Their daughter's situation may cause them to move from their home. Everly, IA (ABC9 News) - For 13 years, Mike and Tammi Heuk have made adjustments to their home and lives for their daughter Shelby. Their cabinets are full of medicine, their van is specially equipped for Shelby, and they've spent 9-thousand dollars on a chair-system to help get her up the stairs. "Just about everything is planned around her and her needs," said Tammi Heuk, mother of Shelby.

The Senator says she has supported the use of cannabis oil in the past, she says... Des Moines, IA (ABC9 News) - Senator Joni Ernst is speaking out on the potential expansion of Iowa's medical marijuana law.

A bill passed by the senate defines debilitating medical conditions including cancer, MS, epilepsy, and PTSD.

The bill also sets up a system for medical cannabis dispensaries in Iowa. 12 would be licensed by April 1st of next year.

While the Senator says she has supported the use of cannabis oil in the past, she says she is against the opening of those dispensaries, and the general use of medical marijuana.

The Iowa Senate voted Wednesday to pass a bill that would legalize medical marijuana for ailing Iowans, although the proposal faces strong resistance in the Republican-controlled House.

The vote was approved 26-19 with five lawmakers excused from voting. The 26 votes represented the fewest number of votes required for a bill to be passed under the Iowa Constitution.

"Sick and suffering Iowans are asking for our help," said Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, the bill's floor manager. He said the proposal would create a safe, legal, affordable, effective and highly regulated way for Iowans and their families to access medicines made from cannabis.

DES MOINES — Everyone knows that politics makes strange bedfellows.

A pair of Linn County legislators has — unintentionally — taken that to a new level: They call the same house home.

But not at the same time.

Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, and Rep. Art Staed, D-Cedar Rapids, both call — or have called — 2905 Alleghany Dr. NE home.

Paulsen grew up there from the late 1960s to 1983 when he left to attend the University of Iowa. Sixteen years later, Staed and his wife, Susan, bought the house and reared their children there.

“I wasn’t involved in politics back then,” Staed says. “I didn’t know Kraig at that time.”

Iowa House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer, who has years of professional experience as a cardiology nurse practitioner, said Thursday any decision on legalizing medical marijuana should be determined by the federal Food and Drug Administration, not state lawmakers.

"If this is a legitimate medication, it really means the FDA needs to weigh in on this issue. That is what we do with other medications. I think that makes sense," Upmeyer told reporters at the Iowa Capitol.

Upmeyer, a Clear Lake Republican with a master's degree in nursing, was joined by House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, who made it clear he believes the medical marijuana issue is dead in the House.

"I don't expect us to debate a bill on medical cannabis this year," said Paulsen, a Hiawatha Republican.

Supporters march in front of the Iowa State Capitol on Tuesday, April 7, 2015, in Des Moines as they try to rally support for the passage of law granting the medical use of cannabis in Iowa.(Photo: Michael Zamora/The Register)

Iowans suffering from cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder and many other ailments rallied at the Iowa Capitol on Tuesday in support of medical marijuana as a crucial vote nears in the Iowa Senate.

Medical marijuana oil, produced in Colorado.(Photo: Associated Press file photo)

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy disappointed medical marijuana advocates again Monday.

Board members rebuffed a request that they recommend changing Iowa law’s classification of marijuana in a way that would make it easier to use the drug for medical purposes.

The board, which regulates medication sales, said it didn’t want to get involved now. “This is clearly a political issue at this point,” said board member James Miller, a Dubuque pharmacist.

Update:

ELDRIDGE, Iowa (KWQC) — The bill introduced in Des Moines on Monday could change the lives of many patients. It would allow medical marijuana for those with chronic diseases, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, AIDS, glaucoma, hepatitis C, crohn’s disease, colitis, ehlers-danlos syndrom, and post-traumatic stress disorder.