DES MOINES - A parade of Iowans touted the medical benefits of marijuana at a hearing before the Iowa Board of Pharmacy today, which is seeking scientific input on medical marijuana use.

Robert Manke of Des Moines told the board that using marijuana helps with severe nausea and pain from migraine headaches and the results of severe car accidents.

"I'm not here because I want to get high; I'm here because I want to stop being sick, and I want to stop being persecuted, and I need your help," Manke said.

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Medical-marijuana advocates urged state regulators today to let patients use the drug to treat pain and nausea.

"I know what it's like to crawl around on the bathroom floor like an animal in the morning, vomiting with my head in the stool," he said. "I need your help. I'm not here because I want to get high. I'm here because I want to stop being sick. And I want to stop being persecuted."

Manke was part of a string of witnesses at a medical-marijuana hearing held by the Iowa Board of Pharmacy. The board plans to hold four such hearings around the state, then make a recommendation to legislators about whether Iowa should join 13 other states in legalizing marijuana for medical purposes.

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Residents Will Get Chance to Weigh in During Hearings

A lawsuit, a piece of legislation and a series of hearings in front of Iowa's drug board have heated up the debate about the possibility of Iowa becoming the 14th state to legalize medical marijuana.

One of the top proponents is Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City.

Sitting in an eatery Tuesday in downtown Iowa City, Bolkcom flipped though a stack of e-mails. One was from a 58-year-old man with multiple sclerosis who is wheelchair bound; another was a 29-year-old receiving dialysis for kidney failure who experiences steady pain and no appetite. Another was from a 42-year-old woman with four kids who was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and has been legally disabled for two and a half years.

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About 21 years have gone by since George McMahon landed in the University of Iowa hospital.

He was suffering from kidney failure, a fractured spine, nausea and extreme pain. Doctors had not yet discovered the root of his problems, a rare genetic disorder called nail-patella syndrome. But they told him one thing: He probably wouldn't live through the night.

That evening, McMahon smoked a joint -- given to him by someone visiting an ailing cancer patient -- with the thought "Why not?" Later that night, he was able to eat. Ten days later, he left the hospital.

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DES MOINES --- Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, 53-year-old Barbara Douglass can no longer walk and uses a scooter.

But she has found one way to cope with a condition she calls "ungodly and terrible" and to steady her shaking hands --- smoking marijuana.

"It doesn't make it better, but it makes it easier," said Douglass, who also is legally blind.

Douglass, of Lakeside, is one of two Iowans who are part of federal program that allows them to smoke marijuana legally for their medical conditions. Each month, Douglass gets a can of pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes from her doctor. She finds she is more active after smoking it.

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DES MOINES - Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, 53-year-old Barbara Douglass can no longer walk and uses a scooter.

But she has found one way to cope with a condition she calls "ungodly and terrible" and to steady her shaking hands - smoking marijuana.

"It doesn't make it better, but it makes it easier," said Douglass, who also is legally blind.

Douglass, of Lakeside is one of two Iowans who are part of a federal program that allows them to smoke marijuana legally for their medical conditions. Each month, Douglass gets a can of prerolled marijuana cigarettes from her doctor. She finds she is more active after smoking it.

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DES MOINES -- The Iowa Board of Pharmacy has announced the dates and locations of four upcoming public hearings on medical marijuana.

The board is seeking scientific evidence on the pros and cons of using marijuana for medical purposes. The board could decide to make a recommendation to the Iowa Legislature based on the information gathered at the hearings.

The first hearing is set for Aug. 19 in Des Moines. The hearing will be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Iowa State Historical Building.

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The Iowa Board of Pharmacy has given the green light to a series of public hearings about the use of medical marijuana.

Four such hearings, including one in Mason City, will be held from August through November. Dates have not been announced.

This follows a growing trend around the United States as lawmakers and government officials re-examine laws governing marijuana use. The drug once thought used only by dropouts is gaining new respectability.

Legalized marijuana, at least for medical purposes, is not as taboo as one might think. Marijuana use for medical purposes is legal in 13 states. That's 13 state legislatures that have decided that there's enough scientific evidence to back up the claim that marijuana has beneficial uses.

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Iowa is about to explore whether sick residents should be allowed to use marijuana to treat health problems, including pain and nausea. The Iowa Board of Pharmacy, which regulates pharmacy practices and the distribution of prescription drugs, has voted unanimously to hold public hearings around the state.

Though the Iowa Legislature would have to approve any changes to the law regarding the medical use of marijuana, the pharmacy board deserves credit for initiating a statewide conversation.

Iowans should pay attention and get involved. The meetings are this state's opportunity to examine the scientific research and opinions. This matters because at the end of the day, the use of marijuana for medical purposes isn't about being "soft on drugs" or catering to those who think it's their "right" to smoke marijuana.

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Concerning the Register's story about a judge ruling that the Iowa Board of Pharmacy must examine whether marijuana has an accepted medical use ("Medical Marijuana Hearings Planned," July 22): I would think that there have been many studies done already that could be used to come to an unbiased decision.

Past studies must have supported legalizing marijuana because you never hear of the results. I don't understand how pharmacists could not help but be biased. If people could grow Lipitor on a bush, the pharmacy people would say it should be illegal.

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Iowans will get a chance to weigh in on whether patients should be allowed to smoke marijuana to ease pain, nausea and other physical ailments.

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted unanimously Tuesday to hold hearings around the state on the matter.

"This is an issue that has attracted and continues to attract a lot of attention, and appropriately so," board member Margaret Whitworth said.

Whitworth said the board wants to hear from academic experts and everyday Iowans before making a recommendation to the Legislature. The hearings are to begin in August, but dates haven't been set.

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It would seem that at long last a real discussion has emerged over the decriminalization of marijuana. The inevitable debate over policy, taxation and implementation will take years to hammer out. But make no mistake, at long last pot will become legal.

The impetus of the debate no doubt has to do with the aging baby-boomer generation coming to terms with the reality of its youth. We know who we are, we know we tried pot, we know that after trying it we did not turn to heroin. We know that it did not stop us from becoming productive citizens. U.S. presidents have smoked it. We no longer feel it prevents them from serving in that high office.

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DES MOINES - The Iowa Board of Pharmacy on Monday again rejected the arguments of advocates who want to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, saying they failed to present sufficient evidence.

Those advocates had asked the board to recommend that marijuana be removed from what is known as a schedule 1 classification. They argued that marijuana no longer met that classification's criteria of having no accepted use in medical treatments in the United States.

The advocates for medicinal marijuana use argued that the drug is now legally used for medical purposes in 13 states. They took the board to court last year after the board refused to review marijuana's classification.

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Iowa pharmacy regulators expressed skepticism Monday about the need to follow other states in legalizing the medical use of marijuana.

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy, under orders from a judge, took up the issue but quickly dismissed it.

Board member DeeAnn Wedemeyer Oleson said evidence presented earlier by pro-marijuana activists was "woefully inadequate."

Advocates have contended that the board must allow medical uses of marijuana because 13 other states allow it.

Wedemeyer Oleson, a Guthrie Center pharmacist, said the activists' reasoning reminded her of an argument she made to her father when she was a teen-ager. She said she insisted that he let her stay out until 1 a.m. because her friends' parents allowed them to do so. "He said, 'If your friends jumped off a bridge, does that mean you should jump off a bridge?' "

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Regarding editorial writer Andie Dominick's May 8 essay on medical marijuana:

Not only should medical marijuana be made available to patients in need, but adult recreational use should be regulated.

Drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Dealers of illegal drugs don't ID for age, but they do recruit minors immune to adult sentences. So much for protecting the children.

Throwing more money at the problem is no solution. Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of trafficking. For addictive drugs, such as heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The drug war doesn't fight crime; it fuels crime.

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George McMahon is afflicted with Nail Patella Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes abnormalities of joints, kidneys and bones. It is sometimes detected when someone's kneecaps don't develop or fingernails are missing. Many with the syndrome are also afflicted with glaucoma.

McMahon has small kneecaps and no thumbnails and suffers from severe pain, muscle spasms and nausea. In his 59 years, he's been hospitalized repeatedly, undergone nearly 20 major surgeries and has had five "near death" experiences.

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I am taking it upon myself to address the Register on behalf of all parents of child-rearing age. Your April 26 Metro front-page article describing the drug salvia divinorum not only told of the tantalizing effects and reasonable cost ($9), but also explained just how to use the drug and where to obtain it.

If that weren't enough to raise the ire of your readers, you announced in the headline that its use is "completely legal in Iowa."

Was all that information really necessary?

Stu Bassman, Clive

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Several years ago, a friend of mine who was diagnosed with terminal cancer told of the incredible amount of pain he was suffering. With plenty of guilt, he admitted he was smoking marijuana to alleviate the pain and anxiety that accompanied it.

With pot, he could still live life with some dignity rather than tied to a medical bed. Like most of us, he was a Joe six-pack drinker who viewed illegal drugs with fear and disdain. When it came to viewing life's end, he wanted a dignified death. Marijuana gave him that sense of still living, whereas the morphine put him in a comatose state.

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Concerning an April 25 article in the Register about a judge ruling that the Iowa Board of Pharmacy must examine whether marijuana has an accepted medical use: I would think there have been many studies done already that could be used to come to an unbiased decision.

Past studies must have positive results for the side of legalizing marijuana because you never hear the results. I don't understand how pharmacists could not help but be biased.

The pharmaceutical industry can see the writing on the wall: Pot relieved my nausea (no more antacids); I don't feel stressed (no more Valium); and it lowered blood pressure (throw out some more pills).

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A Polk County judge has ruled that the Iowa Board of Pharmacy must examine whether marijuana has an accepted medical use - a decision some said could thaw the debate on its use for medical purposes in Iowa.

The ruling Thursday by District Judge Joel Novak does not legalize medical marijuana in Iowa. Instead, it requires the pharmacy board to consider whether marijuana is properly classified as a Schedule I controlled substance under state law.

"What this does is it forces the board to address medical marijuana," said Randall Wilson, the attorney who handled the case for the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa.

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