Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
An Iowa lawmaker said Wednesday the Legislature might revisit the state's medical marijuana law if a study at the University of Nebraska Medical Center produces positive results.
UNMC is recruiting Nebraska residents for a clinical trial that investigates the use of cannabidiol in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy when taken in addition to current anti-epileptic drugs, according to a press release from the medical center. Iowa residents are not eligible for the study.
A pharmaceutical company based in the United Kingdom, is supplying the investigational medicine being used in the study, called Epidiolex, for free.
"I think we need to have the research that shows if this substance is effective or not," said State Rep. Greg Forristall, R-Macedonia. "Also, we need to have it distributed through pharmacies, not out of unregulated back-door dealers" like some selling cannabidiol in Colorado.
A recent study at the University of Iowa that used Epidiolex for patients with Dravet syndrome, a rare genetic form of epileptic encephalopathy (dysfunction of the brain), reduced the number of convulsive seizures by 39 percent, according to reports.
"I've held a baby in my arms that went from 100 seizures a day to 10," said Sen. Mike Gronstal, Senate majority leader, D-Council Bluffs. "There's been lots of research done in other states."
Iowa's medical marijuana law, passed in 2014, limits use of cannabidiol to intractable epilepsy cases. It also prohibits production of the substance in Iowa — which means patients or their caregivers must smuggle it in from another state in violation of federal law in order to use it.
Efforts to expand access to medical marijuana during the 2016 legislative session fell short.
"The Iowa Senate is ready, willing and able to move forward on something now," Gronstal said, pinning the Legislature's failure to act on Republican leaders in the House.
Cannabidiol is extracted from the marijuana plant and is distinct from tetrahydrocannabidiol, or THC, the cannabinoid that is responsible for the drug-related high, according to UNMC. Epidiolex is a plant-based pharmaceutical formulation of pure cannabidiol, and the British company's product contains only trace amounts of THC.
So far, 24 states have legalized medical marijuana. Despite the legalization trend in the states, the federal government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance with "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse."
That classification makes the study more complicated than other UNMC medicine studies, said Dr. Chris Kratochvil, the center's associate vice chancellor for research.
Standards need to be set to control the purity of cannabidiol and amount of THC allowed, Forristall said.
"It needs to be approved by the FDA, it needs to be sold through regulated pharmacies," he said.
Forristall said it's his understanding that Epidiolex is "on the fast track" and could be approved as soon as the end of 2017.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Forristall - Medical Marijuana Study Results Could Influence Iowa Law
Author: Tim Johnson
Contact: (712) 328-1811
Photo Credit: Sarah Hoffman
Website: The Daily Nonpareil
UNMC is recruiting Nebraska residents for a clinical trial that investigates the use of cannabidiol in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy when taken in addition to current anti-epileptic drugs, according to a press release from the medical center. Iowa residents are not eligible for the study.
A pharmaceutical company based in the United Kingdom, is supplying the investigational medicine being used in the study, called Epidiolex, for free.
"I think we need to have the research that shows if this substance is effective or not," said State Rep. Greg Forristall, R-Macedonia. "Also, we need to have it distributed through pharmacies, not out of unregulated back-door dealers" like some selling cannabidiol in Colorado.
A recent study at the University of Iowa that used Epidiolex for patients with Dravet syndrome, a rare genetic form of epileptic encephalopathy (dysfunction of the brain), reduced the number of convulsive seizures by 39 percent, according to reports.
"I've held a baby in my arms that went from 100 seizures a day to 10," said Sen. Mike Gronstal, Senate majority leader, D-Council Bluffs. "There's been lots of research done in other states."
Iowa's medical marijuana law, passed in 2014, limits use of cannabidiol to intractable epilepsy cases. It also prohibits production of the substance in Iowa — which means patients or their caregivers must smuggle it in from another state in violation of federal law in order to use it.
Efforts to expand access to medical marijuana during the 2016 legislative session fell short.
"The Iowa Senate is ready, willing and able to move forward on something now," Gronstal said, pinning the Legislature's failure to act on Republican leaders in the House.
Cannabidiol is extracted from the marijuana plant and is distinct from tetrahydrocannabidiol, or THC, the cannabinoid that is responsible for the drug-related high, according to UNMC. Epidiolex is a plant-based pharmaceutical formulation of pure cannabidiol, and the British company's product contains only trace amounts of THC.
So far, 24 states have legalized medical marijuana. Despite the legalization trend in the states, the federal government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance with "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse."
That classification makes the study more complicated than other UNMC medicine studies, said Dr. Chris Kratochvil, the center's associate vice chancellor for research.
Standards need to be set to control the purity of cannabidiol and amount of THC allowed, Forristall said.
"It needs to be approved by the FDA, it needs to be sold through regulated pharmacies," he said.
Forristall said it's his understanding that Epidiolex is "on the fast track" and could be approved as soon as the end of 2017.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Forristall - Medical Marijuana Study Results Could Influence Iowa Law
Author: Tim Johnson
Contact: (712) 328-1811
Photo Credit: Sarah Hoffman
Website: The Daily Nonpareil
