Marijuana Policy Project

Residents will get chance to weigh in during hearings

A lawsuit, a piece of legislation and a series of hearings in front of Iowa's drug board have heated up the debate about the possibility of Iowa becoming the 14th state to legalize medical marijuana.

One of the top proponents is Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City.

Sitting in an eatery Tuesday in downtown Iowa City, Bolkcom flipped though a stack of e-mails. One was from a 58-year-old man with multiple sclerosis who is wheelchair bound; another was a 29-year-old receiving dialysis for kidney failure who experiences steady pain and no appetite. Another was from a 42-year-old woman with four kids who was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and has been legally disabled for two and a half years.

"I have tried over 36 drugs in the last four years to find something that would help me function... Marijuana is my only hope for good days," wrote a woman who signed the letter Lisa.

"It's just on and on," Bolkcom said. "I was taken aback by the chronic pain people are dealing with, and they have taken every narcotic man has made with no relief and major side effects. But everyone is in fear of the law."

Bolkcom has received more than 80 e-mail testimonials since he introduced medical marijuana legislation — Senate File 293 — in March.

Bolkcom has introduced similar legislation over the years. He knows it's a longshot to pass the bill in the upcoming legislative session, but the issue is getting more attention this year than in the past.

The public discussion is important for educating the public and elected officials, he said, and it is a good opportunity for average citizens to speak up.

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy is holding a series of public hearings, beginning Wednesday in Des Moines, to receive evidence and testimony regarding the pros and cons of medical marijuana from a scientific, medical and legal perspective.

The board will be in Iowa City on Oct. 7 at the Bowen Science Building on the University of Iowa campus. The public is invited to attend these meetings.

"At the end of this, the board will be taking a look at all of the information that has been provided and what substances should be classified as controlled substances in each of the classes. Then the board will make recommendations to Legislature," said Terry Witkowski, Executive Officer of the pharmacy board.

Rep. Jeff Kauffman, R-Wilton, said he has not made up his mind on the issue.

"What is make or break for this issue is what the pharmacy board has to say about it," Kauffman said.

For Kauffman, there are two red flags. First, he doesn't want this decision based on making money for the state, and second, he doesn't want this to be a foot in the door for legalizing all marijuana.

"I am absolutely and wholeheartedly opposed to this for recreational purposes, and I want to make sure there is a line," Kauffman said.

Another player in the debate is a 57-year-old Des Moines man who has challenged marijuana laws since 1983. Carl Olsen first argued for religious exemptions and later medical uses.

His most recent attempt helped spark the pharmacy board hearings, Witkowski said. Olsen petitioned the board to reclassify marijuana as having medical benefits, which it declined. He has since appealed the decision.

"My position is that I used from 1968 to 1990 pretty constantly, and I can't see anything bad with it, nothing wrong with it at all," Olsen said.

It will be important for lawmakers and the pharmacy board to distinguish between the debates of those who just want marijuana legal and those who have a medical need, Bolkcom said.

"The war on drugs is a separate debate," Bolkcom said.