With Iowa’s limited medical cannabis laws set to expire in July, state legislators and medical marijuana advocates say they see an opportunity to rewrite a more comprehensive set of rules when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, said he plans to propose a bill that would allow for the production and distribution of medical cannabis oil in Iowa — something many other Republicans previously have opposed.

“Last year there was a hodgepodge of panic, if you will, in my caucus to do something. Well if we’re going to do something, let’s do something smart,” Baudler said. “If these people want it grown in Iowa, processed in Iowa, I think we can make that happen.”

Study from: 

Projectknow.com (http://www.projectknow.com/)

original study here :

http://www.projectknow.com/discover/high-school-drug-use/

American teenagers are more likely to smoke marijuana than binge drink, a new report reveals.

Meanwhile in Europe, marijuana consumption is minimal while drinking levels are far higher than in the United States.

The data, published in a recent report by addiction-awareness firm Project Know, will reignite the national debate on marijuana legalization as the election approaches.

Iowa senator Charles Grassley is fighting back after one of his challengers claimed that he’s blocking a bill that would create meaningful medical cannabis legislation.

Last Friday, State Senator Rob Hogg joined supporters of a bill that would move cannabis from a schedule one drug to a schedule two.

Hogg claims that by not taking action on the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respects Act — Grassley is keeping medicine out of the hands of families that need it.

Grassley says if cannabis is a schedule two drug, we could end up with 50 states, with 50 different laws on the matter.

A legal challenge aimed at reclassifying marijuana in Iowa was shot down Wednesday by the state's appeals court, though the issue will be taken up again in a separate case that also seeks new guidance on the drug's use under state law.

The Iowa Court of Appeals said the Iowa Board of Pharmacy had proper authority to deny Carl Olsen's request in 2013 to reclassify marijuana as a controlled substance that has medical use.

Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday he’s open to the idea of medical cannabis oil being produced in Iowa, but he’s still focused on limiting “unintended consequences."

“If it’s just limited to the oil, that might be something that could be looked at,” he said. “I’ll keep an open mind. But again, there’s a lot different ideas and a lot of different proposals out there, and nothing reached a consensus point during this last session.”

The clock could be running out this year for activists urging the Iowa Legislature to approve expanded access to medical marijuana.

Iowa Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, told reporters Tuesday he is keeping the door open for medical cannabis legislation, but his goal is to have the Senate adjourn its 2016 session this week. He spoke one day after the Iowa House defeated a Republican-backed bill aimed at helping Iowans with debilitating diseases access cannabis oil in Minnesota and other states and bring it back to Iowa.

An attempt in the Iowa Legislature to expand medical marijuana access in the state may have reached its end this session with a failed vote in the Republican-controlled House, though some Democrats said Tuesday they would keep pushing the issue in the days before a possible adjournment.

Both Republicans and Democrats in the chamber pointed fingers at each other following a Monday night debate that ultimately shot down a plan that critics said would not have done enough to expand the state’s medical marijuana law, which allows the use of cannabis oil for certain epilepsy patients.

I am a veteran who is very concerned about the 22 veterans that are taking their own lives in this country every day and I am very sad this fact is being brushed aside by Iowa legislators.

Cannabis is very helpful in treating PTSD and pain like (TBI) traumatic brain injury.

The Nation Magazine article, “The Real Reason Pot Is Still Illegal” explains how and why “Big Pharma” and others put so much money behind groups like “Drug Free America” to stop and condemn cannabis. I have heard legislators spout the same misinformation, almost verbatim.

States with medical cannabis programs have seen no increase in teen use. (See the March issue of International Journal on Drug Policy)