MMJ patients in Iowa receieved a glimmer of light thanks to local politicians.
Iowa lawmakers struck a last-minute deal early Saturday morning to expand the state’s limited medical cannabis program, approving legislation that would allow marijuana to be grown in Iowa and dispensed as an oil to seriously ill patients.
“There are sick Iowans out there that need relief, bottom line,” said the bill’s floor manager, Rep. Jarad Klein, R-Keota.
The legislation, unveiled in the Iowa House about 3 a.m. and given final approval by the Senate at 7 a.m., was among the final bills passed by the General Assembly before lawmakers officially adjourned for the year.
Iowans currently are allowed to possess cannabis oil for the treatment of epilepsy. But it’s illegal to manufacture or distribute that oil in the state, and federal law prohibits its transportation across state lines. In practice, that makes it illegal for Iowans to obtain the product.
If approved by the governor, House File 524 would require growing, manufacturing and distributing companies to submit proposals to the state, and it would allow the Department of Public Health to approve up to two manufacturers and up to five distributors for operation. Those companies could only produce and sell cannabis oil with a tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, content of up to 3 percent. THC is the psychoactive component of cannabis.
The bill also would expand access to the product to patients who have been diagnosed by an Iowa-licensed physician with Parkinson’s disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis, seizures, AIDS and HIV, Crohn’s disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, as well as most terminal illnesses that have a life expectancy of less than one year and untreatable pain.
A new Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board would be established within the Department of Public Health to recommend adding or removing conditions from that list to the Iowa Board of Medicine. That board also could issue a recommendation to the Legislature to raise the 3 percent cap on the THC limits if necessary.
