(USA) Iowa to re-schedule marijuana?

Iowa’s Board of Pharmacy Examiners is holding a series of meetings over the next few weeks to let the citizens of Iowa decide if marijuana is really a Schedule I drug.

The results will then be presented to legislature in an official request to change the classification. Read the proposal here (pdf).

Currently, marijuana is a schedule I drug according to the Uniform Controlled Substances Act. This means it has, “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”

Does it mean that if the drug does become a medical treatment, this alone would negate that drug from being a Schedule I substance?  I mean technically it does say to have no currently accepted medical use, but it doesn’t say by who. Shouldn’t the fact mean something that thousands of doctors, who are the ones that use something medically, have been taking advantage of marijuana’s ability to treat medical conditions?

I guess I am just trying to figure out why this misnomer is happening at all, since most of the people who seem to be fighting the re-scheduling of marijuana are not medical doctors, or even medical care providers. Shouldn’t this decision be left to either the people, or the medical care providers, but not career politicians?

Just for fun, here’s a list of some of the medical organizations that endorse the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes:

Organizations that support medical use of marijuana

American Academy of Family Physicians   
American Cancer Society
American Medical Student Association    
American Preventative Medical Association
American Public Health Association    
American Society of Addiction Medicine
Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights    
British Medical Association
California Medical Association    
California Nurses Association
Colorado Nurses Association    
Congress of Nursing Practice
Federation of American Scientists    
Florida Medical Association
French Ministry of Health    
Health Canada
Kaiser Permanente    
Life Extension Foundation
Los Angeles County AIDS Commission    
Lymphoma Foundation of America
Maine AIDS Alliance    
National Institutes of Health
National Nurses Society on Addictions    
New England Journal of Medicine
New Mexico State Board of Nursing    
New York State Nurses Association
North Carolina Nurses Association    
San Francisco Medical Society
Virginia Nurses Association

There must be some sort of legitimacy to these organizations, because they consist of medical professionals. Unless all these people who actually care for sick and dying people on a daily basis are all a part of some covert marijuana-legalizing operation, I think it’s safe to say marijuana is not a Schedule I drug. Why are we okay with having inaccurate information on the books that negatively impacts the health of the citizens of this country?

If you live in Iowa, you will have the chance to speak up about this issue at the next public hearing on August 19, 2009. The meeting will be held at the State Historical Building in Des Moines at from 1pm-5pm. Let your voice be heard, or show up to support those with voices.

If you don’t live in Iowa, write to your local legislators, and let them know how you feel about this issue. It’s time for some logic in our government, and only the people can force this constipated change out like the (expletive) it is.

Author: Angela Macdonald

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-17593-NORML-Examiner~y2009m7d26-Iowa-to-reschedule-marijuana

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