Senator seeks to legalize medical marijuana
JENNIFER JACOBS • jejacobs@dmreg.com • March 9, 2009


Restricted marijuana use would be legal in Iowa for pain and nausea relief for those with cancer, Lou Gehrig’s disease and certain chronic diseases under a bill before state lawmakers.

“We know that people are suffering,” said Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, who filed the bill last week. “I’ve gotten a host of e-mails from people whose pain medication is ineffective. And these are powerful drugs. This would just be an additional option.”

Thirteen states have passed laws that protect qualified patients from state prosecution for therapeutic marijuana use while under their doctor’s supervision.

Iowa’s proposal calls for new not-for-profit facilities called compassion centers to acquire, cultivate and deliver marijuana and related supplies to qualifying patients.

But the bill is likely to die because it doesn’t have enough support to pass this week’s funnel deadline.

“I don’t expect this bill to move forward,” Bolkcom said today. “We have more work to do to educate Iowans about this.”

Iowa patients would have to get a registration card which would let them possess 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana, under Senate File 293.

For patients to get a card, a practitioner would have to diagnose them with a debilitating or chronic medical condition.

One of the more than 30 e-mails Bolkcom received was from Jeffrey Elton, a 55-year-old Des Moines resident who suffers from mild to severe nausea “every hour of every day.”

Because of diabetes, some of the nerve endings in Elton’s stomach no longer trigger the muscles to contract and digest food. The disease, called diabetic neuropathic gastroparesis, leads to vomiting and weight loss.

Prescription drugs haven’t helped much, Elton said. He’s reluctant to take Reglan, which can cause irreversible Parkinsons-like shakes and tremors, and Marinol is ineffective for him. He’s about to switch to Cesamet and hopes that helps.

“With every other anti-nausea medication that is appropriate for my condition, after a couple months of daily use it actually causes nausea,” he said.

While visiting a sister in California, Elton legally tried medical marijuana “and it gave me an immediate sense of relief. No nausea, no vomiting.”

Elton said: “My doctor would rather have me on real/natural medical marijuana delivered via the use of a vaporizer which eliminates all tar and carcinogens from smoking.”

The bill would not alter or interfere with existing state laws that prohibit non-medical, recreational use of marijuana.

Bolkcom said the use of marijuana as medicine is a public health issue, and shouldn’t be part of the war on drugs.

According to a recent national survey of U.S. physicians conducted for the American Society of Addiction Medicine, nearly half of all doctors with opinions support legalizing cannabis as a medicine, Bolkcom said.

Some 80 state and national health care organizations, including the American Nurses Association, American Public Health Association and The New England Journal of Medicine, support immediate, legal patient access to medical cannabis.

Here are the details:

PROPOSAL: Iowans under a doctor’s supervision could use marijuana to ease pain and nausea.

DISCUSSION: At 2 p.m. today in the lobbyist lounge of the Iowa Senate, lawmakers will have a public discussion of Senate File 293.

WHO WOULD QUALIFY: Those diagnosed by a practitioner with a debilitating medical condition defined as cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, nail patella, or a chronic or debilitating medical condition that produces wasting syndrome, severe pain, severe nausea, certain seizures, or certain muscle spasms.



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