Iowa

[Midnight toker]

Fight for Medical Marijuana

ABC TV
Sep 23, 2006 08:03 PM PDT


Des Moines, IA -- Central Iowans fighting to legalize marijuana spoke out in Des Moines on Saturday.

Their goal was to educate the public on why medical marijuana should be legal in Iowa. The crowd at the State Historical Building wasn't big, but everyone there felt passionately about the cause.

George McMahon was one of the speakers. He says he's one of only five people in the U.S. that receives medical marijuana from the federal government.

He says without it, he'd be dead.

"The pain instantly goes away," McMahon said. "The spasms quit within ten seconds and all the symptoms go to where they are manageable by me."

Right now only 11 state have legalized medical marijuana for medical use.

[Midnight toker]

Siouxland Woman Supports Medical Marijuana

CNN
September 23, 2006


A Siouxland woman has been using marijuana as medicine for the past 15 years. She says it's the only thing that keeps her disease in check.

Barbara Douglass relies on her power chair to feed the ducks on the lake and the birds in her backyard. 18 years ago she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Barbara soon turned to marijuana.

Douglass says "My funny is I do believe I arrested M.S. with marijuana. And there's something to that. because you're not supposed to have this. Well, you're not supposed to have M.S."

Barbara is the last person in the country the federal government approved to use medical marijuana. And she believes the drug has slowed down here symptoms.

Douglass says "A lot of really pronounced symptoms like the walking was worse. The balance was worse. "

She says there's only one minor drawback.

"The downside of the marijuana of smoking too much... you go to sleep. Well, that's a been in my disease. If you can rest enough to get some sleep the marijuana helps."

Now Barbara wants lawmakers to approve the use of marijuana as medicine, so that people like her can get the treatment they need.

"It is medicine. And they look at it as something to arrest kids for and that's not the point it is medicine. It's the only thing I use for the M.S."

While it's not a cure for M.S., Barbara says her prescription is what makes life livable.

Since 1990, there have been only five people in the U-S, including Douglass, approved to use marijuana as a prescription drug.



Updated: September 23, 2006, 11:48 pm

[palmspringsbum]

Man busted after carrying pot plants through town

Tuesday, September 26, 2006 12:29 PM CDT
By Associated Press
The Pantagraph.com

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Aaron Janssen apparently made it way too easy for police.

Janssen, 36, was arrested on marijuana charges Thursday after he was spotted taking a leisurely stroll through downtown, carrying his recently harvested pot plants, police said.

Polk County Chief Deputy Mark Burdock said he did a double-take when he looked out his office window at the county jail and saw Janssen walking down the sidewalk with the stalks.

"He was carrying it like you'd carry a bundle of presents. It was tall enough where he was looking over the top of them, and he's just walking like nothing's going on," Burdock said.

Burdock said he went outside and yelled at Janssen, who walked right over to him, still carrying the plants.

Janssen said the plants were part of his marijuana grown near the Des Moines River, but wouldn't say exactly where, Burdock said.

Deputies also found two two-pound bags of processed marijuana strapped to each of Janssen's legs, and a third wrapped in a sweater.

"He didn't seem intoxicated or anything of that nature," Burdock said. "He was just kind of proud of his grow."

Copyright © 2006, Pantagraph Publishing Co. All rights reserved.

[Midnight toker]

Life-saving abilities of marijuana going to pot


The Des Moines Register
September 27, 2006


I saw an article in the "American Association for Cancer Research" journal noting how "Cannabinoids Induce Apoptosis of Pancreatic Tumor Cells...," describing how THC-9 (the active chemical in marijuana) worked to kill cancer cells.

In fact, from my previous research on the subject, some 10 cancers have already been shown to be sensitive to treatment with cannabis products - most in studies from overseas, owing to the "drug-war" mentality in this country.

The first findings about how marijuana can cure cancer were in Virginia in 1974 (breast cancer was one of the first ones found treatable with marijuana) and the U.S. government did its best to keep this secret.

However, Abbott Labs, in Illinois, has produced a THC pill called Marinol, which can legally be prescribed and - based upon this new research article - should be put to work on pancreatic cancer (and breast cancer) now.

Isn't it time for more information to be circulated about how marijuana chemicals already can be put to work to stop cancer now, or will we just keep our heads stuck in the muck of drug-war mania and let thousands of desperate cancer victims die?

Some 14 states already have laws on the books that allow medical use of marijuana for chemotherapy nausea, Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis. When will Iowa join this trend to mercy for our own sick and dying? The Presbyterian Church USA just joined the battle for mercy; most other Protestant church groups already are on board.

- Paul Peterson,

Storm Lake.

[palmspringsbum]

Mayor pleads innocent to drug trafficking

The Des Moines Register
October 22, 2006

The former mayor of Wilton pleaded innocent Friday to drug trafficking.

Dick Summy, 56, was charged Sept. 28 with conspiracy to deliver marijuana and violating the drug tax stamp law. Summy faces between five and 40 years in prison.

Al Overbaugh, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Des Moines, said Summy and Roger Houston of Keokuk are both facing drug charges after more than 100 marijuana plants were confiscated from a Keokuk business late last month. The cases are linked, officials said.

According to court documents, on March 14 Summy allegedly accepted $800 in marked currency from a confidential informant for a drug debt for a half-pound of marijuana at a bar in Des Moines. The transaction was under surveillance by the Division of Narcotics Enforcement. The report also states that Summy confessed to six or more transactions to the same confidential informant.

Summy's home and vehicles were searched Sept. 18, and he was arrested 10 days later in Coralville on an arrest warrant from Polk County.

Last week Summy resigned as mayor - a post he held since 2004. He has a Nov. 9 court appearance in Polk County.

[palmspringsbum]

IOWA CITY

Charges dismissed in 'pot deposit' case

The Des Moines Register
February 7, 2007

Prosecutors say a lack of evidence will force them to dismiss a charge against a man accused of depositing his marijuana stash at a bank.

Adrian Hilton, 26, of Coralville was charged with possession of marijuana after he allegedly included his stash in a Pizza Pit deposit bag and put it into a night deposit box at American Bank and Trust last fall.

Police said bank workers found a sandwich bag less than half full of pot in the deposit bag, but a teller gave the marijuana to Hilton, a delivery driver for Pizza Pit, when he returned to the bank the next day.

That left prosecutors without any evidence. Assistant Johnson County Attorney David Tiffany said he would ask a judge to dismiss the charge.

"She was smart enough to call police, but then she gave it back to him," Tiffany said of the teller.

Tiffany said no charges would be filed against the teller.

[palmspringsbum]

Crazy 'Pot Will Make You Sell Your Children' Warning from Otherwise Sane Senator

By Ron Fisher, NORML
Posted on March 12, 2008, Printed on March 16, 2008
AlterNet

Here at NORML we are used to seeing some hysterical, unfounded claims made about the ills of cannabis. However, even we were shocked when a supporter from Iowa sent us Senator Tom Harkin’s (D, IA) raging, reefer madness-esque reply to his note asking him to justify why medicinal cannabis is still illegal after the second largest medical association in the country, the American College of Physicians, publicly backed rescheduling of cannabis and the protection of patients who use it for medicinal purposes. Here’s the highlights of the reply he received (full text here):<blockquote>Dear XXXX:

Thank you for contacting me. I am always glad to hear from you.



Marijuana is often the drug singled out for legalization. However, marijuana is not the recreational drug that many believe it to be. In a study completed by the Drug Abuse Warning Network, the number of marijuana related emergencies has nearly reached the level of cocaine related emergencies. As this statistic indicates, marijuana use often has fatal consequences.

I was deeply troubled when I learned of another recent study which found that nearly one-third of all eighth graders had tried marijuana. As the father of two daughters, it greatly disturbs me that children are exposed to drugs at such a young age. I am concerned that legalization of this drug will only increase the number of children who gain access to its harmful effects.

The victims of the drug war are many -- the small child whose parents are so addicted to illegal drugs that they sell everything including perhaps their own children to obtain a fix; the police officer’s family which must now learn to cope with the loss of their loved one as a result of a violent drug bust gone awry. These are the people I think of when I say that drugs pose a significant threat to the security of this nation.

Legalizing drugs is equivalent to declaring surrender in the war on drugs. However we may differ in tactics, I am hopeful that we can work together to fight drugs in our communities and to make Iowa drug free.

Again, thanks for sharing your views with me. Please don’t hesitate to let me know how you feel on any issue that concerns you.



Sincerely,

Tom Harkin


United States Senator

(Emphases mine)</blockquote>Okay, so setting aside the fact that Senator Harkin’s response pertains to legalization of marijuana, and not medical cannabis as the constituent asked about, let’s deconstruct some of the myths propagated in this letter.
<ol>
<li>“The number of marijuana related emergencies has nearly reached the level of cocaine related emergencies. As this statistic indicates, marijuana use often has fatal consequences.”

This is an untruth propagated by the drug czar’s minions. The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) collects its data on ‘marijuana related emergencies’ by noting every single time someone tells their doctor that they use marijuana. So if I were to accidentally break my leg and go to the ER, and my doctor asked if I use any drugs and I say I occasionally smoke marijuana (as I should, as we should all be honest with our physicians), then this would be a ‘marijuana related emergency,’ even if I hadn’t smoked in weeks.

And fatal? Please! As Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School Lester Grinspoon wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association[/], “There is no known case of a lethal overdose; on the basis of animal models, the ratio of lethal to effective dose is estimated as 40,000 to 1. By comparision, the ratio is…between 4 and 10 to 1 for ethanol (alcohol).” Additionally, a 1994 report by the Australian National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre found that “There are no recorded cases of fatalities attributable to cannabis, and the extrapolated lethal dose from animal studies cannot be achieved by recreational users."
</li>

<li>“I was deeply troubled when I learned of another recent study which found that nearly one-third of all eighth graders had tried marijuana.”

I do not doubt that marijuana is easier to obtain for minors than alcohol, which troubles NORML as well. But this problem is precisely why prohibition is a terrible policy-there is no incentive at all for suppliers to keep their product out of the hands of children. This is in stark contrast to alcohol, whose vendors must protect their valuable liquor licenses (often costing around $100,000) by ensuring they do not sell to minors. You didn’t think they did it out of the kindness of their own heart, did you? In a regulated market, government can incentivize suppliers in this way. On the black market, we leave kids out in the cold-and the prohibitionists point to us and say, “What about the children?” Which brings us to…</li>

<li>“The victims of the drug war are many - the small child whose parents are so addicted to illegal drugs that they sell everything [i]including perhaps their own children to obtain a fix; the police officer’s family which must now learn to cope with the loss of their loved one as a result of a violent drug bust gone awry.”

Classic drug war rhetoric-let’s avoid serious policy discussion and instead flee to hyperbolic appeals to emotion, without serious examination of how these nightmare scenarios are facilitated by current policy. First, marijuana is less addictive than current legal drugs, according to the Institute of Medicine, let alone illicit drugs one might associate with the type of dependency described above.

While marijuana generally is not associated with the same level of violence that other illicit drugs are, there is no doubt that there have been fatal incidents (some involving law enforcement) involving marijuana. The tragic aspect of this fact is that given marijuana’s proven relative safety and lower addiction rates compared with legal drugs, the prohibitionist policy towards it-sustained by the same kind of rhetoric that Senator Harkin uses-has contributed more to the violence than any other factor. Indeed, when one looks at the alcohol industry today, there is no violent crime in the production and shipment of their goods; yet were one to see the same industry in the 1920s during alcohol prohibition, one might have seen other Senators making the same empty arguments about alcohol.</li></ol>
Ron Fisher, is Outreach Coordinator for NORML

[palmspringsbum]

Iowa Senate to consider medical marijuana law

The Iowa Independant
By Jason Hancock 3/9/09 10:05 AM

<span class=postbigbold>Senators will debate the virtues of medical marijuana during a subcommittee hearing Tuesday at 2 p.m.</span>

Senate File 293, sponsored by Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, would create the Medical Marijuana Act, which would allow the possession and use of marijuana for therapeutic purposes, create compassion centers and provide for criminal and civil penalties for misuse.

A qualifying patient would be issued a registry identification card to allow them to possess and use marijuana without prosecution or arrest. Those who would be eligible would include people diagnosed by a medical doctor with a “debilitating medical condition” like cancer, hepatitis C, Crohn’s Disease, AIDS or a chronic medical condition that causes severe pain, nausea, seizures or certain muscle spasms.

If passed, Iowa would become the 14th state to allow residents with serious debilitating conditions to use marijuana for relief. Several other states, like Illinois, New Hampshire and New Jersey, are currently studying similar legislation.

In 1999, The Institute of Medicine studied the potential therapeutic value of marijuana and found that the drug did help with symptoms such as pain relief, control of nausea and appetite stimulation.

[palmspringsbum]

<small>chicagotribune.com</small>

Iowa lawmakers consider medical marijuana bill
By MIKE GLOVER

Associated Press Writer

5:29 PM CDT, March 10, 2009

DES MOINES, Iowa

Activists called Tuesday for the legalization of medical marijuana in Iowa, but even lawmakers who are sympathetic to such a move said a measure won't be approved this year.

Supporters of a measure legalizing medical marijuana urged a subcommittee of the Senate Human Relations Committee to change the law.

"My days are constant pain," said Lisa Jackson, of Crawfordsville. "I want my life back."

Ed Hertko, a physician from West Des Moines, said lawmakers could craft a measure making it clear that marijuana must be prescribed by a doctor and purchased through a pharmacy to ensure the drug wasn't abused.

"No one will give it to a 16-year-old who wants to get high on Friday night," said Hertko.

Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, headed the panel and said lawmakers were willing to examine the idea. But he cautioned that much more work is needed and that action wasn't likely this year.

Though proposed legislation has been drafted, Bolkcom said it needs changes. He noted there's a deadline of Friday for bills to win committee approval to remain alive for this session.

"It's a work in progress," said Bolkcom. "We do not anticipate this bill is going to win committee approval this week. This bill is going to need more work."

Bolkcom did not schedule a vote on the measure but said he'd continue to craft the effort.

Sen. Merlin Bartz, R-Grafton, said he's supported measures allowing medical use of marijuana in the past but that the current measure was too broad.

"I think there are some positive things that can take place, but this has more of the look of a legalization," said Bartz.

There was plenty of emotion among those urging lawmakers to act.

Jeff Elton, of Des Moines, said he has symptoms from his diabetes that only marijuana can ease.

"I should not have to live in fear of prosecution," Elton said.

Steve Erickson, of Des Moines, said he was open to ideas for legalizing marijuana for medical uses, but he urged lawmakers to craft it carefully.

"I hope it isn't political suicide for you folks," Erickson said. "There's a vast majority of the public that wonders how you're going to regulate it."

Bolkcom said the legislation now drafted was prepared by a national group advocating medical marijuana use. He said it needs to be "tightened up in spots."

He said that wasn't likely to happen this year.

"Realistically it's probably something we'll come back to fresh next year," he said.

Nationally, 13 states have approved medical marijuana laws.


<small>
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
</small>

[palmspringsbum]

<small>Radio Iowa</small>

Medicinal use of marijuana? Not this year

Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 6:27 PM
By O.Kay Henderson

A woman who is in chronic pain and a handful of other Iowans were at the statehouse Tuesday, asking for legal access to marijuana as a treatment for pain and nausea. A few others urged caution.

Lisa Jackson of Crawfordsville has fibromyalgia and suffers from both pain and fatigue. She told lawmakers marijuana is the only drug she's found that gives her any relief. "My days are constant pain. I used to work. I used to take care of my family. I used to have a life. I just want my life back," Jackson said, her voice shaking with emotion. "I just need you guys' help to get my life back."

Ray Henry of Des Moines suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and when the pain killers his doctor prescribed failed to work, he turned to marijuana. "I was actually arrested for less than a gram of marijuana back in 2005 and went to jail and did six days in county to get off of probation over it," Henry said.

Henry told lawmakers he could move to 13 other states and get marijuana prescribed for his pain because those states allow the medical use of marijuana. "I really feel that it's time for Iowa to make a change," Henry said.

A few state senators sat in a small committee room at the statehouse, listening to Henry and the others testify. One lawmaker told the public it will take a while to get other legislators "comfortable" with the idea of dispensing marijuana for the treatment of debilitating diseases which cause chronic pain or nausea.

Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, is the bill's author. While Bolkcom told the crowd the bill is dead for the year, he urged the group to keep talking with legislators. "People in this building respond and react to the concerns that people back home talk to them about," Bolkcom said, "And this bill is going to need the kind of grassroots acceptance around our state if it's going to move forward."

Senator Merlin Bartz, a Republican from Grafton, supports the concept, but Bartz says the bill as it's currently written is too broad. "There's a gigantic difference between a bill that allows for the use of medical marijuana under the supervision of a physician, and a bill that...basically blows this can of worms wide open," Bartz says.

The bill Bolkcom authored would set up "compassion centers" around the state that would raise the marijuana and dispense it to patients who've been given an I.D. card showing they've been diagnosed with a debilitating disease.

[palmspringsbum]

March 11, 2009


Odds long for medical marijuana, Bolkcom says

The Des Moines Register
By JENNIFER JACOBS
jejacobs@dmreg.com

Despite passionate pleas Tuesday for the state to allow restricted use of marijuana for pain and nausea relief, a key lawmaker stressed that the idea will go no further this legislative session.

"There is a long way to go, I must say," said Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, of Senate File 293.

The bill calls for new, not-for-profit facilities called "compassion centers" to acquire, cultivate and deliver marijuana and related supplies to qualifying patients. They would include those diagnosed by a practitioner as having cancer, Lou Gehrig's disease or certain chronic illnesses.

Paul Peterson of Storm Lake said after his 96-year-old mother, Ann Peterson Pyle, developed symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in 2002, Peterson gave her marijuana tea to sip.

"She said within 20 minutes the fog was gone," he said. "She's still driving and she's still cooking and she's looking for a dance partner."

Terry Mitchell, 55, of Dexter said he has degenerative disc disease in three parts of his spine. He gets disability payments of $650 a month. "I want to go back to work," he told lawmakers.

With Bolkcom on the subcommittee for the bill were Sens. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines, and Merlin Bartz, R-Grafton.

Stephen Erickson of Saydel told the lawmakers: "I definitely feel for those people that need it - and I say need it, not want it - for their medical use. ... But also understand there's a vast majority of the public that question, 'How are you going to regulate this?' "

Bartz pointed out that he voted for a medical marijuana bill in 1993. It passed the Iowa Senate 50-0 but died in the House. But he could not support this bill as written, he said.

"A 'practitioner' can be a veterinarian," Bartz said. "You could take Fido to the vet and say, 'By the way Doc, I need some medical marijuana.' "

Bolkcom agreed that the bill needed tighter controls and a better definition of what compassion centers would be, but he said he wanted Iowans to eventually be able to use marijuana for medical needs without going to jail.

<hr class=postrule>

[palmspringsbum]

Medicinal pot fails in Iowa

The Daily Iowan
BY SHAWN GUDE | MARCH 13, 2009 7:30 AM

Jeff Elton can’t control his stomach.

The 55-year old Des Moines resident has a nasty medical condition — gastroparesis, or stomach paralysis — that precludes the normal digestion of food.

The only thing that helps his chronic nausea and vomiting?

Marijuana: the safest and most effective anti-nausea drug available, he said.

“I was astounded by the fact that it delivered immediate relief from chronic nausea, with the only side effect being euphoria,” said Elton, who has been prescribed a variety of anti-nausea drugs that he said have ultimately amplified his nausea.

He first tried the drug for medicinal purposes when he was in California, the first state to legalize the substance for ailments.

Iowa is among the overwhelming majority of states that bar the possession or sale of marijuana, whether medical or recreational. Just 13 states have passed laws legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes — none of which border Iowa — according to the nonprofit site ProCon.Org.

Looking to help Iowans such as Elton, Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, drafted a bill that would lift the ban on marijuana for medical use.

“The bill is essentially an attempt to address the suffering that people are in,” he said, listing cancer and multiple sclerosis as painful diseases that marijuana could potentially ease. “People with severe medical conditions are not being helped by conventional medications. Studies have found that marijuana is an effective treatment.”

The bill failed to pass today’s funnel deadline, a procedural rule that requires bills to be reported out of their respective chambers’ committees to continue. The Senate isn’t in session today.

Critics claim legalizing medical marijuana is a slippery slope to full legalization, among other contentions.

Scientific research on the subject is still inconclusive, and contradictory studies abound.

Sen. Merlin Bartz, R-Grafton, said that although he supported the concept, Bolkcom’s bill was bereft of “correct checks and balances.” For his part, Bolkcom acknowledged the bill wasn’t perfect, but he promised to continue to raise the issue in subsequent years.

This bill wasn’t the only measure that failed to pass today’s funnel deadline. Here’s a look at the bills that met similar fates, as well as noteworthy measures that passed the procedural hurdle.

<span class=postbold>Halted bills:</span>

• A Senate measure providing a sales-tax exemption on textbooks for college students never got out of committee, as did several bills in both chambers seeking to limit handheld cell-phone use by drivers.
  
• A House bill that would have required special elections for a vacant U.S. Senate seat never passed out of its subcommittee. “The response that I heard was: We are not Illinois. We do not need to change this law,” said Rep. Mary Gaskill, D-Ottumwa, who headed the measure’s subcommittee.
  
• There were scores of legislators looking to scrap or alter last year’s contentious Smoke-Free Air Act, but both Democratic and Republican-sponsored measures were stymied in subcommittee. “People in the health arenas are very nervous about opening up the legislation,” Rep. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, told the DI earlier this year, noting proponents “might not have the votes to keep the existing law in place.”

<span class=postbold>Bills that made it past the hurdle:</span>

• A Senate bill that would strengthen protections for bicyclists passed the Senate last month and is currently in subcommittee in the House.
  
• Eligible for debate, a House measure criminalizing Salvia is on the floor.
  
• A Senate bill lowering the legal blood-alcohol concentration level for boaters from .10 to .08 is in a public-safety subcommittee in the House.
  
• A House Education Committee-sponsored bill would raise the compulsory age for high-school attendance from 16 to 17. It’s currently on the floor.

[palmspringsbum]

High hopes for medicinal marijuana

By: Dana Larsen, Pilot Tribune Editor
March 17, 2009


Although a bill to legalize marijuana for medicinal use in Iowa will apparently stall out in the state legislature this year, supporters are already gearing up for 2010.

Barbara Douglass of Storm Lake says she is a living example that the drug has medicinal value. A multiple sclerosis survivor, she and others like her have been patiently fighting for approval of medicial marijuana use for two decades.

"At least this time they are hearing us," she said of the 2009 bill proposed by Senator Joe Bolkcom, an Iowa City Democrat. "We've been saying the same thing for 20 years now, but it is getting more and more acceptable."

Douglass is one of only eight Americans provided with legal marijuana cigarettes through a U.S. Food and Drug Administration program for "compassionate" relief, when a lawsuit opened a brief window of opportunity years ago. She was diagnoses with MS in 1988 and first given a prescription for Marinol, a pill form, but although it has worked for others she's known, it was too strong for her, rendering her unable to think and act clearly.

The marijuana has made her illness liveable, she says, and she still has hopes that it will be approved to ease the pain of others in similar circumstances.

"I would hope that people come to realize that, yes, it is a drug - by hey, it helps," she said. "If it doesn't happen this year, it will still have to happen. States are getting smarter and smarter. These things take time. When Iowa does accept it, the state will quickly realize that it has done a good thing. They can even tax it."

This year's bill includes a new twist, calling for new not-for-profit facilities called "compassion centers" to cultivate and deliver marijuana to qualifying patients. To legally access marijuana, patients would need to be diagnosed with a debilitating disease by their doctor, such as cancer, MS, Lou Gehrig's disease, Crohn's disease, hepatitis C, Alzheimer's, glaucoma, AIDS and human immunodeficiency virus. Penalties would be established for those who wrongly obtain the drug. Patients would be issued special identification cards in hopes of preventing misuse of the drug.

Even the Democrats who supported the bill admit that it is likely to go no further this session, which is dominated by budget worries.

A number of Iowans testified at a series of public hearings held on the issue, including Paul Peterson of Storm Lake, a longtime proponent of legalized marijuana use. According to a Des Moines Register report, he spoke on behalf of his mother, Ann Peterson Pyle, who he has provided with marijuana tea to offset symptoms of Alzheimer's.

He said that improvements in her condition were evident within 20 minutes, and that she is able to continue leading an active life well into her 90s.

Several states are studying legislation similar to that proposed in Iowa. Iowa would have become the 14th state to approve medicinal marijuana for debilitating diseases, if the legislature had approved.

While studies such as a much-cited 1999 Institute of Medicine report have suggested potential therapeutic value of marijuana for pain relief, control of nausea and appetite stimulation, others have strongly opposed the bill.

A group calling itself Save Our Society has lobbied the legislature to drop the bill, saying that "the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not approve of the use of smoked marijuana for so-called medical purposes, and its use is, therefore, unregulated. There are literally dozens of FDA-approved medications that can effectively deal with the symptoms associated with the different medical conditions specified in this proposed bill. Marijuana remains a Schedule I drug because it has no accepted medical value and has a high potential for addiction."

Approving such a bill would increase crime, send the wrong message to youth, and undo the positive impacts of years of anti-drug education in the state, the group claims.

Others express a fear that approval of medicinal marijuana is just a smokescreen for the real agenda - to legalize the drug entrely.

NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, supported the Iowa bill and said that the concerns are misplaced.

"It will not alter or interfere with already existing state laws discouraging the non-medical, recreational use of marijuana," NORML leaders said of the bill. "The use of marijuana as medicine is a public health issue; it should not be part of the war on drugs."

NORML claims the states that have approved medicinal marijuana - Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington - have not seen widespread increases in drug abuse among adolescents or adult recreational users.

"It is unconscionable to deny this effective medicine to sick and dying patients," the organization said.

Because a subcommittee took no action on the bill, it will apparently not go to the floor for a full vote of the Senate - at least a temporary victory for opponents and a stinging at least temporary defeat for supporters.

But for Douglass, it is just another step.

"If people are talking about it and learning about it, it can only be good," she said. "After all these years, it is getting closer."

<small>
©Storm Lake Pilot Tribune 2009
</small>