IA : Board hears stances on medical marijuana

[allenlovesgreen]

Board hears stances on medical marijuana
08/20/09|DesMoinesRegister| by TONY LEYS

Medical-marijuana proponents pleaded with state regulators Wednesday to stop treating Iowa patients like criminals for using the drug to combat pain and other ailments.

"People are suffering who need not suffer. People are rotting in jail who should not be there," said Kevin Feeley of Ames, who said marijuana has helped ease his suffering from spinal cancer.

Feeley and other speakers at the State Historical Building told the Iowa Pharmacy Board that marijuana is a safer, less addictive treatment than many prescription medications. They urged regulators to help Iowa join 13 other states in which patients are allowed to use marijuana with a doctor's approval.

Wednesday was the first of four hearings around the state to gather views on the subject. The pharmacy board plans to make a recommendation to the Legislature this winter.

Feeley told the board he lost 100 pounds because of nausea caused by cancer drugs, and he was incapacitated by pain. Marijuana helped him eat, sleep and return to work, he said.

His wife, Amanda Feeley, said her husband's condition worsened when he stopped using marijuana because of fears that he would be arrested.

She tearfully recalled seeing him doubled up on the floor in front of their four children. "I couldn't sit and watch him starve to death," she said. "I took matters into my own hands and did what I had to do, because I needed my husband back and my children needed a father."

Feeley said she contacted a friend, who helped her obtain marijuana.

Most of Wednesday's speakers favored legalizing medical marijuana. They said it could help countless patients suffering from a range of illnesses, including AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, glaucoma, epilepsy, chronic pain and anxiety.

Some spoke of marijuana as a gift from God, and they suggested that opposition is partly rooted in drug companies' profit motives.

Robert Manke of Des Moines told regulators he's used marijuana to counter painful injuries caused by traffic accidents and nausea caused by prescription medications.

"I know what it's like to crawl around on the bathroom floor like an animal in the morning, vomiting with my head in the stool," he said. "I need your help. I'm not here because I want to get high. I'm here because I want to stop being sick. And I want to stop being persecuted."

Several physicians joined patients in supporting the idea. One was Dr. Edward Hertko, a retired West Des Moines physician, who said marijuana is less dangerous and addictive than many prescription drugs.

Hertko said the medical-marijuana discussion had nothing to do with drug users who simply want to get high. "The people who want recreational marijuana already know how to get it," he said.

Gary Young, a retired Polk County environmental health official, was in the minority when he spoke against medical marijuana.

Young was representing the Iowa Elks Association, which is concerned that legalization of marijuana for medical uses could make it easier for people, including minors, to obtain it for recreational uses.

Young countered proponents' studies with references to studies that found no medical benefit. He said prescription medications are purer and easier to control than smoked marijuana, which he said has hundreds of chemicals that vary in strength.

"I urge the board to make its decision on scientific evidence and not on anecdotal evidence," he said.

The pharmacy board will consider how it would regulate medical distribution of marijuana if the state allowed it.

One way would be to allow sales only through licensed pharmacies. A vice president of the Iowa Pharmacy Association told the board that the group would support experiments in which pharmacies would sell the drug to people who had doctors' prescriptions for it.

[MrProtein]

I hate people so much.

[Frylok]

Gary Young, a retired Polk County environmental health official, was in the minority when he spoke against medical marijuana.

Sounds like he was the only one. I wonder if he was holding a picture of Obama with a Hitler mustache?

Young was representing the Iowa Elks Association, which is concerned that legalization of marijuana for medical uses could make it easier for people, including minors, to obtain it for recreational uses.

Not to mention the Elk. Won't someone please think about the ELK??

Young countered proponents' studies with references to studies that found no medical benefit. He said prescription medications are purer and easier to control than smoked marijuana, which he said has hundreds of chemicals that vary in strength.

OK, present your evidence, Mr. Young. Was there any evidence quoted in this article??

"I urge the board to make its decision on scientific evidence and not on anecdotal evidence," he said.

ME TOO!!!

One crackpot at the board meeting isn't so bad I guess. Sounds like it went well for our side.

[Victor_vicious]

The pharmacy board will consider how it would regulate medical distribution of marijuana if the state allowed it.

One way would be to allow sales only through licensed pharmacies. A vice president of the Iowa Pharmacy Association told the board that the group would support experiments in which pharmacies would sell the drug to people who had doctors' prescriptions for it.

Uhh... say what?? I don't think this is good news. The Pharmacists would support Medical Marijuana if they can make money, HMMMMmmmmmmmm. .........I would watch this. Bad idea. VV

[TheInstitution]

Originally Posted by Victor_vicious

Uhh... say what?? I don't think this is good news. The Pharmacists would support Medical Marijuana if they can make money, HMMMMmmmmmmmm. .........I would watch this. Bad idea. VV

why else would pharmacy companies support it? why do they support any of their drugs?

[Victor_vicious]

Originally Posted by TheInstitution

why else would pharmacy companies support it? why do they support any of their drugs?

We get so excited that folks are even talking about Medical Marijuana we miss the details. By the time the fine folks in Iowa would actually be able to 'get a prescription for marijuana' and then go to Pharmacy that has a strain that is good for their particular condition, I will be dead anyway.
This would require a change in Federal Law. It would also cost a few dollars. You would have to train the Pharmacist. Pharmacist are in short supply, they are already working looong weeks. And by the time I would be able to purchase it I would not be able to afford what it would have to cost.
Are you kidding me, pharmacist do what they do to help you. If you take this....... you will be in a vineyard or on your sailboat or in your convertible with four of your friends that have the same problem as you. They let you have fun now or within 36 hours. You think they are only in this for the Money.
Ask the man, this 'Vice President' if they have done any research on Medical Marijuana to see if it is safe and effective, use his statement to find out what 'they' know. Then use it. Ask him if they have ever filled a Prescription that has killed someone? Ask him if Prescription Drugs are any kind of problem?
The "Pharmacy Board" does not care what the cost to the patient ends up being, I do, This is the wrong way to get medical marijuana, look how long it has taken in New Mexico. VV

[Dreau Preau]

It's still going to take a lot to garner the support of pharmacies that are legally protected from marijuana as a threat to their business. They rarely do anything if it isn't for their own benefit.

[MWbuddyMW]

how can you say you think u will be dead by the time IA legalizes? look at the other 13 states that just happened in the last few years. IA was one the first states to legalize for gay marriage and other controversial things, like medical marijuana.

[Victor_vicious]

I can say that because of my age sonny. I can say that because I read the article. I can say that as a Registered Patient and a Registered Care Giver for 5 patients in the State of Michigan. I can say that as a Member of the MMMA, The Jackson County Compassionate Club and as the founder of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Growers Association.
This discussion is not good for patients. They will be lead around for a few years, promised that something will happen soon, after we have more research, after the federal government changes the law, after the economy gets back on track. We have more pressing thing to worry about than a few stoner's wanting to just get high, but thanks for letting me know your stance, rest assured if anything ever comes of this I will keep your views in mind when I vote. Yea right. Bad legislation is bad legislation. VV

[MWbuddyMW]

So wait....someone who is growing.... or my bad, being a "care giver".... for 6 patients, someone who basically made up an organization for Michigan stoner's, and someone who has obviously lived to see 13 states legalize, doesn't think he/she will live to see Iowa, the possible 14th state to legalize, legalize?

Well if thats the case, then i, Jon Doe, founder of the Western Iowa Medical Marijuana Foundation, Member of the Smoke Weed Everyday Organization, and Co-founder of "Iowa Dro", will state only here on Marjuana.com, that i believe it will be legal for medical use here in Iowa within the next five years.

So just keep taking your vitamins and u might make it old man.
But hey go ahead and say it wont be, that the economy and Fed's will need to chang.....wait a minute, the Feds haven't changed, and look who's gotta medical license by the state of Michigan to break Fed law everyday. Just your old friendly neighbor "VV"