Advocates for a bill that would set up state-sanctioned operations to grow marijuana, make cannabis oil and dispense it in Iowa were at the capitol in Des Moines, urging legislators to act. Carrie Anderson of Grimes has M.S.
The bill’s first draft calls on the University of Iowa’s School of Medicine to recommend a list of “debilitating medical conditions” for which cannabis oil could be prescribed and the legislature would have to approve the list. The pressure is on to act, since Iowa’s current law which decriminalized possession of cannabis oil for treatment of chronic epilepsy expires this summer. Sally Gaer of West Des Moines is among the mothers who successfully lobbied for the current law. Gaer’s 26-year-old Margaret has been taking cannabis oil since 2015.
Three legislators “signed off” on the bill (Wednesday), making it eligible for a vote in a House Committee. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have laws which allow some form of marijuana to be prescribed for treatment of medical conditions.
