The faces of suffering Iowa families seem to be the difference for
Iowa legislators struggling to comprehend something those families
already have figured out.
Medicinal marijuana – just like
medicinal opiates, barbiturates, cocaine, amphetamines and alcohol – can
have therapeutic benefits that have nothing to do with intoxication or
black market deals. Iowa’s Democrat-controlled Senate finally said yes
to an extremely limited bill permitting possession of a marijuana oil
extract these families say can relieve some symptoms of epilepsy and
some other ailments.
We featured some of those families in Times
reporter Brian Wellner’s Dec. 15 stories. Without those stories, many
lawmakers couldn’t shake the notion that medical marijuana users were
simply dopers looking for legal high.
What some lawmakers learned
in those stories and subsequent hearings in Des Moines is that medicinal
marijuana is helping epileptic children, post-traumatic stressed
veterans and others with muscular or nerve disorders. We hope they’re
learning that lawmakers’ marijuana myopia is harming Iowans seeking help, not a high.
Quad-City
state Sen. Roby Smith was among the Republicans who opposed the bill in
the Senate committee. Among the concerns raised in committee and full
Senate debate:
• Iowans still might have to travel out of state to obtain the oil extract, perhaps subjecting them to arrest elsewhere.
• The federal Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve marijuana oil extract.
• Other states have passed medicinal marijuana laws that make prescriptions and purchases possible for almost any condition.
The concerns are surprising, considering the sources.
The oil is readily available online.
Aligning Iowa laws with other states rarely has been a Republican
priority. This specific marijuana oil legislation is unlike medicinal
marijuana laws anywhere.
FDA approval hasn’t stopped Iowa use and
purchase of literally hundreds of homeopathic and over-the-counter
remedies widely available at Walgreens, CVS and elsewhere. Vitamin
supplements, skin care ointments and energy drinks are just a fraction of the products Iowans use with neither FDA approval nor a state legislative ban.
Yet,
Iowa Republican lawmakers seem to be saying that only approval by
government agencies can legitimize this specific marijuana extract.
That’s
where the faces become important. In addition to the Iowans featured in
Wellner’s story, lawmakers heard from Republican West Des Moines Mayor
Steve Gaer, his wife Sally, and their 24-year-old daughter Margaret, who
has Dravet syndrome, a form of epilepsy. Faced with emotional pleas
from another Republican elected official, some lawmakers are beginning
to comprehend that government bureaucracy impedes relief.
At this
late date in the legislative session, the easy route for lawmakers would
be to surrender to government bureaucracy by deferring authority to the
FDA or other agencies.
We encourage lawmakers to instead look at
those faces. Then look at Iowa statutes. The state manages to regulate
all kinds of medicinal substances that can be abused for intoxication.
In fact, Iowa manages, regulates and owns lock, stock and barrel the
entire wholesale distribution alcohol business that delivers every drop
of hard liquor to Iowans.
Surely this legislature can support a bill that provides heavily regulated relief to Iowa families who are asking for it.
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