Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
The Iowa Board of Pharmacy unanimously voted Wednesday to recommend to the legislature that it legalize marijuana for medical uses.
In a 6-0 vote, the board said lawmakers should change the classification of marijuana from a Schedule I narcotic to a Schedule II, meaning it legally is recognized to have a medical use.
Marijuana (Photo: Wikipedia)
A state Senate subcommittee held a hearing last year on a bill sponsored by Sen. Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City that would have created the Medical Marijuana Act, allowing the possession and use of marijuana for therapeutic purposes. The bill, Senate File 293, never made it out of subcommittee.
Pharmacy Board members, which include pharmacists and private citizens, said they don’t expect the legislature to take immediate action during a shortened session. The self-imposed funnel-week deadline for bills to pass through committee in order to be considered for further debate passed last week, but medical marijuana advocates said their hope is that the board’s decision will give the movement momentum going into next year’s legislative session.
Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy told the Quad-City Times last April that if the pharmacy board makes a recommendation to allow medical marijuana, it would lend credibility to having a debate.
There are now 14 states in which medical marijuana is legal. A Des Moines Register Iowa Poll found 64 percent of Iowans think the practice should be legalized in the Hawkeye State.
Last April, a Polk County judge ordered the Pharmacy Board to at least consider whether marijuana has any acceptable medical uses. In July, the board decided to hold hearings on the issue and offer a recommendation to the legislature. Four hearings were held. In December, the board announced it would make its decision this month.
“We need to stop charging cancer patients with drug possession charges and stop letting law enforcement officials dictate the bounds of medical treatment” said Randall Wilson, legal director of the ACLU of Iowa, who brought a lawsuit against the pharmacy board last year to force a change in the way marijuana is classified under state law.
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