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getting cannabis. It's much easier to get cannabis
than to get a case of beer due to the strict
government regulations surrounding the sale of
alcohol. Dealers don't care who buys it, and
neither do drug cartels. All they care about is
money, and teenagers have plenty to throw around.
Examples we have from current areas
throughout the world show that decriminalization
does not increase use. In 2001 Portugal
decriminalized all drugs in an effort to stave off
their rampant drug use. Following
decriminalization, lifetime use of cannabis in
those over 15 fell to 10 percent. The most
comparable figure in America currently is due to
people over 12 who in 2006 reported that
39.8 percent of them had used marijuana.
Portugal is not the only country
realizing that the war on drug rhetoric is not
working. Last week Mexico decriminalized small
amounts of all drugs in an effort to focus their
priorities on what matters. The Argentine Supreme
Court voted unanimously that any jail time
whatsoever for possession of cannabis was
unconstitutional as it violated the rights of
individuals to govern their own lives.
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In February of this year, a report by
the Latin America Committee on Drugs and Democracy
called for reevaluation of the way the U.S. is
handling the war on drugs.
As far as medical cannabis, President
Barack Obama has stated before that he is a
supporter. So has the United Methodist Church, the
Union for Reformed Judaism, the Progressive
National Baptists Convention, the Episcopal Church,
the Unitarian Universalist Association, the
Presbyterian Church, the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, and the United Church of Christ.
Obviously, these religious organizations are not
out for any kind of recreational use whatsoever.
They're out for the compassionate use for patients.
So why is there such a resistance to
letting patients and their doctor make health-care
decisions based on facts and not distortions?
Luckily, it appears that the board is seeking these
facts this year.
I would ask that the board and anyone
against medical cannabis to please come forth and
provide us the evidence against medical cannabis so
we can have a rational debate about this.
All drugs have negative consequences.
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Aspirin causes over 5,000 people to die from an
overdose annually. Yet the benefits of aspirin
outweigh the negatives in the opinion in the FDA
and all doctors. This is how medicine is used. If
the benefits outweigh the negatives, as is the case
with cannabis, then the drug in question is usually
approved.
As we present evidence today and
throughout the rest of this year for the positive
side of medicinal cannabis, who will come forth to
have an honest discussion using facts as to the
harms of cannabis rather than distortions?
As part of my probation, I was made to
go to court-ordered rehab. I kept this pamphlet as
to the negative effects from marijuana. And
there's not one fact in here that is verifiable.
The only fact that I have found is
that marijuana may possibly cause long cancer.
However, in a study back in the 1980s following
65,000 people in four dlfferent groups who smoked
tobacco, tobacco and marijuana, nothing, or just
marijuana, it was found that marijuana actually
might have had a proactive effect in protecting
cancer because people who only used marijuana had
less of a rate of lung cancer than those who didn't
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smoke anyting at all. The distortions in this
pamphlet are not fooling anyone. Kids today know
that this is not true, and this is not getting
anyone anywhere.
Too often debate over cannabis is
based on ideology rather than ideas. "Keep kids
off drugs" cries our prospective candidates,
foregoing factual research and preferring scare
tactics instead in an effort to get elected by
Reefer Madness generation constituents who don't
know any better.
This mistake of using political
grandstanding rather than critical analysis is
coming to an inevitable end as more and more
politicians and public figures are denouncing the
failed war on drugs and acknowledging the needs for
rational debate concerning cannabis and drugs in
general.
I'm very thankful that the board is
willing to hold such a debate here today. However,
this is not necessarily going to end up with a
recommendation from the board that I and many
others would prefer.
Gary Young at the last hearing who was
a representative from the Iowa Elks Association
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Drug Awareness Program for Youth urged the board to
not use anecdotal evidence in their decision, and I
completely agree. Many of us do know someone who
has struggled with substance abuse. Many
celebrities have stints in and out of rehab which
are widely publicized. However, I would urge the
board to not take such anecdotal situations of
periods of struggle in a select few who had to seek
help for abusing cannabis.
As with anything, cannabis can be
abused, but the rate of addiction of cannabis users
is half that of alcohol according to all available
reports, and further still, no one has ever died
from using cannabis, no matter how much. And as we
have seen in every situation, decriminalization
doesn't increase cannabis use. It lowers it.
Everything I've learned about cannabis
makes the choice the board is facing seem obvious.
I do believe that the board will recommend
reclassifying cannabis because it most definitely
does have medicinal value.
If, however, the board disagrees and
chooses to keep cannabis in Schedule I, then I urge
you to give us an explanation to go with their
denial. If the men and women on the board all
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disagree with the likes of 13 state bodies of
government who have already done such as what we're
asking you to do today; then I believe they owe us
an explanation. If there's no medical value, these
13 other states need to know, I need to know, and
patients need to know.
Luckily, I know that the board is
concerned both about patients' well-being, and
trust that after an unbiased review of the facts,
they will agree that medical cannabis is
legitimate.
This year I hope you will help us to
participate in truth-telling and allow the patients
to get the medicine they need. Thank you very
much.
TERRY WITKOWSKI: If there's
anyone
else that would like to speak, please check in with
Roger at the back table.
We'll be taking a break for lunch in
about 15 minutes. If there's anyone who would like
to speak in the interim, please check in with
Roger. When we break for lunch, we will be
breaking for about an hour and a half.
We will be back here at 1 o'clock, and
we'll again hear testimony from anyone who's
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interested in speaking.
(Short recess.
TERRY WITKOWSKI: For those
of you who
were not here this morning, I would like to welcome
you to the second public hearing on medical
marijuana. This hearing is being held by the Iowa
Board of Pharmacy pursuant to Iowa Code
Section 124.201(1)
I am Terry Witkowski, the executive
officer for the board, and with me today are other
members of the board staff, Debbie Jorgenson, and
at the table in the rear is Roger Zobel. SueAnn
Jones of Johnson Reporting Services is serving as
the certified shorthand reporter for this hearing.
The purpose of this hearing is to
receive information from the public. A transcript
of all comments that are received at today's
hearing will be reviewed by all seven members of
the Iowa Board of Pharmacy. Those members regret
that none of them could be here today to hear you
in person.
Iowa law imposes upon the board the
duty to periodically recommend to the legislature
changes in controlled substance schedules. The
board views this statutory responsibility with
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great seriousness, both because of the specificity
of Iowa Code Chapter 124 and because marijuana use
and the use of drugs in general is a sensitive
medical, social, and political issue.
Any board recommendation for changes
to the controlled substance schedules will be
preceded by a thoughtful review and analysis of the
most helpful and current scientific information
avallable to the board.
In making a recommendation to the
legislature regarding marijuana, the board will
consider the following 12 factors: marijuana's
actual or relative potential for abuse, marijuana's
pharmacological effect, current scientific
knowledge regarding marijuana, the history and
current pattern of abuse of marijuana, the scope,
duration, and significance of abuse of marijuana,
the risk to the public health for removing
marijuana from Schedule I to a different controlled
substance schedule, the potential of marijuana to
produce psychic or physiological dependence
liability, whether marijuana is an immediate
precursor of a substance on some other controlled
substance schedule, whether marijuana's potential
for abuse or lack thereof is not properly reflected
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in its inclusion in Schedule I, whether marijuana
lacks a high potential for abuse, whether marijuana
has an accepted medical use in treatment in the
United States, and whether marijuana does not lack
accepted safety for use in treatment under medical
supervision.
This hearing will be held in
accordance with the following ground rules and will
proceed in the following manner: Both proponents
and opponents of medical marijuana will be allowed
to speak. All speakers must come to the stage and
speak into the microphone. Please check in with
Roger at the back table if you wish to speak so
that you can be placed on the speaker's cue.
Speakers must speak slowly and clearly
so their comments can be accurately recorded.
Speakers need to identify themselves on the record.
They should at a minimum provide their first name.
Full names and addresses would be appreciated but
will not be required. If speakers are representing
an organization or are speaking on behalf of an
organization, they should state that before making
their comments.
Speakers who wish to offer exhibits or
written materials to the board need to have them
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properly identified for the record. Testimony that
references an exhibit should identify the exhibit
number.
Depending on the number of people who
wish to speak at today's hearing, time limits will
be imposed. In general, each person will be
allowed a minimum of five minutes to speak. If
feasible, additional time may be allowed. However,
the board wants to ensure that every person who
wishes to speak receives an opportunity to do so.
Speakers will be called according to
the order on our sign-up sheet. Some speakers
reserved time prior to today's hearing, and they
will provide their comments as previously
scheduled. Some speakers have also requested
additional time. All requests for additional time
will be allowed as circumstances permit.
The board wishes to remind everyone
that this hearing is not an opportunity for debate.
We are here today to receive comments concerning
the medical use of marijuana. As part of this
process, I and/or other members of the board staff
may have questions for the speakers. Please be
aware that we are not here to receive comments
regarding the legalization of marijuana.
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Speakers are also reminded to avoid
repetitious or irrelevant comments. Speakers
should be as short and concise as possible.
Speakers will only be allowed to speak once.
Additional thoughts may be submitted to the board
in writing following today's hearing.
Unruly behavior such as booing or
hissing or harassing remarks will not be tolerated.
Speakers will not be allowed to make personal
attacks. Please hold any applause until each
speaker has finished making their comments.
In addition to receiving oral comments
at today's hearing, the board welcomes and
encourages written comments. Any comments or other
information received at today's hearing will be
public information and may be referred to or
referenced in reports or recommendations issued by
the board to the legislature.
This hearing will be in session until
7 o'clock tonight. We will be taking two 1S-minute
breaks during the afternoon. Does anybody have any
questions regarding these procedures?
Our next public hearing will be held
from 1 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 7 at the
Bowen Science Building at the Universlty of Iowa in
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Iowa City.
Debbie will notify speakers when you
have four minutes remaining, two minutes, and
thirty seconds left to speak by holding up these
warning messages. Once your time is up, she'll
hold up the following sign. Please wrap up your
comments when you see the 30-second warning.
We will now begin with our first
speaker, and I believe that is Lloyd Bonjour. Is
he in attendance?
LLOYD BONJOUR: Yes. Hi.
Good
afternoon. My name is Lloyd Bonjour. I live in
Dows, Iowa. I've doctored at the Mayo Clinic.
I've doctored at the Mercy Hospital out here, and
my main doctor right now is in Iowa City.
I am HIV. I have been since the first
week of February of 1980, and I believe I'm the
world's longest living HIV person. I've been on my
death bed twice.
I have used all forms of marijuana.
I've tested all forms of marijuana. I've did
trials of all forms of marijuana, and my doctors
and pharmacy personnel who deal with me know all
the results.
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I came to Iowa -- I used to live in
South Carolina. That's where I was exposed, across
from the raceway in Daytona Beach, Florida, but I
was living with HIV for 15 years before I was
informed or known of it. And when I was informed,
my CD4 count was six. We were shocked. We did the
bloodwork again, and the CD4 count was four. And
it's supposed to be 1,500 or more.
But anyway, I came back here to Iowa,
my home state where I was born, to die. That was
March 6 of 1998. My viral load at that time was
356,304. Today after going through many, many
experimental drugs, my CD4 count now is 400. I do
have an immune system going again.
And I'm here to talk about marijuana.
I think Iowa should kind of team up with the
western states of California legalizing it, and in
fact, I would like to see all drugs legalized, get
the money out of it, and let the people -- the
butchers implode and then take the money and
educate the people such as Mexico has done in the
last two weeks. They have legalized all drugs but
in small quantities.
But to bring you up to date on why
we're here, we're trying to get medical marijuana
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legalized, and I think costwise on Marinol, which
has now got a generic form of it, but Marinol back
when I was using it for 90 pills was $2,823 a
month. I think that's staggering and outrageous.
The new generic form cost -- for 60 pills per month
is $1,288.81. Again, I think it's outrageous, and
it doesn't even come close of doing what the real
drug, the real plant, does.
The real plant has been used
throughout the world since way back in the Egyptian
days. We should be using that plant today. It
would save the taxpayers one hell of a pile of
money. I'm only one who uses this drug, and you
can see what it costs per year or per month.
And the Marinol is a very rough drug
to take, and it will get you stupefied where you
can't even know what the heck you're doing. That's
what I hate about taking these drugs. You lose
what you're trying to do. The generic form is a
little better. It's not quite as harsh.
And the real marijuana, if you're
going to roll it in a joint, is the best there is.
There's nothing better.
But to make these other drugs more
palatable or usable, I've used smoking one -- one
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hit of marijuana with Marinol, and you get a lot
nicer, smoother deliverance of the drug. I've also
done it with a generic form, one hit of the real
thing with the pill. It is good. But it doesn't
make you so stupefied.
Now, if you use marijuana by itself,
you're okay. You can stop at one hit or two hits
or three hits, but once you swallow that pill, that
sucker is with you, and you're going to get the
full benefit of what that pill produces, and
there's no way you can cut the pill in half because
it's an oil center. That's what I hate about it.
But as far as us trying to get it
legalized, I think we should probably do like
California. I don't think it would hurt any of us
HIV people or people who use this drug to be able
to maybe grow six plants, eight plants. One plant
a month would take care of the problem, and it sure
as heck would sure save the taxpayer a whole bunch
of money.
I don't think I have anything else to
say unless somebody wants to talk, ask questions.
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MICHELLE FREEMAN: I'm Speaker
No. 6.
I was going to kind of observe a little bit longer
before I speak, but I suppose if you -- it's up to
you guys.
JESSE: Hi. My name is Jesse.
I'm
deaf. I'm from Iowa. I have a behavior problem
with my emotions because being deaf, it's hard in
my life. When I get high, I'm more flexible. I'm
happy.
And that's about all. It just helps.
Please help us all. Thank you. That's all.
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Steve Hoodjer, I'm from Parkersburg, Iowa. First
of all, I'd just like to thank the board for taking
the time to hear this issue and thank them
especially for including ordinary citizens in the
process.
I personally don't have any experience
using medicinal marijuana, but several of my
great-great uncles, great-great aunts were among
those asked by the government to grow marijuana
during the 1940s for the war effort, so I do have a
bit of a family history with it.
When you do a little bit of research
on medical marijuana, you often see it being used
for HIV/AIDS, used to mitigate the effects of
chemotherapy for cancer patients, and things like
that, used for glaucoma, so I want to I would
bring up two points that you maybe don't hear it
used an awful lot, maybe some things that are in
the emerging science that I'd like the board to
take into account.
So the two things I want to speak
about, first of all, are the federal government's
patent on the use of cannabanoids, and I want to
speak about, second of all, emerging research in
the treatment of the avian and HINI flu virus.
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My first point about the federal
government patent on cannabinoids. In October 2003
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued Patent
No. 6,630,507 for cannabinoids as antioxidants and
neuroprotectants. This patent is basically the
research done by the National Institute of Health
and is a sign to the United States of America as
represented by the Department of Health and Human
Services.
The principal finding, which is
patented in 6,630,507, was the antioxidant property
of cannabis which to quote in the abstract, "This
newfound property makes cannabinoids useful in the
treatment and prophylaxis of a wide variety of
oxidation-associated diseases."
They go on to specify "There is a
particular application as neuroprotectants that
could limit damage following stroke or following
trauma to the head and treatment of diseases such
as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and
HIV-related dementia."
So I believe that if we have an agency
of the federal government which itself through the
National Institute of Health, through the
Department of Health and Human Services has
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discovered and patented even a single medicinal use
for marijuana, I don't believe that any state
agency could then claim a scientific basis to keep
marijuana use as a Schedule I or its equivalent
drug on the grounds of having no medicinal use
since our own federal government holds a patent on
the medicinal use for marijuana.
The second thing I want to speak about
is emerging research in the treatment of avian and
the HlNl, previously referred to as the swine flu.
Some of the most exciting and timely research into
medical marijuana has come out of a
California-based company called Cannabis Science,
Incorporated.
This is a medical research company
which is originally founded by a man by the name of
Mr. Steve Kubby who himself was diagnosed in the
late 1970s -- I believe the mid-1970s -- I'm
sorry -- with a rare form of adrenal cancer that
was previously 100 percent fatal in all cases, and
indeed Mr. Kubby's condition did not respond to
traditional treatments such as chemotherapy.
However, with only a healthy diet and
the use of medical marijuana, Mr. Kubby has
survived for over 35 years with relapses only when
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he was imprisoned various times in California prior
to the rescheduling of the drug there when he was
jailed for taking his medicine.
Much of their work is focused on
phytocannabinoids, and those are the cannabinoids
which are unique to the marijuana plant. One of
their primary developments is the processing of
marijuana into a lozenge form which makes it easier
for patients to consume as opposed to the
traditional method of smoking the drug.
The most timely aspect of their
research, which I mentioned, is in the area of the
avian flu and the HINI or swine flu. The direct
cause of death from these viruses is the onset of
adult respiratory distress syndrome, and that's
caused by inflammatory response which is generated
by the body's immune system in response to -- to
the virus.
In a healthy body the endocannabinoids
which are those cannabinoids which are naturally
produced in the human body would regulate this
process and control it and sort of direct the
immune system in such a way that it would destroy
the virus and not harm the surrounding tissue.
But for at-risk patients, patients
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such as the elderly and those who would be in a
weakened immune state, phytocannabinoids, which
are -- as I mentioned, are those which occur in
marijuana plants, are being shown to be able to
take the place of endocannabinoids which creates a
more healthy state from which the body can fight
off this kind of infection.
In light of this new development, this
new research, Cannabis Science, Incorporated has
applied to the Food and Drug Administration for a
fast track approval so they can get this drug to
those who could use it in an expeditious manner and
hopefully be used with the predictions of potential
epidemic of HIN1, would be used as just one other
tool to combat that.
So for these two things that I've
spoken about today, about how the federal
government itself holds the patent on cannabinoids
for antioxidants and neuroprotectant uses and also
for the emerging treatment that the emerging
research that suggests we might have a more
effective treatment to deal with the elderly and
those in a weakened immune system in the case of
avian and HINl flu virus, for these reasons and for
all the others that many people will speak to on a
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much more personal level, I would urge the board to
consider -- to recommend that we reschedule this
drug, and we urge the legislature to take this up
and help these people get the medicine that they
need and help other people who could use it --
potentially use it.
And I know it's out of the purview to
speak about economics for this board but also to
perhaps be able to bring some of this type of
medical research into iowa which can now be done
legally in places like California where they have
rescheduled the drug.
So for all those reasons, I thank you
very much for the time and urge a recommendation to
reschedule medical marijuana. Thank you.
TERRY WITKOWSKI: Is Ann Du
Bois here?
Is there anyone else that would like to speak at
this time?
MICHELLE FREEMAN: My name
is Michelle
Freeman, and I too am from Iowa. I'm inspired to
be here because I read a local newspaper article
about the forum and some of the topics that were
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covered, and the last issue was Iowa should wait
until all of the other states get on board, and
then Iowa should come on board.
And I find this -- I'm so thankful
that the pharmacological -- Iowa pharmacological is
looking at this because it's obviously an issue
that is important to people, and in the year 2009,
after the last speaker informed us of some
wonderful facts, I don't understand why we would
even consider withholding a natural substance that
has evolved with all of humanlty up until our time,
and we know it has medicinal benefits. Why would
we withhold that from people? It doesn't make
sense.
Only because we've created a criminal
aspect of it, and we want to -- I understand the
rescheduling doesn't want to get into the criminal,
but it's very difficult because it's actually
pointed out. It's political, it's social, and it's
medicinal.
So if it were just medical, it
wouldn't be a problem, but because we have social
problems with it -- and how factual they are, I'm
not certain because a lot of it, I think, is
propaganda. I know that facts aren't always fed to
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us through mainstream media, so we get propaganda.
And when I talk to people about this,
I have a 97-year-old aunt, and I ask her, I said
"Don't you see the importance of rescheduling this
to help people?"
She said "No. It's bad."
"How can it be bad? How can you see
it as bad," I ask her? And she starts listing off
people she knows that have been arrested for it and
charged for paraphernalia or possession. And these
are cousins and relatives. I said to her, "Now,
does that mean marijuana is bad? Does that mean
those people are bad?" No. It just means that
perhaps what we've got written up for laws and the
way we are dealing with something that people use,
whether it's illegal or not, and what's something
that can help people that are in horrible
situations.
I have a cousin that she has a
disease. If it were legal, she would try it
because she's been told it could help her with
pain, but she's so afraid. I think fear is the
biggest problem that people don't want to speak out
at something like this, and I think it's so
important that we become aware of the power that we
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have to really rise above the political and social
war that's been created and really look at it and
say "Can we help our people?" Let's help them.
Let's make it available medicinally for them and
let them use it. And if it won't benefit them,
move on to something else.
I think the biggest fear holding back
is the fact that there's probably a lot of, you
know, government regulations and things they're
afraid of, but I too -- my mother when I discuss my
viewpoint, because I'm very liberal for most people
in this area, she tells me "Why don't you move to
California? That's where all of your people are
at. That's where people like you would fit in."
And I tell her, you know, "Why should
I have to move to California?" I was born here.
Okay. I evolved right out of this planet right in
this state, and I have a right to good medicine as
well as all of the other people in our state do.
Now, the -- is it time? There's never
been a time -- now is the only time we can change.
I drove by casinos on my way to this forum, and not
that many years ago casinos weren't allowed. We
couldn't even buy lottery tickets in our state.
Guess what? We came on. So why hold back? We
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need to come on board now.
They need to really look at it and
take the power to reschedule something that has no
business -- no business being such a highly
scheduled substance. We all know that.
And I'm tempted to call everyone I
know and say "Come On down and tell them why"
because there's a lot of sick people out there that
could benefit from this change in Iowa.
So hopefully the board will look at it
and be proactive and be, you know, into the now so
that maybe Iowa could be on the cutting edge of
research for a substance to help people, and we
could be setting up -- we're the land of green.
We're one of the most fertile areas on the planet.
Here is a substance that has evolved with us, and
we could probably use it and help people
commercially and, you know, medically, so many
ways.
People should be able to have a
garden, and if they have a plant growing in it for
their purpose, then so be it. There's nothing to
fear. That's my biggest thing, is don't be afraid,
just because what we've been told may not have been
the truth.
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I looked at some of those ads from the
'40s. When my father and I would discuss
marijuana -- when I was a little girl, I was
offered it for the first time at ten years old.
Now, I'm from a predominantly white rural
community. Okay? My friends that offered me
marijuana for the first time were law-enforcement
children's kids, doctor's kids. These were kids
that had access from their parents. Okay?
So I look at that, and I think to
myself when I first tried it, I was afraid, and
I said no. And I asked my parents "Why is it so
bad?"
"It will make you crazy. It will make
you crazy" was my dad's answer, Well, when you're
ten and someone says it will make you crazy, you
kind of get a little nervous. And I lived on a
farm, so I wasn't in town.
And then eventually I was 16 when I
tried it for the first time, and remember
thinking I was lied to. These people, I've been
lied to my whole life.
So I just hope we'd be realistic, and
it's time to be now. Thank you.
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that would like to speak? Have you registered? If
you would just get a number from Roger in the
corner, please. Speaker No. 8.
KATHY: Hello. My name is Kathy.
I
wasn't going to speak today because -- for various
reasons, but I feel it's really important, and I'm
very impressed by what I've seen. Iowa, having
grown up here, and I've also been able to live
elsewhere, so I see what's going on. And I feel it
should be legalized for medical use.
I have family that live in Colorado,
and these kids sent me this magazine, and I'd like
to submit it for the people here. It talks about
the medical marijuana use, and these doctors are
very, very careful. They interview you at length.
They make sure that you're not using it for reasons
other than medicinal, and I was quite impressed
with the system.
I have a lot of problems with pain,
and I have problems with sleep, and I'm not able to
use it at this point because of my job. I'm able
to do certain work despite the pain, but if -- if
I -- if I'm tested and I test positive, then I
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don't have the job. So that's another
consideration that people might have if they have
certain situations going on with pain.
And I feel -- I feel that the
alternatives that people are offered in the area of
pain control are pretty rough. It's very strong
and very addictive, and I'm living proof that
smoking a little bit at night for sleep isn't
addictive because I'm not able to use it at this
point.
So I was real impressed that Iowa is
taking a look at this. I feel that it should be
pushed through quickly. The other states that are
using medical marijuana are having great success
with it, and alternative medicine is growing, and
this would fit in beautifully.
It's also an area that's being used
for mental-health issues, and from observation, I
know that it's a lot safer if it's properly used
for certain conditions that involve the brain. And
I'm sure that there's been a lot of research done.
I don't have those statistics, but I have observed,
and I can tell that it's something that helps
people.
Anyway, I'd like to submit this. It's
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a magazine from Colorado that talks about the
clinics, talks about the use, and these are very
intelligent, medically minded people who put this
magazlne out. Thank you.
MIKE: Hello, everybody. My name
is
Mike. I don't even know where to begin. I -- in
the last four years, I've had a liver transplant.
I've got degenerative spinal disease, I've got
Hepatitis C. I've got a disease called
toxoplasmosis, which I inherited from my new liver.
And I tried all the opiates for the
pain. The paln in my back restricts me so much
that I was getting to where I couldn't do anything.
I started smoking marijuana for the pain because
the opiates did nothing but make me a zombie. I
walked around in a daze. I lost three years. I
don't even remember three years.
And they had me so hooked on the
opiates that when I -- they gave me eight weeks to
clean up for my liver transplant, and I went cold
turkey, and I was in the hardest withdrawals, and
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it was terrible, simply terrible, so I refused to
take the opiates.
I know it's illegal to smoke
marijuana. But it works for me. It gives me a
chance to do things that I ctherwise wouldn't be
able to do.
You know, people think that -- a lot
of people think that if you smoke marijuana, you --
you know, you get all weird and break laws, and
and I don't find this to be true. You know, it
mellows me out, don't have a problem with anybody.
It's good for me mentally.
And I think that medical marijuana
is -- at least should be tried. For people like
myself, I don't want to do this illegally. But if
this is the only way that I can curb my pain
without doing the opiates, I'll be l11egal.
And I hope you all feel the same way
because there's a lot of sick people out there that
could use this as an alternative to the opiates
because the opiates do -- you can get hooked on
them. And I mean hooked hard. And if anybody has
been in withdrawals before, tell you what, it's a
terrible, terrible thing.
That's all I've got to say, you know.
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I'm glad to see so many people here because
apparently somebody cares. Thank you.
TERRY WITKOWSKI: Is there anyone
else
who would like to speak that has not signed up? Is
Carl Meyers here, and is he ready to speak at this
time?
ROBERT BLUE: Hi. My name
is Robert
Blue. And ever since I was a kid, I've always had
headaches, really, really bad headaches. You can
call them migraines. And I've tried Tylenol. I've
tried all that stuff that the doctors recommend.
I've tried the harder drugs.
And marijuana, it's -- it's so
horrible that it's illegal because when I smoke
marijuana, not just for my headaches but for
social -- for social order also, it's illegal, and
most of my family doesn't believe in illegal
things, you know. So that puts me at odds with
myself. If it was legal, I wouldn't have any moral
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issues about it.
Not only -- I just wanted to touch on
a point that Iowa, Iowa State is one of the leading
schools of agriculture in the nation. And if we
legalized it for medical marijuana use, that would
bring so much business to all the cities around
Iowa. It would bring -- it would bring the
forefront of science to this state.
I had so many other things going
through my head before I came up here, but I'm just
really glad that there's something out there that
God put on this earth for us to cure us, not just
to cure us but for us to at least deal with the
hardships of life, to deal with the pain in life,
and I just -- I just hope and pray that we can --
we can see past all the faults of the past and look
towards the future for -- for progress and for
change.
I wish there was -- I wish there was a
million people out there that thought like us right
now, you know, and I'm sure there is. Just all of
them can't be here today, you know. So that's all
I have. Thank you.
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TERRY WITKOWSKI: Right up here,
and
we ask you to identify yourself at least by first
name.
CRAIG HOWARD: Okay. Hi.
I'm Craig
Howard, and this has been going on for a long time.
Here's -- I'd like to give you some information.
This is a document called Cannabis 1977, just to
give you an idea how long we've been fighting this.
CRAIG HOWARD: And how much good
available information was available then and wasn't
even being used.
I also have another one from -- it's
called Young's ruling. It's the chief
administrative law judge of the DEA and his
ruling -- favorable ruling on medical marijuana.
DEBBIE JORGENSON: I'm going
to ask if
you want to have conversations if you could go on
out in the lobby so we don't disrupt our speaker
here.
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CRAIG HOWARD: And I've got another
one here which was -- let's see. That's Young, so
this would be Young's ruling which is from the Drug
Enforcement Administration, Docket No. 86-22. And
this was in response to that last one I gave you
and all the favorable information they have in that
last one just to kind of go through Young's ruling
a little bit.
They're pointing out that there isn't
enough research being done. It's important to note
that if this is such a valuable substance, why
isn't the research being done? I think there's
only one reason for that. It's because it's not
profitable. Any drug that's on the market now has
to have $200 million worth of research, and I think
we all know that that doesn't guarantee that drug's
safety at all.
There's a lot of dangerous drugs on
the market. In fact, aspirin kills hundreds of
people every year. And the research didn't make
that safe. All it did was made it profitable. So
the reason that there's a little bit lack of
research on this is because it's not a profitable
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substance.
In the end, in his conclusion, other
than the fact that he couldn't get enough -- that
he didn't look hard enough. I don't think, for
established medical use, is he brought up a little
administrator's standard for accepted safety for
use under medical supervision. It was also stated
in the second MDA final rule published on
February 22, 1988, FR 5156.
And the first requirement for
determin1ng safety of the substance is that the
chemistry of the substance must be known and
reproducible. That right there eliminates all
natural things from competing for medical use. You
cannot find a natural substance that can be
reproduced in a lab. That's chemistry. There's
just no way that you can reproduce a medical
marijuana plant.
The next step is to conduct animal
toxicity studies to show that the substance will
not produce irreversible harm to organs in proposed
human doses. Young's ruling there basically points
out that in order to kill someone with marijuana,
it has no LD50. You can't kill them with marijuana
unless you drop a bale on their head.
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There's -- that's the only way you're
going to kill these people with marijuana, so the
sarety isn't an issue. Long-term safety, they've
done studies -- there's a book you might want to
check out. I did. It's called Ganja in Jamaica, a
serious study on some of the heaviest-smoking
cultures in the world, and they found that the
people, the heaviest-smoking people compared to the
controls in this study, lived an average of one
year longer than people who did no drugs at all.
You can't say that with alcohol. You
can't say that with any other drug that is chronic
use, with chronic use, that it doesn't shorten
their life. It actually extends their life. Well,
I'm not even going to say extends their life
because a year is just -- it's negligible. I'm not
going to say extends life, but -- so there are
long-term studies on some of the heaviest-smoking
cultures in the world. They found it didn't
shorten their lives at all.
Let's see. What else we got here?
Yeah. So I guess basically that's that's all
I've got to say. If all you're going to consider
is the fact that it can't be reproduced to the
standards that it can be chemically synthesized,
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then you'll find that no medicine is offered by
nature. No medicines that are inexpensive and
affordable will ever be allowed, so if you're going
to use that criteria for that you've just --
you're doing nothing but forcing the suffering on
the sick and dying.
CHARLIE NEARING: Thank you
for having
this meeting, and my name is Charlie Nearing. And
like this lady up front here, I was raised in a
rural white community, and I was raised to think
marijuana was bad. And my father was an alcoholic,
but if he would have caught me smoking marijuana,
he'd have kicked my butt.
And I never tried marijuana until my
father committed suicide, and I was the unlucky one
to find his body, and I was diagnosed with
post-traumatic stress syndrome, and I shut down for
two years. I couldn't work. My mother supported
me.
I was -- I was 19 when my father died,
and a friend of mine turned me onto marijuana, and
I tried it for the first time, and it was like I
found the Holy Grail. I could finally function
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again. I went out and got a job. I've been
working ever since. I'm very social.
This is really hard for me, but I'm up
here doing it because I truly believe marijuana
needs to be legalized for medical reasons. Thank
you very much for your time.
DEBBIE JORGENSON: Oh, okay.
That's
fine. While we're waiting, I'll mention again if
somebody wants to speak, just go over to Roger at
the corner back here, and he'll get you a number.
TERRY WITKOWSKI: Carl, would
you
prefer that we take the microphone down for you, or
can you climb the stairs okay? Would you like the
microphone down there or do you want --
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CARL MYERS: I'm Carl Meyers.
I'm 5S
years old. I -- in the last year and a half, I
quit smoking marijuana, and that's when my health
became an issue. I got Hepatitls C, and the
marijuana seemed to keep my blood in order, and
since I quit taking it and using it, my platinums
in my blood has dropped down to where I can't even
get a surgeon to work on my back.
And with the marijuana before, I could
walk about a half mile. I barely made it into the
building today. I also got asthma. Never had any
problem with it until a year and a half ago. Now
I'm taking my inhaler four or five times a week.
I've woke up twice where my throat had
shut completely up, and I don't -- and I can't
prove it's the marijuana, but I know that it is the
dilator of your vocal cords and that. It is a
natural medicine for asthma. And all of this has
kind ot come into play since I quit smoking.
It's a shame to take something that is