A bill that could dramatically expand the use of medical marijuana in Iowa is NEARLY ready for debate in the Iowa Senate, but it appears the bill as currently written has little chance of winning approval in the House. Representative Clel Baudler, a Republican from Greenfield, said “Three days after hell freezes over that bill will pass in the House.”

Baudler tried but failed to pass legislation out of a HOUSE committee earlier this year that would have set up growing and dispensing operations for cannabis oil in Iowa. House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, a Republican from Clear Lake, is a nurse. Upmeyer says the Senate bill goes farther than House Republicans want, but she’s not ruling out SOME action this year.

“There’s an opportunity to do more,” Upmeyer says. “I’m just not sure that’s the bill.” Upmeyer says one flaw in the Senate bill is there’s no limit on the amount of T-H-C that could be included in medical marijuana products sold in Iowa. T-H-C is the chemical compound in the plant responsible for most of the “high” associated with pot. Senators, meanwhile, are pressing ahead with their bill. It cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday and will be considered in the Senate Ways and Means Committee today (Thursday).

Senator Tom Greene, a Republican from Burlington, is a retired pharmacist.”There are so many Iowans who have really kind of been left behind on treatment,” Greene says. “This is a pathway that we can provide for them an alternative use that has been approved in 28 other states, so it’s not a new idea.”

In 2014, the legislature legalized POSSESSION of cannabis oil as treatment for one condition: chronic epilepsy. That legal protection expires July 1st. Legislators say, at the least, they will vote to extend the law so patients who’ve been taking cannabis oil can continue the treatment, which many say has dramatically reduced the number of seizures.

(Radio Iowa)