Iowa Pharmacy Board Says Marijuana is Medicine

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy Tuesday declared that marijuana is a drug with medicinal purposes. In doing so, it agreed to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II under Iowa law.

The board found that while marijuana has a high potential for abuse, it is now considered to have accepted medical uses. Schedule I drugs are those that have no proven or accepted medical use.

But the board denied a request from petitioner Carl Olson of Des Moines that it promulgate rules on the medical use of marijuana. That is beyond the scope of the board's authority, chairman Vernon Benjamin said.

While the board can regulate drugs and pharmacists, it is up to the legislature to approve the medicinal use of marijuana, he said."We can't set any penalties. We can't set any guidelines on how marijuana's going to be produced, what standards are going to be. And I think all those kind of things are things the legislature's going to have the ultimate say-so about anyway," said Benjamin in remarks reported by local media.

The ball is now in the hands of the legislature, which so far has failed to act to pass a medical marijuana bill.

(by Phillip Smith, November 02, 2010)

GOOD or BAD?

-As a human, I could care less if people want to harm their own bodies as long as they are not harming me.

-As a pharmacist, this adds to the liability, regulation and monitoring responsibilities of our job.