DES MOINES – A cannabis oil bill passed out of Ways and Means Committee in the Iowa Senate yesterday and is being considered by the full Iowa Senate today.
Under the bill’s provisions (SF 2360), Iowans would be able to possess a specific type of medical marijuana, specifically cannabis oil for treating epilepsy. Currently, it is illegal to produce the oil in Iowa. The bill stipulates that a person would have to travel outside the state to obtain the cannabis oil, and to use the oil, a person would have to be diagnosed with intractable epilepsy.
Leading up to the debate on this bill, the Epilepsy Foundation issued a position statement supporting increased medical cannabis/marijuana access and research: “As parents and advocates, we feel an urgency to respond and take action on the use of cannabis/marijuana to treat epilepsy. The Epilepsy Foundation supports the rights of patients and families living with seizures and epilepsy to access physician directed care, including medical cannabis.”
Proponents of the bill called on citizens to “remind Republicans that they are not doctors and to listen to the Branstad administrations Iowa Board of Pharmacy recommendation to legalize medicinal cannabis” and pointed to the Republican party platform, which states: “We recognize the freedom of individuals to determine the level of health insurance they want, the level of health care they want, the providers they want, the medicines and treatments they will use, and all other aspects of their medical care. We demand the immediate elimination of any legislation that would impede an individual from making his or her own health-care decisions.”
During today’s debate in the Senate, Senator Steven Sodders, a deputy sheriff, said “This bill is narrow, other people could be helped, but it is a start.”
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