Make marijuana a Schedule II drug

To the editor:

In March, three senators introduced a bill that would place marijuana as a Schedule II drug under the Controlled Substances Act.

I contacted our three Washington representatives asking them to support this bill. Joni Ernst did not reply, nothing; Rod Blum sent me a form letter; but true to form, Sen. Chuck Grassley and his people have been debating this issue with me loyally. Kudos to him and his staff. He doesn't support it and I think he is wrong. His letters made several points for my position including how marijuana-mimicking medications, like Marinol (synthetic THC) created by large pharmaceutical companies are approved by the FDA. Putting 'pot” on Schedule II with methamphetamine should be a no-brainer. Now listed on Schedule I no medical use and highly addictive, is disputed. We will never know for sure if proper, large scale testing is prohibited, as it is now on Schedule I.

I urge everyone to write Congress, tell them we want to know the truth and want testing done. As for me, I just some guy living in a small town in Iowa that would benefit from what I've heard about canabidiol (another extract) being available. Wouldn't it save billions of dollars each year if someday we could grow our own meds and not have to start our day with a handful of pills?

Dan Hollrah

Middle Amana