Marijuana Blog

Two months after Colorado and Washington became the first American states to legalize recreational use of marijuana, a proposal to reform Iowa’s marijuana laws has come to the state House of Representatives.

 

Rep. Bruce Hunter, D-Des Moines, proposed the Medical Marijuana Act last week.

 

The Daily Iowan Editorial Board supports Hunter’s push for medical marijuana in Iowa; the current legal framework around the drug in Iowa is untenable, and this proposal would be the first step toward improvement. Passage of the Medical Marijuana Act would also be a major victory for patients in Iowa who are currently deprived of a legitimate means of treating some particularly debilitating conditions.

 

The law would legalize the possession and use of marijuana for patients suffering from a number of diseases including cancer, HIV, AIDS, ALS, Alzheimer’s, Crohn’s disease, and glaucoma. Patients with chronic, “intractable” pain or a condition characterized by persistent nausea would also be eligible to receive a prescription for medical marijuana.

 

The bill also includes provisions for the establishment of a licensing system for eligible patients and for the creation of nonprofit suppliers to sell marijuana to those licensed to buy.

 

“At this point, there’s no denying that marijuana helps alleviate the symptoms of a host of terrible diseases, many of which are notoriously difficult to treat,” Hunter said in a statement released through the Marijuana Policy Project. “There is a wealth of scientific evidence demonstrating marijuana is significantly less addictive and has far fewer severe side effects than the opiates and other narcotics these patients are taking now.”

 

The body of research concerning the efficacy of therapeutic marijuana and drugs derived from marijuana lends credence to Hunter’s claims that such drugs have proved to be both effective and safe when used responsibly.

 

According to an extensive summary of evidence produced by the Washington, D.C.-based NORML Foundation — an organization devoted to reforming America’s marijuana laws — cannabinoids (the class of chemical compounds that includes the chief psychoactive compound in marijuana) have a particularly impressive medicinal track record.

 

Cannabinoids have been shown to inhibit the growth of many types of cancers including breast cancer, skin cancer, and leukemia; they may also moderate the degenerative effects of autoimmune disorders.

 

Read more: http://www.dailyiowan.com

The appeals court panel Tuesday turned away the bid from a medical marijuana group, Americans for Safe Access.

 

Last year, the Drug Enforcement Administration rejected a petition by medical marijuana advocates to change the classification.

 

The court said that the question wasn’t whether marijuana could have some medical benefits, but rather whether the DEA’s decision was ‘‘arbitrary and capricious.’’ The court concluded that the DEA action survives review under that standard.

 

Marijuana is classified as a controlled substance, categorized as having a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use, together with drugs like heroin, LSD and ecstasy.

 

Source: http://www.dailyiowan.com