Marijuana Policy Project

Iowa law considers marijuana a Schedule I controlled substance, the most tightly regulated category for drugs under state law. A recent lawsuit challenged that categorization, claiming that the law requires such drugs to have "no accepted medical use treatment in the United States." And in April, a Polk County judge ordered the Iowa Board of Pharmacy to examine whether the drug is properly classified.
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The pharmacy board recently said the issue was serious enough to hold a series of public meetings to discuss:

• The medical uses of marijuana and

• The consequences of approving the drug for medical use.

One of those meetings will be held from noon to 7 p.m. Oct. 7 in the University of Iowa Bowen Science Building, third floor auditorium. Other meetings will be held in Des Moines, Council Bluffs and Mason City. (For information, visit www.iowa.gov/ibpe).

We don't know if we're yet ready to say that Iowa should join the other 13 states who have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, but we're glad the conversation has reached this high level — both in terms of mature discussion and political visibility.

And we think it's very appropriate to hold at least one of the meetings in Iowa City. The University of Iowa, after all, hosted the nation's first conference on the use of medical marijuana back in 2000. And even then, the research was mixed. Robert Block, UI professor of anesthesia, presented his research on how marijuana use lowers cognitive skills and memory capabilities. Melanie Dreher, then dean of the UI College of Nursing and now dean of the Rush University College of Nursing, showed how, in many cultures outside the United States, marijuana is used more as a therapeutic drug than a recreational one.

The medical marijuana supporters say marijuana — not surprisingly — can help underweight patients increase their appetites as well as reduce pain, reduce muscle spasms and relieve nausea. Those benefits would help many cancer patients and AIDS sufferers. Skeptics worry that legalizing the drug for therapeutic use would lead to more recreational abuse — which in turn would lead to users trying other illegal drugs.

Both supporters and skeptics have scientific studies to support their claims. And both are likely right to a degree. That's why the public meetings will be an important time for state officials to envision a well-regulated system by which the chronically ill could have access to the benefits marijuana provides but that can't be easily manipulated and abused by recreational users — as the critics claim the California system has been.

We hope lawmakers will be active participants — and, more importantly, active listeners — in these public hearings. The Board of Pharmacy has done a service to Iowans by providing a forum in which the topic can be discussed as the serious medical issue that it is.