How to fix Iowa’s “worst in the nation” medical cannabis law
How to fix Iowa’s “worst in the nation” medical cannabis law
Here’s what I said at the first meeting of the Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board on August 3, 2018. Here are my suggestions and my conclusion:
Here are four things the board should recommend to the legislature prior to the start of the 2019 session of the Iowa Legislature.
One. Remove the restriction on THC content in medical cannabis that will be available to Iowans. Iowa is the only state with a comprehensive program that restricts patient access to all the benefits of the entire cannabis plants.
THC provides therapeutic benefits necessary to treat most of the medical conditions approved in Iowa. Without abolishing the THC limitation patients will simply be wasting their money on a medicine that won’t help them.
Two. Recommend more debilitating medical conditions to be included in the program. Iowa law is again unnecessarily restrictive. Iowans suffer from many, many conditions that could be benefitted by having access to medical cannabis. There is no state interest served by forcing Iowans to break the law or move out of the state to get the medical care they need. Please recommend more medical conditions.
Three. Patients need more convenient access to medical cannabis.
Having only five medical cannabis dispensary locations in the entire state is woefully inadequate. There are more than 800 pharmacies in Iowa. Sick patients will find it difficult and costly to travel long distances to get the medicine they need. The Board should recommend at least 15-20 more dispensary locations.
Four. Patients need affordable medical cannabis. This is a cash program. There is no private insurance coverage, no Medicaid or Medicare coverage to help patients pay for this medicine. Many patients will be unable to afford access to the new medicine.
The most cost effective form of medical cannabis is the actual flower from the plant. I encourage the board to reconsider its opposition to allowing patients to have access to plant’s flower material. This is most cost effective form of medical cannabis. Patients want access to plant flowers. It should be available to Iowa patients like it is today to millions of American in 28 other medical cannabis state.
As I said, you really have your work cut out for you.
Iowa voters also have their work cut out for them. That’s because the legislature and governor have the sole authority to fix this program.
If Iowans are going to fix Iowa broken law we need to fix the legislature. In November, it’s time for folks to stand up and pay attention to this issue.
Let me conclude by saying thank you for your service. You have a big job ahead. I look forward to working with you and other members of the General Assembly and making our program help the folks that need it.
Thank you.
the Des Moines police officer Mike, can’t remember his last name, told me to take my issue up with Joe Bolkcom. I told him that Governor Reynolds still refuses to return his calls or urbandale pharmacist John Forbes calls. He stared at his shoes in response.
the board doesn’t pay attention and they’re taking a 1990s stance on "marihuana." one of the board members couldn’t keep his head up and was asleep for a majority of the meeting. all the others were intent on staring at their shoes, a classic move that they all default to. It was painful to be there today. They didn’t listen to one patient and there were petitions to add and change for the better and those people only got 5 minutes to speak and it was consecutive "no" round table. They don’t even think for themselves they just say whatever the previous person said and they take nodding as an answer. It’s really sloppily done and no one listens. None of them had microphones and I couldn’t hear what they were saying. They were busy stuffing their faces with lunch while no one else was allowed to eat and they just focused on their meals instead of the petitions. I can’t believe Iowa has to deal with Kim Reynolds electing around table of OLD goober people that still call medical cannabis pot or marihuana.