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Iowa Governor Will Sign Restrictive CBD Medical Marijuana Bill into Law


By TJ Baker

May 24, 2014
Iowa Governor Will Sign Restrictive CBD Medical Marijuana Bill into Law
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DES MOINES, IA — Iowa Governor Terry Branstad announced this week that he would sign a bill to allow cannabidiol oil (CBD oil), a non-psychoactive concentrate derived from marijuana, for patients suffering from severe epileptic seizures.

The bill, Senate File 2360, was passed earlier this month by the state legislature. Under the proposal, patients would need a recommendation from a neurologist and a registration card from Iowa’s Department of Public Health to be authorized to possess and use up to 32 ounces of cannabidiol.

At first, the Republican governor opposed the proposal, claiming he was worried about the potential for “unintended consequences” such as drug abuse, but is signing the bill becauses that he has empathy for families who believe CBD helps limit their chidrens’ seizures.

“I think we need to look at this as a very careful experiment that we and other states like Utah and Alabama are doing and see if it really does have the efficacy that the families hope it has,” Branstad told the Associated Press.

“I think it would be a mistake to look at now expanding [medical marijuana] to a whole bunch of other things,” he added, so it is unlikely that Iowa will see a more comprehensive medical marijuana program established anytime soon.

Once signed by Gov. Branstad, Iowa will join five other states that passed similar restrictive, CBD-only medical marijuana bills this year, including Wisconsin and Mississippi.

The bill is “largely symbolic” because it provides no legal, in-state source for Iowa residents to obtain the substance known as cannabidiol, says NORML deputy director Paul Armentano.

“The law unfortunately will fail to provide either adequate access or adequate relief to the very patient population it is intended to serve,” Armentano said.

Armentano added that residents of Iowa would have to obtain the oil from a state where marijuana is legal, and break federal law to carry it across state lines