Iowa Board Makes Next Move Toward Medical Marijuana

People in favor of medical marijuana in Iowa said they hit the lottery on Wednesday.

Carl Olsen "I can't tell you how far it's going to go, but it's a huge plus for all those people"

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Pharmacy Board voted to file legislation to classify marijuana as a schedule 2 drug from a schedule 1 drug. The change would recognize marijuana’s medical value and moves it out of a class of drugs where it’s considered to be dangerous.”I think it positions the board toward the future,” said board member Susan Fry.

“It’s always been adjustable and today we saw the adjustment,” said Carl Olsen of Iowans for Medial Marijuana.

The board’s vote does not legalize medical marijuana. That would still require action by the Iowa Legislature.

“The whole argument, this whole time has been, ‘well we can’t do anything because that medical experts don’t support it,’ but now they do. So to me it’s the whole deal — it’s done, but we’ll see,” said Olsen. “To me, the biggest impediment was to get the scientific experts like the Board of Pharmacy to look at the science and give us an honest assessment. To me, that’s a really big deal.”

There is no word yet if or when this legislation would be brought before Iowa lawmakers.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal said the Senate would look at the proposal, but he said it has not come up at all during talks with Republicans since the election.

Olsen said he’s very happy with the progress on the issue so far.”The momentum is just there,” he said. “I can’t tell you how far it’s going to go, but it’s a huge plus for all those people.”

Recommended read: Hot Potato, Pot Potato: Iowa Legislature’s Dilemma

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