A senate subcommittee has approved a bill that would let the parents of children with a severe form of epilepsy go out of state to get an oil-based form of medical marijuana for their children. The bill will be considered by a full senate committee sometime after five o'clock today.
The bill would decriminalize possession of cannabis oil, which advocates say does not contain the properties that make someone high, but does provide relief to those who suffer seizures. Steve Lukan, the state's drug czar, isn't sold and suggests some "very potent forms" of marijuana might be brought into the state if the bill becomes law. Republican Senator Charles Schneider of West Des Moines says the bill is "as narrow as possible" and would NOT allow Iowans to get marijuana cigarettes as a medical treatment.
Governor Branstad recently expressed a willingness to consider making this marijuana derivative available in oil form for Iowa patients who suffer daily seizures, sometimes more than a hundred in a single 24 hour period.
