To the Editor:
Rick Wagaman’s Guest Opinion (Des Moines Register, 12/28/25), “Iowa should be ready for reset on cannabis,” leaves out an important step Iowa should be taking right now, a federal waiver for Iowa’s medical cannabis program.
The board that regulates the program has been recommending a federal waiver since 2019, shortly after over-the-counter sales began in December of 2018.
What President Trump’s executive order does is instruct the Attorney General to complete the process for the rule proposed by the Biden Administration to move cannabis from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3, a less restrictive category. As Mr. Wagaman points out, it does not resolve the conflict between state and federal law, but a waiver does exactly that.
Scheduling is an administrative process authorized by Congress in 1970, 21 U.S.C. § 811(a). A waiver is another process authorized by Congress in 1970, 21 U.S.C. § 822(d). The Attorney General can waive registration requirements if “consistent with the public health and safety.” There is no doubt the state considers “medical” cannabis to be consistent with public health and safety. And, indeed, that is exactly why it is being transferred from Schedule 1 (no medical use) to Schedule 3 (accepted medical use).
A waiver resolves the inconsistency. Iowa needs to be sure that both 21 U.S.C. § 811(a) and 21 U.S.C. § 822(d) are used to complement each other and resolve the awkward situation of continuing to operate Iowa’s program as a federal racketeering scheme. Patients are given a Hobson’s choice of violating federal drug or going without medical treatment.
It may not have seemed possible that the Attorney General would grant Iowa an exemption with cannabis remaining in Schedule 1, but now that it is being transferred to Schedule 3 that possibility has become reality. The only reason cannabis is being transferred to Schedule 3 is because all but a couple states have enacted laws recognizing it’s medical use.
It’s time to bring state and federal law into harmony.
Carl Olsen
Iowans for Medical Marijuana
https://iowamedicalmarijuana.org
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