Hospitals Struggle To Keep Drugs From Addicts And Protect Environment

IOWA CITY When a patient emerges from anesthesia after surgery, his nurse wants to make sure he doesn't feel pain.

She gets a 1 milliliter syringe of hydromorphone, a generic form of Dilaudid, from a secure drug cabinet. She plans to give her patient .2 milliliter. Even patients with open hysterectomies some of the most painful procedures need just .4 milliliter.

She squirts the rest of the drug down the drain, where it can't be abused by addicts but can pollute drinking water.

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The Iowans who told their medical marijuana stories to Quad-City Times readers in the Dec. 15 editions seem to come from a planet wholly unfamiliar to our region's top drug officers.

Times reporter Brian Wellner interviewed seven Iowans who were adamant that marijuana smoke, vapors, tincture and ointment are easing symptoms from verifiable illnesses that FDA-approved, opium-derived medications cannot. We reported on military veterans and the mothers of seriously ill toddlers who sought marijuana remedies to avoid the debilitating side effects of legal prescriptions. All were so convinced of marijuana's medical value, they were willing to share their names and photographs in a community where such disclosures still risk felony prosecution.

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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.

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As more and more states and municipalities test the waters of legalizing medical marijuana, some have argued that Iowa's conservative roots would prevent a similar effort from getting through the Legislature. Outside of the major population centers, this line of reasoning goes, support for controversial policies such as medical marijuana loses momentum, especially as the use of marijuana decreases.

But poll results released Tuesday paint a different picture. The University of Iowa Hawkeye Poll, a survey of approximately 1,000 Iowans, found 59.3 percent of respondents from all age groups support legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.

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I am a senior citizen and have had a chronic progressive neurological condition, which is also an autoimmune disease, for the past 33 years. There is no cure.

I am also quadriplegic with severe nerve pain and all that that implies, including skin breakdown, recurring UTIs and vertigo, to name a few. At the very least, medical cannabis would relieve my nerve pain. I'm quite confident from all that I have read that it would also stop the progression of my condition, which would be a great benefit before I possibly go blind and lose my ability to swallow.

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CEDAR RAPIDS - A mother, an Iraq War veteran and the former director of New Mexico's medical marijuana program made the case for changes in state law to allow Iowans with certain health conditions to seek relief through medicinal marijuana.

The public information meeting in Iowa City Tuesday night, which attracted about 100 people, wasn't about legalizing marijuana, the war on drugs or sentencing reform, said state Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, who co-sponsored the meeting with the ACLU-Iowa.

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Two guest speakers talked about the ongoing war on drugs and its effects on society on Wednesday, Nov. 6, at the Memorial Union. First to speak was Martin Acerbo, professor of psychology. He tried to put the debate into a scientific context. "If we talk about legalizing drugs, we need to carefully consider what questions we need to ask," Acerbo said. Smoking marijuana can have medical effects, but it also has a considerate effect on the cognitive abilities. "It affects your perception on time and your ability to react, so it puts everyone around in danger, once you decide to drive," Acerbo said. Acerbo said that discussions concerning the matter should be dictated by facts rather than emotions. "We don't know yet how certain substances affect your body or interact with each other, especially when you smoke a joint," Acerbo said. "Police officers often arrest people based on the level of THC in your blood, even though that doesn't indicate your level of intoxication at all."

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Regarding your editorial ("Illinois stumbles into medical marijuana," Aug. 5), while there have been studies showing that marijuana can shrink cancerous tumors, medical marijuana is essentially a palliative drug. If a doctor recommends marijuana to a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy and it helps them feel better, then it's working. In the end, medical marijuana is a quality-of-life decision best left to patients and their doctors.

Drug warriors waging war on non-corporate drugs contend that organic marijuana is not an effective health intervention. Their prescribed intervention for medical marijuana patients is handcuffs, jail cells and criminal records. This heavy-handed approach suggests that drug warriors should not be dictating healthcare decisions. It's long past time to let doctors decide what is right for their patients; sick patients should not be jailed for daring to seek relief from marijuana.

Robert Sharpe

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C*.*

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National marijuana-legalization advocates made Clel Baudler's day by naming him one of the "Worst State Legislators of 2013."

The Iowa representative burst into laughter when informed this afternoon that he'd made the national, eight-member villains' list put out by the Marijuana Policy Project. "I appreciate it. How do I want to say this? I want to be as snarky as possible," he said. He thought about it for a moment, then declared: "I look at this designation with pride, coming from a group of individuals who, quite frankly in my opinion, don't know sic 'em from whoa."

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Illinois officially stumbled into the hazy world of medical marijuana, where a mish-mosh of conflicting state laws try to reinvent tried-and-true pharmacology practices.

Gov. Pat Quinn signed Illinois' medical marijuana bill, touted as the toughest in the nation. Perhaps. But in this nation, 20 state legislatures and the District of Columbia have dreamed up wildly inconsistent regulations that seem to overlook how modern medicine has regulated and prescribed narcotics for decades.

Anyone sick enough to need an opium-derived medication - Oxycodone, for example can fill a prescription almost anywhere. Those needing medical marijuana are subject to various restrictions by different state legislatures.

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The government has been fighting over the legalization of marijuana for many years. Why is this fight still going on? The benefits that legalized marijuana would bring outweigh the negatives.

Not all drugs should be legal. However, marijuana is not a "drug," it is a plant.

Real criminals behind bars, our national debt cleared on the taxes alone, and creating jobs for Americans are some of the benefits that outweigh the negatives. Why is it that I, a 21-year-old, realizes this, but the people we put in charge of our nation do not?

Brenee Andrew

Cedar Rapids

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Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday he thinks state officials should review the fact that black Iowans are arrested eight times more often than white Iowans for marijuana possession, but he doesn't believe the solution is to legalize pot.

The governor was asked about the racial disparity for marijuana arrests in Iowa in the wake of a report released earlier this month by the American Civil Liberties Union. The research , based on FBI data, found that Iowa has the worst racial disparity in the nation for marijuana arrests, even though whites and blacks smoke marijuana at about the same rates. The study, titled, Marijuana in Black and White: Billions of Dollars Wasted on Racially Biased Arrests, recommends legalization of marijuana as the smartest and surest way to end racially biased enforcement. Branstad made it clear Monday during his weekly Iowa Statehouse news briefing that he won't support the legalization of marijuana for Iowa residents.

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A black person in Iowa is more than eight times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person, even though both use marijuana at about the same rate, according to a report issued Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The study, based on data collected from the FBI and the Census Bureau, founds that Iowa has the largest racial disparity in the United States in comparing marijuana arrest rates between blacks and whites. Iowa is followed by Washington, D.C., Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.

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I can only speak from my own experience. In my opinion marijuana should not be legalized. The last thing we need is another get-high drug with questionable medical benefits.

This is my experience: I smoked a lot of pot. I used it as an alternative to alcohol which had disastrous effects on me. I found that with pot I didn't have black outs, I didn't have hangovers and I could get high without getting in trouble. No problem.

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Pain Sufferers Urge Passage, but Measure Dies in Senate

A bill to legalize medical marijuana was declared dead Monday in the Iowa Senate because of public safety worries and the possible unauthorized use by minors, despite pleas from several marijuana users who told personal stories of how the drug had helped them.

Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, who chaired a subcommittee considering Senate File 79, said after the meeting that it's apparent the proposal doesn't have enough support to win the full Senate Human Resources Committee's approval.

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The Idea Is Still Backed by a Majority, but the Size Has Shrunk Since 2010. Allowing Recreational Use Is Still Solidly Opposed.

More than half of Iowans favor allowing sick people to use marijuana as medicine, but the idea is not as popular as it used to be, according to The Des Moines Register's latest Iowa Poll.

But a large, steady majority of Iowans disapprove of allowing people to smoke marijuana just to get high.

The survey found that 58 percent of Iowa adults support legalizing medical marijuana. That's down 6 percentage points from a similar poll question posed in 2010. Only 29 percent of Iowans support allowing recreational use of the drug, up a point from three years ago.

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A bill recently introduced in the Iowa Senate would allow physicians to prescribe marijuana to patients with chronic illnesses.

According to the Iowa Poll, 64 percent of Iowans are in favor of allowing medical marijuana in Iowa. Since the poll was conducted in 2010, four states have added themselves to the growing list of the now 18 states which allow medical marijuana.

Sen. Joe Bolkcom, a sponsor of the proposed bill, is unsure when Iowa will join the list.

"We're still in an educational process with policy makers on the issue. There are certainly members of legislature that are opposed," Bolkcom said.

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CLINTON - Gateway ImpACT Coalition was honored as a leader of substance abuse prevention in the state at its annual breakfast on Friday.

Iowa Drug Policy Coordinator Steve Lukan presented the coalition with one of two state awards given annually by the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy for excellence in reducing substance abuse.

"Gateway ImpACT is a perfect example of a coalition doing great work," Lukan said. "Gateway has been a leader and continues to go above and beyond."

The local coalition received the award for outstanding work in fighting prescription drug abuse and educating families. Gateway has teamed up with local law enforcement to host the Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet Day event for the past five years, collecting 2,800 pounds of prescription drugs.

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While there have been studies showing that marijuana can shrink cancerous tumors, medical marijuana is essentially a palliative drug. If a doctor recommends marijuana to a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy, and it helps them feel better, then it's working. In the end, medical marijuana is a quality-of-life decision best left to patients and their doctors.

Drug warriors waging war on noncorporate drugs contend that organic marijuana is not an effective health intervention. Their prescribed intervention for medical marijuana patients is handcuffs, jail cells, and criminal records. This heavy-handed approach suggests that drug warriors should not dictate health-care decisions.

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Two months after Colorado and Washington became the first American states to legalize recreational use of marijuana, a proposal to reform Iowa's marijuana laws has come to the state House of Representatives.

Rep. Bruce Hunter, D-Des Moines, proposed the Medical Marijuana Act last week.

The Daily Iowan Editorial Board supports Hunter's push for medical marijuana in Iowa; the current legal framework around the drug in Iowa is untenable, and this proposal would be the first step toward improvement. Passage of the Medical Marijuana Act would also be a major victory for patients in Iowa who are currently deprived of a legitimate means of treating some particularly debilitating conditions.

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