FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 5, 2009
CONTACT: Carl Olsen at 515-343-9933

Pharmacy Board ordered to appear in Polk County District court again on October 9th

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy will conduct a third in a series of four monthly public hearings on the medical value of marijuana. The hearing is scheduled to take place Wednesday, October 7, 2009, Noon to 7:00 p.m. in the 3rd Floor Auditorium of the Bowen Science Building, University of Iowa, Iowa City. Carl Olsen and George McMahon of Iowans for Medical Marijuana will attend the hearing in Iowa City and will be available to answer questions from the press and public.

On April 24, Polk County District Judge Joel D. Novak ruled that the Pharmacy Board unlawfully rejected a petition by Iowans for Medical Marijuana’s Board of Directors to remove marijuana from its current classification as a substance having no accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. The petition was based on the fact that marijuana has been accepted for medical use in 13 states in the United States.

On July 21, the Board of Pharmacy again rejected the petition, ruling that accepted medical use in treatment in the United States means accepted medical use in all 50 states. The Iowa Board of Pharmacy insists it can determine whether marijuana has accepted medical use in the United States based on science, not on 13 state laws. Another court hearing has been scheduled for October 9 in the Polk County District Court to review the Board’s July 21st supplemental ruling.

Whatever the science shows, it’s clear the Iowa Board of Pharmacy has no authority to recommend marijuana be accepted for medical use in any state other than Iowa. The authority of a state administrative agency ends at its own state’s borders.

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