I then switched to Ibuprofen, and it
caused so much stomach problems on top of the
nausea and diarrhea that I already had that I had
to stop using the Ibuprofen as well.

Other pain medicines such as opiates
were never recommended or offered, and thank God
for that because I would not have wanted to go
through what I've heard other people go through
being prescribed opiates.

I also used Marinol to try and combat
the nausea.  This was to no effect.  It made my
fatigue worse.  That's all.  In order for the
antiviral drug therapy required to combat HIV to
work, you must maintain strict compliance.  That
means taking the exact dosage at the exact time
every day on time.  I could not comply with that
nor could many of my friends who were also stricken
with this disease.

By 1994, my health had declined to the
point that I was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS,
and I went on disability.  I was on Social
Security, Medicare, and Medi-Cal which is Medicaid

In addition to my declining health, my
sporadic attempts at maintaining the drug therapy
had caused the virus to mutate, and the drugs were
no longer effective in combating the virus in my
body.

I was about to give up hope.  Then in
1996 I was fortunate enough to work with Scott
Imler who gave me this pin.  He was the coauthor of
Proposition 215 in California, the Compassionate
Use Act of 1996 which we did successfully pass, and
I was encouraged with this to try marijuana to
alleviate the side effects of the medicine.

I went to my doctor and got a new
regimen which also had very severe side effects,
and I was able to alleviate these side effects
through the use of marijuana.  The marijuana helped
me with nausea, with the muscle cramps, and the
pain.  It helped me with anxiety, and most
importantly, it helped me with the insomnia.

With the help of marijuana, I was
finally able to comply with the new treatment
regimen, and my health improved to the point that I
was able to return to school and finish my
bachelor's degree, and I graduated in 2005 from

And members of the board, you will see
the top article on there actually has to do with
there was -- the Dr.  Koslow mentioned the -- this
article.  It has to do with how marijuana helps
with adherence to the HIV regimen.

I now have a full-time job and am no
longer on disability.  I'm not taking money from
the Social Security pool, which is designed for our
seniors and for people who really need it.  I did
need it at the time, but I got myself to the point
where I could go away from that.

I'm not using Medicare funds, Medicaid
funds, funds from the Ryan White Act which supply
the very expensive medicines for AIDS patients.
I'm paying for those through my private insurance
from my employer, and I thank God for that.

My journey is not over yet, though.
The HIV virus does mutate very easily, and when it
does, it renders the drugs that you're taking
ineffective.  Therefore, I've had to change my
regimen several times in the last several years,
and each time I've had to deal with a new set of

I'd like to say that I've been able to
conquer this, but it's been very difficult.  I have
not been able to maintain strict compliance llke I
did when I lived in California because -- and even
though my doctor does -- my doctor that's treating
me now does approve of my use of marijuana to
combat these side effects, I have not been able to
use marijuana because I cannot find a safe,
reliable source.

The only way I know to find marijuana
is through the black market, and dealing with
criminals is never a fun thing.  Fear of
prosecution also makes this option less than
desirable and intensifies my anxiety.

So today I am here, along with many
others, asking the board to please recommend the
removal of marijuana from its current listing as a
Schedule I drug with no recognized medical value.
It does have medical value, and I'm living proof of
that fact.

I speak to you today as a patient.
I'm not a doctor or a scientist, but I know what
works for me, and I know what works for many other
people.

I have seen through -- after the
passage of Proposition 215, I have witnessed many
people who were at death's door.  They were
literally skeletons of their former selves.  Once
they were allowed to use marijuana legally, they
began to gain weight.  They were able to tolerate
the drugs that they were prescribed, and now most
of them are off of Social Security Disability or
whatever plan they were on and are working jobs and
paying their own way.  They aren't living off of
the entitlements.

For this reason I must state that
marijuana does have medical value.  I do not use
marijuana to get high.  Of course, when I was a
teenager, I experimented, as did probably many
people in this room, but that's not my point now.
I use marijuana to stay alive.

So I ask again, please consider my
story and those of others, and help us all to live
happier, healthier, more productive lives by
removing this plant which God has given us from the
current Schedule I listing.  Marijuana does have
medical value.  It has given me a second chance at
life.  Thank you.

LLOYD JESSEN:  Thank you.  That will

AUDREY HARSHBARGER:  Thank you, guys,
for having me here today.  I have a very short
story about my second pregnancy.  About a year ago
I moved here from Washington state.  A year before
that I was pregnant with my now two-year-old.  At
the time I had a six-and a four-year-old, which
was a lot of work.

Hy husband was working full-time, and
experienced very, very painful, awful morning
sickness, which if you've ever had a kid, I'm sure
you're aware of.

I was prescribed Reglan because my
weight dropped 20 pounds in my first trimester.
Reglan didn't help anything.  It made me fall
asleep for hours on the couch.  God forbid one of
my kids picked up something and stuck it in the
outlet for that time.  Excuse me.

I had more side effects if I didn't
take the drug.  They were ten times worse than they
were before.  I slept awful, had horrible dreams on
Reglan, and so I talked to a friend that told me
her doctor had prescribed her THC.  It's legal in
Washington state.

So I called my doctor, and I talked to

So of course, I talked to my husband.
He had a friend that smoked, and he got some for
me.  Within the first day of smoking, I felt so
much better.  I could eat.  I was smiling.  I was
able to care for my other children, and they were
being taken care of properly instead of me
incapacitated on the couch in a ball.

So it was a major thing for me to
smoke during my pregnancy.  And a lot of you can
judge me on that.  That's fine.  My son is now two.
He's very healthy, very active.  He's in early Head
Start.  He excels above most of the students in his
class, and he has no problems at all, no side
effects from me smoking during my pregnancy.

My doctor said that it probably helped
than hurt anything, so that was big for me.  Not
only that, but the first documented cases of
marijuana, if anybody has ever looked into it, was
in Asia for pregnancy, PMS, and labor pains, so
it's just a natural thing, and I think there are so

So that's all I really had to say
today.  Thank you so much.

LLOYD JESSEN:  Thank you, Audrey.  Do
we have Ann Du Bois?

ANN DU BOIS:  Good afternoon,
everybody.  Thanks ahead of time for listening.
Before I came to Iowa, I was involved in a
multitrauma auto accident.  I was further injured
at the hospital.  I experienced severe side effects
from the pain medication.

After a lot of surgery, the best
prognosis was given was that I would never walk
again.  I was fitted for a PTB brace, similar to
what amputees would use, no physical therapy, and
an endless supply of pain meds.

Tired of the medicine that only added
to my discomfort, I tried cannabis.  It allowed me
to learn how to walk again by moving through the
pain and helping with inflammation.  So it was that
my total disability was temporary.  So it is that I
used cannabis a short while instead of a lifelong
prescrlption of pain meds, real health-care
savings.

My mother was diagnosed with breast
cancer.  Researching for her, I came across Rick
Simpson's video called Run from the Cure.  She
chose conventional treatment.  The side effects of
the treatment were devastating.  She survives.  Her
doctor has told her that the chemo they gave her
would have killed most people, and congratulations.

Sometime after that I found a large
mass in my abdomen.  I had no money, no health
care, savings account.  The research on
cannabinoids seemed solid, and I decided to
self-medicate.  I consumed rock organic
cannabinoids, about a half a gram a day for about
three months.

The mass is gone.  So -- so are two
lymphedemas I've been living with for years as are
the accompanying spider pains -- veins, gone.
Years of digestinal complaints, gone.  Headaches,
gone.  The results seem long-lasting.  The only
side effects have been positive.

I had to leave the state I'm in to get
treatment.  Cancer is epidemic in Iowa.  I am not
interested in only the for-profit pharmaceutical
ideation of cannabis, the plant of renown.

Cannabis food and medicine is the

If you want to win the hearts and mind
of an oppressed people, try starting with an honest
opportunity.  The impact of rescheduling on
individuals who require marijuana for medical
purposes must be considered with respect to
assessing marijuana as accepted medical use and
safety.

Continued prohibition of marijuana as
medical use has a cost effect on individuals who
require it for therapeutic use.  Rescheduling would
expedite its legal availability to these
individuals, both with respect to entry into
suitable research programs and to development of a
legal production and delivery system.

Marijuana has at most a similar
potential for abuse and dependency liability to
Schedule III substances with accepted medical use
in the United States such as Marinol and codeine.
This is particularly true in comparison with
Marinol as it has recently been demonstrated that
the medicinal effects of Marinol and marijuana are
largely identical.

Consequently, I request proceeding to

The scie!1tific record provides a
compelling case for the removal of marijuana from
Schedule I and the rescheduling of cannabis in
Schedule III or less restrictive schedules.

This rescheduling would not only
expedite the availability of legal cannabis to
patients' needs, but it would also bring the
government into compliance with the Controlled
Substance Act which, subject to appropriate
regulatory restrictions, mandates public access to
therapeutic drugs and substances, including
cannabis.

Unless existing restrictive state and
federal laws governing marijuana are changed, there
will be no future for either modern scientific
investigation or controlled clinical trial by
present day methods.

I found out when I was looking to help
my mom that the United States Government has a
patent on cannabinoids.  They got this in 2003,

I read a study that came out two weeks
ago that says not only does marijuana smoking not
cause cancer, it actually protects against it.
Prevention Research Journal has a study
demonstrating that chronic long-term use of
cannabis actually reduces the incidence of head and
neck cancer.

Cannabis produces no disturbance of
vegetative functioning whereas opiates like the
ones I was given inhibit the gastrointestinal
tract, the flow of bile, and the cough reflex.

I guess I could go on and on and on
and on, but I'm going to conclude now by saying
that it's time to grow up.  It's time to do the
work that's long been set aside.  The most healing
plants on the planet is undeniably harmful and
illegal to grow or possess.  This undeniable harm
is only to those driven by greed and wishing for
people to live in fear and doubt.  Fear is absence
of love.  Doubt comes from living in fear.

Thank you.  I have a video I'd like to
give you now, and I'll mail you my written
submission.  Thank you.

PEGGY GALLET:  Hello.  Thank you for
being here.  My name is Peggy Gallet.  I live in
Calhoun County.  I am a weekly church attender.
I'm active in the local hospital auxiliary, have
never been arrested, have always paid and filed my
taxes timely.

I worked in the medical field, did
drug testing in a toxicology lab which was NIDA
approved, and I am a paralegal and finally was a
claims adjuster in workers' compensation for
15 years.  I also was a medical marijuana patient
in California.

I moved to Iowa two years ago from
California where I had a medical prescription.  How
bizarre to go from a legal medical cannabis state
to a state where felony and incarceration is the
penalty for use of this nontoxic medication.

In Iowa I would have to commit a
felony and pay more than four times as much on the
black market to obtain the same amount of cannabis
as I paid at a dispensary in California.

This is sad as Iowa is a wonderful
place to live otherwise.  love it here.  I'll

In 2005 was down to 120 pounds due
to my medical issues.  I was on medication to
counteract the side effects of my medications.  I
was stool incontinent, suffered from pancreas
attacks and tremors from Depakote.

I then tried a series of other meds
after being taken off Depakote and nearly gained
80 pounds due to the medications such as Zyprexa.
Thank God I went off it right away.  I put
35 pounds on in six weeks.  That causes diabetes.

Finally I got my medical card and used
cannabis to treat my mania from bipolar disorder
and anxiety disorders.  It also helped with my
intermittent hiccups.  If you've ever suffered from
hiccups that don't go away, it's horrible.
Insomnia and my chronic pain syndrome.  It enhances
my prescription pain medications, and I do not
require opiates.  I'm a witch with a B on opiates.
I do not like them.

My elevated liver enzymes did not come
from cannabis, and I do not even drink, so it
wasn't from alcohol.

My nephew has glaucoma and was on

My friend with MS also moved to a
state where this medicine is not available, and he
misses his pain relief.  I had a neighbor in
California who was a retired city firefighter and
Vietnam vet.  He was on several psychotropic meds
with marginal relief and sexual side effects.  His
wife had left him.

I told him about medical cannabis.  He
got his card, eventually was off his meds,
reconnected with his wife, and was happier than I'd
ever seen him before.

My son is 30 years old.  I'm sorry.  I
get cotton mouth from my medication.  My son is
30 years old.  He came here with me today.  He has
chronic pain from inoperable tumors on his spine.
He also had a medical prescription, but in Iowa
that doesn't help him with his chronic pain.

He also suffers from severe chronic
depression and anxiety.  He also has lost his best
medicine.  My sister died of mesothelioma, which is

Early on she tried cannabis but was
unable to smoke it due to her diseased pleural
cavity.  Thus, she was unable to benefit from
valuable -- from the valuable benefits as medical
cannabis was unavailable to her.

Had it been legal, she could have
purchased soup mix, honey tea, baked products at a
legal dispensary.  They had medical marijuana
brownies and everything else.  All she could get
down was ice cream.  How sad that she didn't live
to see legalization.

My experience as a cannabis patient
was the product purchased was clearly labeled "For
medicinal use only.  Keep out of the reach of
children."  It was not easy to get a prescription.
Doctors were afraid of being dropped from their
malpractice policies or being somehow penalized for
prescribing something federally illegal, so I was
referred to a doctor that dedicated his practice to
determining medical need for cannabis.

Several patients there were not
prescribed what they seek as they did not medically

And I took that to my dispensary.
Once I got verified, which wasn't the first time I
went -- and I had to drive, you know, 100 miles to
the dispensary from where I lived.  There were not
a lot of them around.  I had to show my driver's
license as well as my prescription to gain entry
inside.  I could not take a camera or a cell phone
inside the dispensary.  Only persons with a
prescription were even allowed to work there.

We were only allowed to smoke in
private residences.  My father watches Fox News,
and he told me that if they legalized medical
marijuana in Iowa, we'd be smoking in restaurants.
I assured him that was not true.

I was allowed to grow my own but only
on my own property and behind a locked fence.  I
noticed that typical persons looked ill or much
like myself at the dispensaries.

Doctors should not be afraid to
prescribe this God-given medicinal plant which
ironically is not as toxic as most pharmaceuticals.

I beg you to thoroughly investigate
research and statistics from other countries as
it's illegal to do good research here, and when
they say that you can only accept research from
your country, and you're not allowed to do the
research, then we have to go to other countries to
find the research, and that's not why I'm here.
I'm not a research scientist.

I'm here to beg you to make a
recommendation to our legislature to make this
medicine available to me in Iowa.  I want quality
of life again.  I do not want to become a criminal
to use this valuable plant as I have been unable to
find pharmaceuticals to relieve my symptoms.

Do you have any questions?

LLOYD JESSEN:  No, I don't think we
do, but thank you very much.

PEGGY GALLET:  Thank you.

LLOYD JESSEN:  We're ready for Speaker
No.5.

JEANETTE REARDON:  Thank you
for giving me the opportunity to speak today.  I
also have a number of medical issues.  I am on

LLOYD JESSEN:  I'm sorry.  Could you
start by giving us your name?

JEANETTE REARDON:  My name is Jeanette
Reardon.  I'm a 59-year-old woman on disability due
to an accident.  I have bipolar too.  I've
shattered my left arm.  I have a metal elbow.  Some
of the nerves have never come back.  I am in
constant pain.

I am on Hydrocodone/APAP,
500 milligrams a day which does nothing but make me
sleep for at least eight to twelve hours.  I cannot
take that and function.  I'm on clonazepam, which
is also a high drug, and I'm on Depakote.  I take
seven pills in the morning and six pills at night.
I am worried more about what all of these
medications are doing to my body and my liver.

I have been trying desperately to get
my doctor to re-examine, re-examine, re-examine,
and retest me to try to get me off some of this
medication.

I do on occasion when I can get it
smoke cannabis.  It does not take all the pain
away, but it does make it tolerable.  It's when
it's not tolerable, I can't stand it.  It makes the

I have been through a number of
traumatic experiences which I am not going to go
into today.  I am under counseling for those
things.  I -- also, my doctor is working with my
counselor, and I am still trying to get off this
medication.

I do not go out and seek illegal
cannabis because I'm afraid to.  I have several
people that will give me small amounts.  I don't
even have the money to buy cannabis on the illegal
market.  That is another factor.  I don't want to
get cannabis on the illegal market.  I want it
prescribed through the doctors, through the
pharmacy.  I want it controlled.

We would not need all of this drug
cartel coming in if our own United States would
take care of its people.  From the first speaker
that you heard from today, he was quoting
statistics from 1993, 1994.  This is 2009, almost
2010.

I am from the '60s generation.  We
have known for a long, long time the benefits of

You fought for prohibition for
alcohol.  It is way, way, way past time to fight
for the prohibition of cannabis.  We have known for
a long time, it is not addictive.  It does not lead
to bigger and better drugs.  There are addictive
personalities out there, but the drug itself is not
addictive.

In fact, when I moved to California
before my accident, I worked for the federal
government, Department of Veterans Affairs.  I also
worked for the aerospace industry.  I quit like
that (indicating) for ten years because I did not
believe in my heart and in my mind that it was
right to do something illegal when you are working
in a position like that because of the laws of our
country.

I am asking -- I am begging you today
to consider where we are today, how many people

You are the president of the
physicians -- I'm sorry -- I can't remember your
title.  For the pharmaceutical --

BOARD MEMBER BENJAMIN:  Board.

JEANETTE REARDON:  I am begging you to
take another look at this.  I've had too many
people in my family die of cancer that could not
get marijuana to help their symptoms.  I can't get
it to help my symptoms.  I try, but I can't afford
it on the black market, and then most of the time
it's not worth it anyway.

So if it's under a controlled
situation, grown and controlled by our government
and administered properly through our medical
society and our pharmacists, we will have a better
product that is more affordable and can help more
people.

I don't need the extra four minutes or
one minute, whatever that says.

DEBBIE JORGENSON:  Yes.  You have one
minute left.

JEANETTE REARDON:  Okay.  Do you have
any questions for me?

LLOYD JESSEN:  No, we don't.  Thank
you very much.

JEANETTE REARDON:  Thank you for
allowing me to speak.

LLOYD JESSEN:  Is Kevin Feeley here?
Kevin Feeley?  Is Amanda Feeley here?  Okay.  Then
we will move to Speaker No.6.

ADDY:  Can't you call a couple of the
speakers and get them ready?  We'll never make it.

LLOYD JESSEN:  Now we're in numerical
order from six onward.

ADDY:  Okay.  So six onward, so seven
should be ready then.

LLOYD JESSEN:  Yes.

DEBBIE JORGENSON:  I'd like to remind
everyone if they could state their name and spell
it for the court reporter, that would be great.

RAY LAKERS:  No problem.  My name is
Ray Lakers, R-a-y L-a-k-e-r-s, age 42, Des Moines,
Iowa.

Before I begin my presentation, first
let me thank you for giving me another opportunity
to testify in public that medical marijuana is

My name is Ray Lakers, age 42.  I was
diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2004.  The
first attack involved paralysis on the right side
of my body.

Being uninsured, I've accumulated over
$9,000 in unpaid medical bills from the first year
and a half of diagnosis, doctor visits, outpatient,
and steroid treatments.  In that time I've learned
a lot about life, my life, how I would choose to
live my life and what therapy I would treat myself
with.

In that time I have managed to work
full-time, and I've held the same position with two
promotions in the last three years.  I must be
doing something right, shattering every
preconceived notion about medical marijuana
patients that many of you of the opposition are all
about.

When I was diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis in 2004, I was very fearful of my future
and my health.  I then learned that Montel Williams
had been treating his condition with medical

I started to trust the way my body
felt.  Given opiate painkillers left me lethargic
as do the steroid treatments that leave me in a
state where I'm unable to complete normal
day-to-day functions like work and providing for my
family.

With marijuana being the safest
therapeutically active substance known to man, and
safer than many of the foods we commonly eat, you
haven't much reason to deny medical marijuana to
anyone who claims to need it.

We let people buy toxic acetaminophen
over-the-counter in any amount they choose to use
anytime they choose for any ailment they choose
without ever seeing a doctor or undergoing an
examination, yet people can overdose or die or
suffer long-term health effects from acetaminophen.

Just this year it was determined
26 percent of those with liver ailments and failure
used acetaminophen over a long period of time,
either an over-the-counter or with their

Now, this quote is from a letter I
received from Iowa Senator Charles Grassley in
2006.  Charles Grassley said "The FDA has developed
a careful proven method for testing and approving
drugs for medical use.  The tests the FDA
approved -- the tests that FDA-approved medicines
undergo are both exhaustive and time-consuming.
The testing methods are conducted to ensure safety,
determine accurate doses, and to diagnose any
potential harmful side effects."

Well, Dr. Death Panel Grassley, how
many FDA drugs are facing class-action lawsuits
over FDA-approved drugs?  Many of these drugs
include side effects like suicide.  I will not take
anything that contains a side effect that results
in the end of my life or makes me less able to
function on a day-to-day basis.  Please educate
yourself to know that medical marijuana is a
doctor-patient decision and not a drug.

Botanical cannabis is a therapeutic
medicine used for over 2,000 years, yet only
illegal since 1937.  Do yourself a favor and find
out why.

While we hold these hearings in this

If they only knew the pain we feel
every time someone like Iowa State Rep Clel Baudler
openly endorses OxyContin over medical marijuana.
Does this man not know anything about prescription
drug abuse and the deaths of young adults that is
becoming an epidemic with annual death tolls?  Some
overdose from over-the-counter medications also.

Please, I ask you to lose your fear of
medical marijuana and to fear those in office or
the medical profession who are against it.  If
you're asked, many of those who are against it,
they can't give any other reason than
reformat-induced myths that are being shattered as
we sit and hold these hearings for the next four
months.

The science that has been introduced,

If anything, it gives those on the
opposition to reveal themselves because in 2010 to
be against medical marijuana and compassionate care
is political suicide.

In states that do not have working --
in states that do have working successful medical
marijuana programs, patients receive doctor
recommendations, not prescriptions.  Isn't the
Board of Pharmacy about prescribed medicine?  If my
doctor recommended a ginseng root or any other
therapeutic natural herb, she wouldn't need your
permission.  Why?  Because I trust her
recommendation and knowing that this plant God
created is safe for me.

There's more harm in denying medical
marijuana patients their choice than them using it.
Save the "Smoked medicine is not healthy" argument
because for me, I receive more therapeutic relief

From a fellow MS patient who turned 40
three weeks ago, I got an e-mail from him.  He said
"Three days later" -- this is when he first started
using medical marijuana as an alternative therapy.
He said "Three days later I smoked my first joint.
I have MS, and my leg was cramping to the point
that I could not straighten it.  I was in pain to
the point of tears.  Think about having a charley
horse that lasts for days.  well, the -- well, the
pot gave me some relief.  I cannot stand out of my
wheelchair for" -- excuse me.  "I could stand out
of my wheelchair for the first time in days.  My
pain lessened to the point I could think straight.
Don't tell me about other drugs I could take.  I've
tried them.  They don't work for me, and they leave
me in a much more drugged-out stupor than marijuana
does.  It is time to let the adults make the
decisions for themselves.  Why should I pay big
pharma when I could grow the medicine myself?"

Well, my answer for you, my brother
with MS, big pharma -- big pharmacy would rather
you slowly kill yourself as long as they get paid.
Their bottom line is all that really matters.

And all of you who state that there's
no such thing as medical marijuana, please research
U.S. Patent 6630507.  You will find the owner none
other than the U.S. Government.

Now, just this week, it's been
revealed, I mean, chronic marijuana smokers' lungs
are no worse than nonsmokers.  Marijuana as a
preventative medicine may help the elderly with
osteoporosis and research -- you know, this is
being done by arthritis research over in east
Europe.

So I mean that's basically everything
I have to say, but as far as that guy from the Elks
or whatever, the Iowa Health Association that said
about the National MS Society, okay.  There's part
of a reason why they won't, you know, make a
statement to endorse it, but why is the National MS
Society of Great Britain and Canada endorsing
medical marijuana for its patients?

LLOYD JESSEN:  Thank you.  Do we have
Kevin Feeley here?

KEVIN FEELEY:  Good afternoon.  Good
afternoon, everyone.  My name is Kevin Harper
Feeley.  I would like to speak with you on the
subject of cannabis or marijuana and its
derivatives in the treatment of lymphoma and the
side effects of cancer treatment and recovery.  I
will cover some of the botanically significant
information as well.

Cannabis, originally from central
Asia, has been utilized by human beings for
thousands of years.  Some of the earliest evidence
of inhalation of the fumes from burning cannabis
seem to come from little cluster states back
thousands of years.

These are the central Asians that also
brought us the domestication of the horse.  This
was one of the few instances of smoking in the
pre-Columbian eastern hemisphere.  One of cultures
that adopted cannabis was the Chinese.  Traditional
Chinese medicine, or TCM, is the oldest
continuously used medical system in human history.

With thousands of years of botanical
data behind them, TCM practitioners have fettered
out the plans that best served the needs of the
patient.  One classification within TCM is called

Cannabis preparations are also
considered tonics by TCM, and as such have
thousands of years of empirical data to back up
their efficacy.

During the Mexican revolution the use
of cannabis became popular with the members of the
populous uprising.  Cannabis sativa, the southern
cousin of cannabis indica, had been transported to
the western hemisphere by individuals from the
Indian subcontinent, brought here in its physical
labor Cannabis sativa, being sacred to Sheba, was
brought along with many other traditions and
customs and adopted by the native and European
descendent populations as a recreational
euphoriant.

Cannabinoids are a complex group of
organic compounds.  Included are
Tetrahydrocannabinol, THC; cannabidiol, CBD; and
cannabinol, CBN.  There are also a wide array of
secondary compounds including terpenoids,
flavonoids, phenols, and other minor cannabinoids
contained within any average sample cannabis.

By asserting that the chemically
sensitized or isolated agents provides the same
level of relief that whole organic plant source
can is absurd.  The greater cannabinoid complex
works in a highly synergistic fashion.

The research on the effects that the
secondary cannabinoids have on the action of
cannabis products within the human body is just now
beginning to be understood.  The assumption that
this plant can produce another silver bullet for
the exploitation by the pharmaceutical industry is
scurrilous at best and guided not by the thought of
easing suffering but with the intention of
fattening yet another bottom line.

Around the turn of the 20th century,
many discoveries were made, and numerous novel
pharmacologically significant compounds were
isolated.  At the same time these discoveries were
being distributed to the public lab for vetting.

These compounds and extractions could
be purchased at any druggist on an over-the-counter
basis.  In response title regulations on drugs and
their distribution and purity created a new safety
net for society.

Some thought that this did not go far

Though their intentions may have been
in the right place, they failed to realize that
alcohol is not at fault.  There's no question how
history has interpreted the experiment of American
temperance.  An era of widespread corruption
blossomed, the likes of which is still legendary.

But blind to this lesson, we trudge
on.  Numerous plant species are cultivated for the
biopharmaceutical market such as opiates, cocoa,
jimson weed, and yams.  A change in the law will
give a direct benefit to the farmers of Iowa.

By encouraging local production,
quality controls maintained, an Iowa farmer will
have a lucrative crop that can be put into
immediate rotation.  Jobs will be created by the
need for the processing of finished cannabis
products.  Much of this work is done by hand, and
large-scale production techniques still require a
great deal of hands-on processing.  Mature cannabis
floral clusters are not so much flowers as very
delicate fruit.  The economic benefits will be
numerous.  Jobs.

I first encountered marijuana in
college.  I tried it and wasn't sure if I liked it,
so I tried it again, and liked it.  I found that
it made me feel giggly and hungry.  It was
pleasant.  And unlike alcohol, when I woke the next
day, I felt fine.

Throughout the next couple of years, I
occasionally enjoyed a few puffs.  Then life moved
on, wife, kids, career.  Back pain, more back pain,
and even more back pain.  Visits to the doctor and
the chiropractor yielded only temporarj relief.

One day I ran into an old friend.
That old friend shared a puff with me, and the pain
was gone.  Finally I found something that worked,
So I used it.  Then I stopped using it because I
wanted to be a law-abiding citizen, and the pain
returned.

I first -- I turned to exercise.  For
a while that worked.  Then the pain returned.  And
then nuumbness started.  It got worse.  It got to
the point where I couldn't feel below my naval, so
I went to the emergency room.

Lymphoma of the spine.  It had been
there for about seven years.  My cannabis
consumption had been keeping the swelling down so

After undergoing treatments, I was
eased off the steroids to see if the tumor would
re-express.  Sure enough it did and it had spread.
I collapsed at home and was put into the hospital,
again dropping weight.

After nearly dying and some time in a
semi-coma, I returned to consciousness, though my
appetite didn't return.  The chemotherapy drugs and
other medications that I was on were causing
uncontrolled nausea.  I vomited at every meal and
even in between.  I lost over 100 pounds.

During this time I was put on
antinausea medications with known harmful side
effects.  The drugs did little more than suppress
my gag reflex.  Though I was able to keep food
down, it was not pleasant.

Finally my wife requested that I be
put on Marinol to see if this would help the side
effects of the chemotherapy.  Though it did ease
some of the nausea, it did little for the other
symptoms that I was experiencing.

Once released from the hospital, I
returned home to rebuild my life.  Still very weak

Once I procured some and I was able to
medicate, I ate a meal, and didn't vomit for the
first time in a long time.  I did not vomit.  After
that meal I went and laid down, and for the first
time in a long time, I did not ache all over.  The
wound in my spine did not throb.  The nerve pain in
my feet did not send sparks up and down my legs.  I
felt human again.

Since then, I have gained weight and
am -- and starting a new job at the end of the
month and returning to productive society.  While
at home, I have rearranged the furniture, cleaned
the house a number of times, gotten to work on many
personal projects, and am enjoying time with my
family.  My recovery has been a long one, and it is
far from over.  That recovery would not have been
possible without cannabis at my disposal.

There are many others who are in the
position I have been in and without the ability to
get medicine that will make the difference between
recovery and a nursing home.  This is unfortunate.

There is no reason a grandmother with
glaucoma should go blind in the state of Iowa.
There is no reason that cancer patients should not
get to eat in the state of Iowa.  There is no
reason other than, frankly, feeble ones that have
been given as today 13 states as well as the
federal government recognize that cannabis and its
derivatives have a significant medical action --
sorry -- on numerous recognized disorders.  Many
other industrialized nations have as well.

For Iowa to trail in an area so
significant to so many Iowans is beyond me.
Cannabis reform is not only a legal issue, it is
also an economic issue, a moral issue, and a matter
of common sense.

If you would like to make Iowans
safer, then put a safer alternative in their hands.
Cannabis handles the headache without the danger of
ulcers and a much lower liver toxicity than any
over-the-counter pain medication.  It handles
nausea without the danger of neurological damage

I consume cannabis on a regular basis
to maintain my health.  A day without cannabis for
me is a day I would rather not have.  Pain and
nausea still haunt me, and doctors tell me probably
will for the rest of my life.

Nothing else has provided me with the
relief I need while at the same time allowlng me to
function as a productive member of society and of
my household.

I am a crimlnal because of your
inaction.  Because of your long-standing
unwillingness to hear the facts about cannabis
species and their derivatives, I am a criminal and
will continue to be one until the day you finally
get off your hands and do something about this
inequity.

People are suffering that need not
suffer.  People are rotting in jail that need not
be there.  All of this is wasting tax dollars and
hours of productivity.  How much good will a person
like me do at their new job if all they can do is
lie in bed, try not to vomit, and do their best to
ignore the pain?  Or should I rely upon your

Should I enjoy a meal or take your
board-approved medications and take my chances with
neurological disorders and dangerous spasms?  At
what point do my children get to stop worrying that
I might get taken away just because I want to be
able to live a normal life?

At what point do get to stop being a
criminal, ladies and gentlemen?  Thank you for your
time.

LLOYD JESSEN:  Thank you, Kevin.  Is
Amanda Feeley here?

AMANDA FEELEY:  Good afternoon.  Thank
you for giving us this opportunity to speak.

You just sat and heard my husband talk
about how he dealt with his cancer.  When he was
diagnosed, I was two months pregnant with our
fourth child, and he said to me "Honey, I can't
feel my legs anymore."

And I said "What do you mean, you
can't feel your legs?"

He says "They're numb."

And I said "We need to go to the