Pubdate: Thu, 19 Dec 2013
Source: Quad-City Times (IA)
Copyright: 2013 Quad-City Times
Contact: http://www.qctimes.com/app/pages/contact/new/?contact=letters
Website: http://qctimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/857
Author: Brian Littlejohn

CHANGE IOWA MARIJUANA LAWS

Brian Littlejohn Fellow Iowans: Prohibition of cannabis has created a 
huge black market, which subjects everyone to danger while creating a 
cash cow for the cartels.

Iowa's draconian approach has caused, and continues to cause, painful 
suffering and death, while the state spends millions of dollars 
fighting against a safe, proven and effective treatment for many illnesses.

Iowa legislators are relying on old propaganda, provided most 
recently in issue No. 4 of "The Connection," published on Dec. 11, 
2013, from the Iowa Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy. It is 
distributed to every legislator in Iowa.

More than 20 states and Washington D.C. have legalized medical 
cannabis, with more states submitting legislation in the coming year. 
A majority of Iowans in a poll (64 percent) feel medical cannabis 
laws would stop wasteful spending of tax dollars and ruining people's 
lives. In an agricultural state like Iowa, medical cannabis offers 
new tax revenue, new jobs and a safer treatment option for our 
doctors to prescribe. One's health should be a medical issue, not a 
law enforcement issue.

I urge Iowans to contact their respective state legislators, Governor 
Branstad, and Lt. Governor Reynolds, to support the upcoming medical 
cannabis bills being introduced in January 2014. Medical cannabis 
laws are coming to Iowa, but how much time and money will we waste 
and how many lives will be ruined or lost in the meantime?

Brian Littlejohn

Agency, Iowa
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom