DES MOINES – On Wednesday, March 23 in the Iowa Senate, Majority Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs cradled Quinn Stumpf of Riverside while Senate President Pam Jochum of Dubuque and Quinn’s mother, April Stumpf, looked on.
Quinn suffers from severe epilepsy, a condition which has been significantly eased by treatment with medical cannabis. Iowa families had gathered at the Statehouse to support of legislation giving Iowans the same sort of access medicines made from cannabis that most other American families already have.
Last year, a bipartisan majority in the Iowa Senate voted to create a regulated, medically controlled system to help Iowans with specific diseases and conditions. That legislation, Senate File 484, is eligible for debate in the Iowa House.
According to the most recent polls, four out of five Iowans believe residents of Iowa should have controlled access to these medicines. The issue has stalled in the Iowa legislature, mainly due to Republicans, who generally do not favor allowing citizens access to medical cannabis.
