Attempt To Legalize Marijuana For Medical Use Fails

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Iowa Will Not Be Joining 13 Other States That Allow Using Marijuana For Medical Purposes.

A bill that dealt with that was taken off the table Tuesday.

Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, who filed Senate File 293 last week, pulled the bill during a subcommittee meeting, the first step any bill must pass through.

"He realized there were some flaws to it and he wanted to relook at it," said Sen. Randy Feenstra. "He may come back with it next year."

One of the problems with Bolkcom's bill was that it stated a "practitioner could prescribe it and the person could grow it, distribute it, and use it," Feenstra said.

He said the word "practitioner" was ambiguous as it didn't identify whether that was a doctor or someone else.

"There were some big, gaping loopholes in this bill," Feenstra said.

Bolkcom did not return a call to the Daily Sentinel seeking information as to his initial support of the bill.

This year was not the first time a bill to legalize marijuana for medical purposes in Iowa came before legislators.

In the 1993 legislative session another such bill passed the Senate with a 50-0 vote, but was not picked up by the House, Feenstra said.

"That bill was substantially different than the one they talked about yesterday ( Monday )," he said. "The difference was it needed to be FDA certified marijuana. It needed to be prescribed by a physician, and it had to go through the pharmacy."

Feenstra said the reason the Senate passed the bill in 1993 to legalize marijuana for medical purposes was because a federal study completed by the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) clarified marijuana as a drug that could relieve pain.

The 1993 attempt was the last bill until this year, said Feenstra, who opposes legalizing marijuana for medical purposes.

"I'm just against it because I think we already have other drugs that doctors can prescribe," he said. "I don't think we need to prescribe marijuana at this point."

Bolkcom's now dead legislative bill focused on making marijuana a legal treatment for certain debilitating medical conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer and those that cause severe pain, severe nausea and certain seizures.

A search of the Internet revealed thousands of websites where advocates favor legalizing marijuana for medical purposes because research has indicated the drug does help with those conditions and many others.

Liz Kurth, a registered nurse and oncology certified nurse and oncology coordinator at Floyd Valley Hospital in Le Mars, said there are better drugs on the market today that are very effective in treating conditions like severe nausea in chemotherapy patients.

"In my opinion the drugs we have such as Zofran and Kytril, they do a wonderful job of controlling nausea," Kurth said. "I don't see great strides in using marijuana. I think it's almost going backward."

Kurth said has treated a couple patients who moved to Iowa from other states where they had used Marinol, the synthetic form of marijuana, to treat their nausea related to chemotherapy.

"They said it didn't really help for long-term use," Kurth said.

Others including Rep. Chuck Soderberg, of Le Mars, are also against legalizing marijuana for medical purposes for a variety of reasons.

Plymouth County Sheriff Mike Van Otterloo and Le Mars Police Chief Stu Dekkenga have similar views.

"It's going to get into the hands of people who don't need it," Van Otterloo said. "I think it would make it even easier for marijuana possession."

Dekkenga said legalizing marijuana would create a host of problems.

For example, it would be difficult to determine who would be eligible and who would be the source of that marijuana. Insurance companies would have to rewrite their insurance policies and new laws would have to be written, Dekkenga said.

"In a time in history where our society boasts we have a drug that will cure almost anything, where does smoking marijuana come into that?" Dekkenga asked. "I think it's a political thing. People have been self-medicating with marijuana for years. They just want to do it without getting caught."

Dekkenga said there are bigger issues in Iowa than legalizing marijuana to worry about like the economy and people losing their jobs.

"I wish our legislators would worry about the issues at hand instead of worrying about where people are going to get their pot," Dekkenga said. "I don't see the purpose of legalizing it."

Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Rhode Island and Washington have laws legalizing marijuana for medical purposes.


News Hawk: User: http://www.420magazine.com/
Source: Le Mars Daily Sentinel (IA)
Copyright: 2009 Le Mars Daily Sentinel
Contact: dseditor@frontiernet.net
Website: Le Mars Daily Sentinel: Le Mars, Iowa
Author: Amy Erickson

[hood1]

perhaps MERC contributed a few mill to his election campaign?