Urge the Iowa Senate Appropriations Committee to create a medical marijuana task force

Published: March 16, 2010

Medical marijuana in Iowa continues to gain momentum. After the Board of Pharmacy's historic recommendation, the key is now implementation. The board recommended that the legislature reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II, and called upon the legislature to set up a task force to study how to administer a medical marijuana program. It is now upon us to ask key senators to follow through on the Board of Pharmacy’s recommendation and create the task force.

Please e-mail the members of the Iowa Senate Appropriations Committee and ask them to support legislative language that creates a medical marijuana task force. If you are in one of the senators' districts, you can also call them and express your support. As always, be polite and respectful in your e-mails and calls, and share your own personal connection with medical marijuana if you have one.

Currently, a bipartisan group of supportive legislators is working on amendment language for passage this session. The amendment language will create a task force that will be led by the Board of Pharmacy, and its goal will be to develop recommendations to the legislature for the establishment of a medical marijuana program for seriously ill Iowans.

Remember, you are not alone in supporting medical marijuana in Iowa, and you can let your senators know.  A February Iowa Poll found that 64% of Iowans support patients’ use of medical marijuana with a doctor’s approval! The support cut across the partisan divides, with 76% of Democrats, 66% of independents, and 47% of Republicans standing up for seriously ill patients. This should hopefully dispel the myth once and for all that medical marijuana is at all politically controversial, or could create electoral problems for a legislator. With these numbers, one would think the electorate would actually reward a legislator who backed compassionate legislation.

Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Please pass this message on to other supporters so that they too can speak out to protect patients who could benefit from medical marijuana.

Sincerely,

Noah Mamber

Legislative Analyst

Marijuana Policy Project