able to access marijuana to help them deal with illnesses. Doctors who already have the power to prescribe all sorts of powerful, toxic medications, will add weed to the tool box. Being sick won't mean being a criminal.

And the world will not end. We will not become California. Pella and Orange City will not become Amsterdam.

The

Iowa Poll this week showed that 64 percent of Iowans surveyed think medical marijuana use is OK. That support has probably risen in recent years. Eventually, legislative support will follow. The board made the right call today.