On November 17, 2014, the Iowa Board of Pharmacy held a public hearing on my petition to have marijuana removed from schedule 1 of the Iowa Uniform Controlled Substances Act. Dale Woolery from the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy (ODCP), showed up to argue against me.
Dale Woolery from the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy
Woolery takes full advantage of the fact that most people, including most legislators, don’t understand scheduling of controlled substances. Woolery makes his arguments as if rescheduling is the same thing as legalization.
Woolery started off by saying the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved smoked marijuana, and that none of the national health organizations support smoked marijuana as a method of delivery for medical use. My petition does not ask for the legalization of smoked marijuana, or any other form of marijuana. Removing marijuana from schedule 1 would not make it legal for anything here in Iowa.
The Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy is located in the Pape State Office Building
Woolery goes on to claim that ODCP supports development of safe, tested and effective research-driven marijuana-based medicines (non-smokeable plant derivatives), but fails to mention that none of the plants we currently use to make medicine are in schedule 1. The opium plant, from which morphine is made, is in schedule 2. The coca plant, from which cocaine is made, is in schedule 2. Schedule 1 is only for plants that have no medical use. You can’t make marijuana-based medicines from a plant that has no medical use.
Woolery then says he approves of cannabidiol oil, or CBD, because it’s derived from marijuana instead of smoked and that Iowa is one of 11 states enacting a CBD-only law this year, failing to mention that this oil hasn’t been tested or approved by the FDA. Woolery says allowance for CBD is being discussed at the federal level by some in Congress, but not by the FDA. How did the FDA suddenly become irrelevant?
Woolery then says we have Marinol, but fails to mention that Marinol is made synthetically because it can’t be made from marijuana. Woolery also mentions Sativex and Epidiolex, which are both made from marijuana and currently undergoing FDA approval processes, but those plant derivatives are made in Great Britain because the marijuana can’t be grown for medical use here in the United States.
Finally, Woolery concludes down-scheduling marijuana would send a dangerous message that this addictive drug is somehow relatively safe, failing to mention that plants are not drugs and drugs cannot be made from plants in schedule 1. Relatively safe? Really? Relative to what? Schedule 2 is where we find opium and coca plants. Is Woolery joking? Woolery thinks that placing marijuana in the same category as morphine and cocaine sends a message that marijuana is safe? Maybe that explains why we have a prescription drug abuse problem in Iowa, but that’s another story.
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