News News Hit - Iowa Board Ignores Drug Czar, Recommends Medical Pot

[Stoney McFried]

by Mike Hughes
Wed, Feb 17, 2010 5:29 pm
more: headline news, news hit, medical marijuana, medical news, drug czar


• You may recall that back in November, the drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, happened to surface in Iowa as the state’s pharmacy board was holding hearings on medical marijuana. Gil didn’t make an official drug czar recommendation to the board, however, he made sure to try and frighten Iowans out of any potential medical marijuana policy by invoking the abject misery in which Californians have lived since legalizing cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Fortunately, Gil’s message didn’t register. Today the Iowa pharmacy board unanimously voted to recommend that marijuana be reclassified so that it could be prescribed to patients as medicine. Perhaps just as noteworthy, a recent Des Moines Register poll found that 64 percent of Iowans are in favor of medical cannabis. …More @ desmoinesregister.com

• The University of California’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research has been conducting state funded studies of marijuana as medicine for the past decade. Seriously. They’ve been around since 2000. Today, researchers announced the existence of scientific evidence supporting pot as an effective medication for treating conditions associated with HIV and MS. Because of “funding and legal issues” the study did not include the many other conditions that anecdotal evidence suggests marijuana is helpful in treating. …More @ mercurynews.com

• If an officer catches you with pot and it turns out you’re wanted by the sheriff’s department, explaining to cops that you were smoking to celebrate the end of your probation likely isn’t going to help. …More @ sheboyganpress.com

 

[Stoney McFried]

Feb-17-2010 15:37 Iowa Board of Pharmacy Recommends Making Marijuana a Schedule II Drug

Salem-News.com State board votes 6-0 in favor of reclassifying marijuana for medical use and establishing a legislative task force to implement the change.

​

Courtesy: medicalpot.net​

(DES MOINES, Iowa) - Today, the Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted 6-0 to recommend to state lawmakers that marijuana be reclassified as a Schedule II drug and that a state task force be established to study how a medical marijuana law could be implemented in Iowa. Marijuana is currently classified on the federal level as a Schedule I drug, alongside much more harmful substances such as heroin and LSD, as having no proven medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule II drugs have accepted medical uses for treatment.
The recommendation comes after the board held four hearings last year to receive public input on the issue. Dozens of doctors, patients, researchers, and advocates testified before the board, and nearly all comments were supportive of medical marijuana. The Iowa House and Senate are each considering bills that would protect from arrest chronically ill patients who use marijuana to alleviate their conditions, though the bills missed the funnel deadline and will not be enacted this year.
“This vote sends a clear message to Iowa lawmakers that they should, as soon as possible, pass legislation that would give chronically ill patients who could benefit from medical marijuana safe and legal access to their medicine,” said Noah Mamber, a legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project, who testified during the Board’s hearings last year. “The recognition of marijuana as medicine in Iowa is a huge step. But for patients’ lives to improve, the legislature must also provide protections from arrest, as 14 other states have already done.”
“This is a great step forward for seriously ill Iowans who can benefit from medical marijuana,” said state Sen. Tom Courtney (D-Burlington). “Several years ago, my wife passed away from cancer. Marinol pills gave her some relief, but it would have been so much better if she had had legal access to marijuana.”
A Des Moines Register poll released yesterday found that 64% of Iowans support patients’ use of medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation. Fourteen other states, including most recently New Jersey and Michigan, have passed medical marijuana laws, and nearly a dozen others, including Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, are considering such legislation. In Iowa, the legislature is considering S.F. 293, sponsored by Sen. Joe Bolkcom, and H.F. 2179, sponsored by Rep. Mary Mascher.
==============================================
Source: The Marijuana Policy Project, the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol.

 

[MacGuyver4.2.0]

Today, researchers announced the existence of scientific evidence supporting pot as an effective medication for treating conditions associated with HIV and MS.

Always good to hear GOOD NEWS.
My spouse has lived with MS for some 12 years now (still going though)

I think it's HIGH time we kicked the big pharmas and the FEDS in the NUTS and tell em "We don't buy your lies any longer" You might want to take some pain killers for that kick in the nuts, though...

 

[cooknsmoke]

let me also add that this is one of the first of its kind in the nation that a Board of Pharmacy has recommended its use of medical marijuana... this could pave way for easier research and restrictions as other state follow to become mmp states..

 

[Stoney McFried]

I agree.Let people medicate the way they choose.Next we need to legalize.

Always good to hear GOOD NEWS.
My spouse has lived with MS for some 12 years now (still going though)

I think it's HIGH time we kicked the big pharmas and the FEDS in the NUTS and tell em "We don't buy your lies any longer" You might want to take some pain killers for that kick in the nuts, though...

That's interesting, I didn't know that.Maybe Iowa isn't so backwards after all.Now, if only we could get rid of Grassley...

let me also add that this is one of the first of its kind in the nation that a Board of Pharmacy has recommended its use of medical marijuana... this could pave way for easier research and restrictions as other state follow to become mmp states..

 

[one11]

the world is unfolding as it should

 

[cooknsmoke]

That's interesting, I didn't know that.Maybe Iowa isn't so backwards after all.Now, if only we could get rid of Grassley...[/QUOTE]

Senator Grassley is very popular in Iowa and there isn't a real contender either from republican or democrat that can go toe to toe with this conservative vetervan... the only way he is going to be gone is from death or early retirement...

 

[Stoney McFried]

Well, we can always hope.He's got backwards views on marijuana from misinformation packets they passed out 20+ years ago.




Grassley not sold on medical marijuana

By Jason Hancock 2/18/10 4:00 PM
If marijuana is legalized for medicinal purposes, the decision should be made at the federal level, not by state government, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Thursday on a conference call with reporters.
The Hawkeye State Republican was responding to the decision Wednesday by the Iowa Board of Pharmacy to recommend marijuana be switched from a Schedule I narcotic to a Schedule II, a move that would legally recognize it has a medical use.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (Photo: Lauren Victoria Burke/WDCPIX.com)

“Quite frankly, I would not support that move until I had indication from [Federal Drug Administration], both from the standpoint of effectiveness and from the standpoint of safety, because I think when you talk about using certain products for health purposes, for medicinal purposes, I think the safety and efficacy standard set by the FDA is the one that ought to be used,” he said.
Grassley has long been a critic of medicinal marijuana. In the aftermath of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement that federal authorities would no longer interfere with states implementing medical marijuana laws, Grassley said it would bring a “certain amount of legitimacy to an illegal drug,” and that “most of the marijuana that flows into the United States comes from the drug lords.”
Thursday, Grassley continued along that line, saying there is no evidence that marijuana has medicinal uses.
“And so far I have only had ad hoc instances and evidences of marijuana helping people with health problems,” he said. “And I believe that you need to be very cautious as you move forward because I believe that marijuana’s a gateway for harder drugs.”
But in fact, a clinical trial on the medical efficacy of marijuana released Wednesday found that it helps relieve pain and muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis and certain neurological conditions. The study, conducted by the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, involved five separate clinical trials.

Senator Grassley is very popular in Iowa and there isn't a real contender either from republican or democrat that can go toe to toe with this conservative vetervan... the only way he is going to be gone is from death or early retirement...

 

[cooknsmoke]

nice post stoney... i like it how you have the picture of the senator pointing his finger..hehehe... makes him look like the bad guy!.. ... hopefully in the end when they do pass the mmp laws that it will be more relaxed and different than other neighboring states (ie michigan)...keep us all posted!!!

 

[Stoney McFried]

I certainly will.If they pass it, you'll prolly meet my ass at the dispensary.

nice post stoney... i like it how you have the picture of the senator pointing his finger..hehehe... makes him look like the bad guy!.. ... hopefully in the end when they do pass the mmp laws that it will be more relaxed and different than other neighboring states (ie michigan)...keep us all posted!!!