IA: Iowa Pharmacy Board Recommends Legalization of Medical Marijuana

In a previous post, we talked about the Iowa State Pharmacy Board and the fact that it was due to make a recommendation regarding marijuana and its use for medical purposes. The Board met on Wednesday, and has since arrived at a unanimous decision to recommend the reclassification of marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule II substance.

marijuanaWhat this reclassification means is that the state will go from treating marijuana as a substance with “high potential for abuse” but without safe medical use whatsoever to one that has accepted medical use. The decision practically coincided with the release of the results of a study that indicated that marijuana “shows promise” for medical use, in, among others, reduction of spasms in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis.

In addition to the recommendation that it made to lawmakers, the Board also set up a task force to look into the steps that should be taken in the creation of a medical marijuana program. Thus far, efforts towards having a medical marijuana bill move in the Iowa state legislature have failed, “but the board’s action could help spur forward momentum,” according to a post on StopTheDrugWar.org.

The Board’s decision is a milestone, as it became the “first state pharmacy board in the nation to take such a step before voters or lawmakers have legalized medical marijuana.”

Not every Iowan is happy, though, although we mentioned previously that a survey showed that more than half of Iowans are for medical marijuana. Iowa candidate for Governor Terry Branstad said the following in an interview on NewsChannel Four: “There’s a lot of problems with illegal drugs and my concern is if you start down a slippery slope of legalizing it for some purposes then it gets used for other illicit purposes,” according to an article on KTIV.com.