Panel proposes Iowa grow, process and dispense medical marijuana

DES MOINES - A legislative study panel Thursday recommended Iowa lawmakers develop a program next session to produce, process and dispense medical marijuana to address shortcomings in a new state law regarding access and standards to cannabis oil.

The 10-member committee of House and Senate members also called for the federal government and Iowa's Board of Pharmacy to consider reclassifying marijuana as a scheduled II controlled substance that would lessen criminal penalties and allow doctors to prescribe marijuana-derived medications.

However, House Republicans on the Legislature's Cannabidiol Implementation Study Committee balked at proposal to expand provisions of a state law granting legal protection for Iowans authorized to possess cannabis oil for medical use to treat or alleviate symptoms of intractable epilepsy to a longer list of chronic illnesses. They did join in unanimously supporting a call for the Legislature to explore ways to expand Iowans' access to cannabis oil products that have reliable standards for dosage and quality and can be legally attained without violating federal or other states' laws.

Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, said he left the Capitol in May thinking the split-control Legislature and Gov. Terry Branstad had made 'a giant step forward” by enacting a law which granted special legal protections for permanent Iowa residents at least 18 years of age with a written recommendation from a neurologist to possess and/or use cannabidiol as a medical treatment to alleviate symptoms of intractable epilepsy, if there are no other satisfactory treatment options.

But after hearing testimony Thursday from parents still waiting for elements of the law to be worked out and running into obstacles of access, quality and affordability, Dotzler said 'it's clear to me that giant step forward was more of a side step” in a process that will need to be revisited in the 2015 session.

Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, who co-chaired the panel and proposed as a solution that medical marijuana be grown, processed and dispensed in Iowa, said Iowa's law 'needs some more tinkering to make sure that the families that hope to benefit their suffering children actually get the benefit.”

However, Sen. Charles Schneider, R-West Des Moines, one of the architects of the new law, sounded a note of caution Thursday, saying lawmakers only heard one side of the equation and needed more input in how best to address the deficiencies before expanding what's currently in place.

'I'm really just focused on the bill that we passed, not any kind of broader expansion of what we're doing,” he said. 'Let's see how it goes, let's see what the federal government does and just proceed with caution.”

Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, who voted with the majority after the motion was amended to bar any government taxation of medical marijuana grown, processed or dispensed in Iowa, said he did not expect the recommendation would move beyond the committee room.

'I don't think the Legislature will act on that any time soon,” said Baudler, who noted that any program envisioned by the committee would take at least two years to get in place and would cost 'mega-money.”

'We've got a law in front of us that we worked on awfully hard and I still think it can work,” he said.

'Many of us in the House and Senate have come a long ways on this bill,” Baudler added. 'I think we are looking at results. We want to see some results from what we've done before we jump out of the boat and try to swim in waters unknown.”

For much of the day legislators heard often-emotional accounts from parents of epileptic children and Iowans suffering from chronic illnesses who talked about relief that has been provided by cannabis oil or the stress and distress they've encountered trying to access a product that is expensive and only available in a limited number of places due to a host of legal hurdles.

Iowa 'drug czar” Steve Lukan, director of the Iowa Office of Drug Control Policy, said there are other issues like perceived risk, the effect of marijuana on developing brains and other considerations tied to a medical marijuana expansion that require a 'very cautious” and responsible approach.

'This is an unwise act the way it was passed,” said Dr. David Moore, a member of the Iowa Neurological Association who specializes in treating patients with epilepsy. He said about 3 percent of Iowa's 3 million people have epilepsy but only about 12,000 patients fall under the provisions for intractable epilepsy with seizure disorders that are difficult to treatment using standard medical procedures.

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