The Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Board will contemplate changes to the state’s medical cannabis program at a Nov. 1 meeting, where it will vote on adding new qualifying conditions and replacing the 3 percent THC cap with a purchase limit.
The board is considering the addition of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as intellectual disability with aggression and/or self-injury, to Iowa’s list of qualifying conditions, according to The Gazette. If the board approves these conditions, they must then be approved by the Iowa Medical Board, at which time an effective date will be established to allow patients to be certified by a doctor, according to the news outlet.
MedPharm Iowa, one of the state’s two licensed cannabis producers and retailers, submitted petitions to add PTSD, Alzheimer’s and opioid use disorder to Iowa’s list of qualifying conditions, according to The Gazette, and Democrats in the Iowa Senate indicated support for the petitions earlier this month.
“Any Iowan with PTSD should not be denied access to effective treatments, especially those that are safe alternatives to risky opioids,” the senators said in a public statement.
The Medical Cannabidiol Board will also take time at its Nov. 1 meeting to review its 2019 Annual Report Recommendations, which will be sent to the Iowa Legislature in preparation for the 2020 legislative session, The Gazette reported. The recommendation to replace the state’s 3 percent THC cap on medical cannabis products with a purchase limit of 4.5 grams of THC every 90 days may be included in the report, according to the news outlet. The purchase limit would not apply to terminally ill patients.
The legislature passed legislation earlier this year that would have lifted the THC cap, but Gov. Kim Reynolds vetoed the bill, saying that the state must be cautious in an expansion of its medical cannabis program.
