Several dozen people have expressed interest in manufacturing or distributing medical marijuana products under Iowa’s new law, despite strict limits on what they would be able to sell, a state administrator said Wednesday.
The Iowa Department of Public Health is scrambling to set up rules after legislators voted last spring to expand the state’s tiny medical marijuana program. The new program is expected to be implemented next year.
Under the previous law, the state allowed people with severe epilepsy to possess marijuana oil with little of the chemical that makes recreational pot users high. Legislators heard complaints that the program was practically useless, because it provided no legal way for patients to obtain the medication. Lawmakers decided this year to let two manufacturers and five distributors set up in Iowa to grow and sell marijuana products, which could be used to treat an expanded list of illnesses.
Health department administrator Randy Mayer said Wednesday about 50 people have inquired about what it would take to become an approved manufacturer or distributor under the new law. “There seems to be quite a bit of interest,” he said.
The health department already has implemented the part of the new law allowing possession of approved marijuana products by patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis, seizures, AIDS or HIV, Crohn’s disease, or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, as well as most terminal illnesses that involve untreatable pain and a life expectancy of less than one year. The old law only allowed possession by patients with severe epilepsy.
However, the addition of other ailments has not led to a surge of applications for cards allowing possession of the marijuana oil. Since the new law took effect in mid-May, just 39 patients have had such cards approved, the health department reports. Just 68 patients had previously been approved for such cards since the old law took effect in 2015.
“That’s ambitious,” Mayer said of the timing. Under the law passed last spring, the system is supposed to be ready to dispense medication by December 2018.
The new law strictly limits what kinds of marijuana products could be made and sold in Iowa. It bars products that could be smoked or eaten. It also bars products with more than 3 percent of THC, the chemical that makes recreational marijuana users high. Many patient advocates say THC helps treat medical symptoms, such as pain, and they fear Iowa’s strict limit will tamp down demand and harm medical marijuana businesses’ ability to make money.BJ Hoffman, of Liscomb, is among the Iowans interested in producing a marijuana extract also known as cannabis oil.
“If this ever comes to fruition in Iowa, I want to take care of human beings outside the realm of pharmaceuticals and big pharma,” he said Wednesday.
Hoffman, who is a Hardin County supervisor, said he has trained as a nurse, has worked on ambulance crews and owns a barbecue business. He has scouted sites to grow specially bred plants and produce the cannabis oil, but he can’t commit to a property until the health department releases specific rules on how the businesses must run.
Hoffman believes the state’s ambitious timetable is feasible, and he’s optimistic the market would be big enough for businesses to break even and then grow as society becomes more accepting of using marijuana products to treat illnesses. He vowed that he could deliver an approved cannabis oil within 150 days of obtaining a state license.
The new state cards cost $100, and the state doesn’t currently provide any way for patients to use them to legally purchase marijuana products. Sally Gaer, of West Des Moines, who has lobbied for more access to medical marijuana, said it’s understandable why there would be little immediate demand for the cards.
“I don’t think people want to pay $100 per year when there is no guarantee of product until December 2018,” she said.
Gaer obtained a state registration card for her adult daughter, Margaret, who has a severe form of epilepsy. The card provides some legal protection for possession of the cannabis oil Margaret takes to prevent seizures. However, the cards don’t provide legal clarity to the family’s practice of buying the oil through the mail from a producer in Colorado.
Gaer said she was heartened to hear that about 50 people have expressed interest in possibly becoming producers or distributors under Iowa’s new medical marijuana law.
Gov. Kim Reynolds is expected to soon appoint a nine-member board, mainly made up of physicians, to oversee the new program. The board’s tasks will include writing rules on which types and strengths of marijuana products may be sold for each ailment, and how businesses must handle security.
Mayer said many of the people expressing interest in manufacturing the medications appear to have experience doing so in other states that have previously legalized the products. But he said many of the people expressing interest in distributing the medication appear to be less experienced.
Mayer said he has asked the state attorney general’s office for an opinion about the legality of letting distributors bring in products made in other states. The federal government does not recognize the legality of marijuana products, even for most medical uses. Former President Barack Obama ordered his administration not to prosecute people who were complying with their states’ medical marijuana laws, but President Trump’s Justice Department has taken a dimmer view of such uses.
Iowa’s new law is modeled after Minnesota’s version, but is more restrictive in what types of products may be sold. Critics of Iowa’s new law note that businesses in Minnesota have struggled to gain enough customers to break even.
credit:desmoinesregister.com