DES MOINES (AP) — State drug regulators will begin hearing from the public this week as they gather scientific information in deciding whether to legalize the use of marijuana for medical treatment.
The Iowa Pharmacy Board plans to examine current science and medical findings and hear testimony from doctors and patients. It also will review federal and state drug laws, including those in states that allow marijuana use for medical treatment, said Lloyd Jessen, the board's executive director.
The board has scheduled four public hearings: Wednesday in Des Moines; Sept. 2 in Mason City; Oct. 7 in Iowa City; and Nov. 4 in Council Bluffs.
“There is a lot of interest,” Jessen said. “We are hearing from a lot of people both for the idea and against it.”
He notes that the board doesn't have the power to legalize marijuana for medical use, but it could suggest that lawmakers move marijuana to the Schedule II category for drugs that have accepted medical uses in the United States.
The board's findings would be a recommendation to the Legislature on how the drug should be treated. Lawmakers would have to pass a new law or approve new administrative rules to legalize medical marijuana.
“Most of the legislators are glad (the review) is occurring and interested in seeing what results we come up with,” Jessen said.
The review comes after the pharmacy board last month again rejected a petition to reclassify marijuana. A Polk County judge ordered the board in April to reconsider the petition to remove marijuana as a Schedule I drug under the Iowa Uniform Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I drugs have no safe medical use within the United States and are a high risk for abuse.
Carl Olsen of Iowans for Medical Marijuana filed the petition. He said marijuana no longer meets that Schedule I definition because more than a dozen other states allow medical use of the drug.
The Pharmacy Board said the drug would have to be used for treatment in all states for Iowa to reclassify it. However, it agreed to a scientific review and to accept public comment on the drug's use.
Olsen expects a large turnout at the hearings and “quite a lot” of information to be submitted by medical marijuana proponents from across the country. He praised the board for its scientific review.
“They are looking for people who say they need this,” Olsen said.
Dr. Alan Koslow, a Des Moines-area vascular surgeon, plans to speak at Wednesday's meeting in support of medical marijuana.
When he sends his patients to a pain specialist, he said they are essentially disabled “not because of the pain, but because of the medication they receive for the pain treatment.” He added that patients who have obtained marijuana on their own often have been able to stop taking narcotics and antidepressants and have returned to work.
Marijuana “is much more effective in coping with the pain and at the same time, it is safer,” he said.
Dale Woolery of the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy said his office doesn't plan to offer oral testimony at the hearings but will submit a written statement. The office's stance, according to its Web site, is that science so far doesn't support using marijuana as medicine.
“Unless, or until, the consensus of medical evidence changes, ODCP opposes any proposal to legalize marijuana smoking for medical purposes,” the Web site says.
Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, presented a bill to legalize medical marijuana that stalled during the last legislative session. He plans to introduce new legislation next session.
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