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Family of Maggie Selemski, a toddler with a seizure disorder whose parents have turned to medical marijuana, traveled to Waterloo on Tuesday to right some misconceptions about the controversial substance. Brooke Rice of Cedar Falls is the aunt of 17-month-old Maggie. Her parents moved to Colorado recently to access legal medical marijuana which could ease symptoms of her debilitating seizures. Whether medical marijuana is right for Iowa was the topic of a public forum held at the Waterloo Public Library by Cedar Valley Citizens for Undoing Racism.
Rice spoke up when the panel of health and substance abuse experts questioned the safety of Maggie's treatment, saying the side effects of early marijuana use are still untested. "She took lots of drugs and none have helped her spasms," Rice said. "They don't know how long she's going to live. It's definitely a last resort." Rice said all of Maggie's extended family lives in Iowa, including her great-grandparents who may never see her again since the distance is too great to travel. "People that want to use drugs in a legal way are not able to unless they relocate," Rice said. Maggie, whose seizures have slowed her brain development, has been using a cannabis oil only a few days now. But her parents are already noticing a difference in her behavior. "When she is eating she kinds of makes a frustrated noise when they don't feed her fast enough; she never made any kind for response before," Rice said.
A crowd of more than 50 people gathered to hear panelists Ronald Flory, a retired family doctor; Chris Hoffman, executive director of Pathways Behavioral Services, Inc. and William Downs, a professor of social work at the University of Northern Iowa. They were asked whether medical marijuana was right for Iowa and how it should be treated if it were legalized. "Medical marijuana should be available as an option for use, particularly looking at different potential applications it could have," Flory said. "To have something for chronic pain that's not addicting would be wonderful." But he criticized federal restraints on research to test its full, medical potential. Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I substance, the same as heroin and LSD, meaning the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration considers it among the most dangerous drugs and carries the highest penalties.
But Flory said marijuana derivatives, such as a prescription pill called Marinol which induces appetite, could also be found to ease chronic pain and nausea if they were allowed to do the proper research . "Marinol is $10 to $40 a pill. Most people would just go around the block and buy some weed," he said. All on the panel agreed that if medical marijuana were made legal, it should be treated like any prescription drug: obtained through a doctor's consent. "It should be up to the doctor and the patient which is best course," Downs said. In 2010, the Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted to move marijuana from a schedule I to schedule II, which would recognize its medical uses. But there has not been any movement by the state Legislature to recognize that.
Democrat Sen. Bill Dotzler of Waterloo rose from the back of the room to voice his support behind legislation legalizing medical marijuana use. But he said with the current split-party makeup in the Statehouse, that's unlikely to happen. "I'm going to support these bills. I am not supporting recreational use. I don't think we'd be able to move this thing forward if somebody tried to tie that to it," he said. "But it's got to be controlled in Iowa." Last year he supported a medical marijuana bill after his friend, who died of cancer, found some relief from the substance. But Dotzler said the best way to spur medical marijuana legislation along is the public sharing personal stories by post to local legislators, telling their story like Maggie's mother. That's how you're going win this movement," he said.
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Wcfcourier.com
Author: MacKenzie Elmer
Contact: WCFCourier.com | Contact Us
Website: Panel discusses medicinal marijuana options for Iowa
Rice spoke up when the panel of health and substance abuse experts questioned the safety of Maggie's treatment, saying the side effects of early marijuana use are still untested. "She took lots of drugs and none have helped her spasms," Rice said. "They don't know how long she's going to live. It's definitely a last resort." Rice said all of Maggie's extended family lives in Iowa, including her great-grandparents who may never see her again since the distance is too great to travel. "People that want to use drugs in a legal way are not able to unless they relocate," Rice said. Maggie, whose seizures have slowed her brain development, has been using a cannabis oil only a few days now. But her parents are already noticing a difference in her behavior. "When she is eating she kinds of makes a frustrated noise when they don't feed her fast enough; she never made any kind for response before," Rice said.
A crowd of more than 50 people gathered to hear panelists Ronald Flory, a retired family doctor; Chris Hoffman, executive director of Pathways Behavioral Services, Inc. and William Downs, a professor of social work at the University of Northern Iowa. They were asked whether medical marijuana was right for Iowa and how it should be treated if it were legalized. "Medical marijuana should be available as an option for use, particularly looking at different potential applications it could have," Flory said. "To have something for chronic pain that's not addicting would be wonderful." But he criticized federal restraints on research to test its full, medical potential. Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I substance, the same as heroin and LSD, meaning the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration considers it among the most dangerous drugs and carries the highest penalties.
But Flory said marijuana derivatives, such as a prescription pill called Marinol which induces appetite, could also be found to ease chronic pain and nausea if they were allowed to do the proper research . "Marinol is $10 to $40 a pill. Most people would just go around the block and buy some weed," he said. All on the panel agreed that if medical marijuana were made legal, it should be treated like any prescription drug: obtained through a doctor's consent. "It should be up to the doctor and the patient which is best course," Downs said. In 2010, the Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted to move marijuana from a schedule I to schedule II, which would recognize its medical uses. But there has not been any movement by the state Legislature to recognize that.
Democrat Sen. Bill Dotzler of Waterloo rose from the back of the room to voice his support behind legislation legalizing medical marijuana use. But he said with the current split-party makeup in the Statehouse, that's unlikely to happen. "I'm going to support these bills. I am not supporting recreational use. I don't think we'd be able to move this thing forward if somebody tried to tie that to it," he said. "But it's got to be controlled in Iowa." Last year he supported a medical marijuana bill after his friend, who died of cancer, found some relief from the substance. But Dotzler said the best way to spur medical marijuana legislation along is the public sharing personal stories by post to local legislators, telling their story like Maggie's mother. That's how you're going win this movement," he said.
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Wcfcourier.com
Author: MacKenzie Elmer
Contact: WCFCourier.com | Contact Us
Website: Panel discusses medicinal marijuana options for Iowa
