{"id":47489,"date":"2021-05-04T04:30:49","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T12:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2021\/05\/04\/iowa-asks-dea-to-guarantee-protections-for-medical-marijuana-program-after-facing-activist-lawsuit\/"},"modified":"2021-05-04T13:45:35","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T21:45:35","slug":"iowa-asks-dea-to-guarantee-protections-for-medical-marijuana-program-after-facing-activist-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2021\/05\/04\/iowa-asks-dea-to-guarantee-protections-for-medical-marijuana-program-after-facing-activist-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Iowa Asks DEA To Guarantee Protections For Medical Marijuana Program After Facing Activist Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Iowa officials are requesting that federal agencies guarantee they won\u2019t punish people for participating in the state\u2019s medical marijuana program, avoiding a protracted legal challenge in the process<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last year, the legislature approved a bill that required the state to seek the protections for its medical cannabis program from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). After months of inaction, activist Carl Olsen filed suit against the governor, alleging that she failed to ensure that the law was effectively carried out because the Department of Public Health had unnecessarily delayed the mandated request.<\/p>\n

But within weeks of that lawsuit being filed, the state department on April 23 sent letters to DEA, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Education seeking a policy carve-out for Iowa\u2019s limited medical cannabis market.<\/p>\n

In the letters, the department simply quoted the statute of the law and said it \u201crespectfully requests the guarantee as directed by the Iowa General Assembly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the relevant text of the statute:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe department of public health shall request guarantees from the agencies of the federal government providing funding to educational and long-term care facilities that facilities with policies allowing patients to possess medical cannabidiol on the grounds of the facilities consistent with chapter 124E or allowing facility staff to administer medical cannabidiol to a patient shall not lose eligibility for any federal funding due to such policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

After being informed via a court filing that the department had made good on its obligation, Olsen agreed that the lawsuit was no longer relevant. However, he had sharp words for the government over its handling of the matter, namely its decision to send a short letter rather than file a formal application for federal exemption.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll Iowa citizens are directly injured by the apparent inconsistency with federal drug law, which throws people with serious disabilities under the bus while endangering the general public,\u201d the long-time activist said. \u201cThe department knows a better solution and it said so on September 4, 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a sad day when state government chooses to ignore federal law rather than comply with it,\u201d he continued<\/a> in his response to the state\u2019s motion to dismiss. \u201cWhat a horrible example of scofflaw and disorder. The people of Iowa deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regulators\u00a0said in a report last year that the department<\/a> would \u201cmove forward with seeking an exception for cannabis as a schedule I substance in Iowa from the DEA, in attempt to minimize conflict between State and Federal Law.\u201d But until last week, it had declined to act beyond saying in February that it was \u201cstill evaluating the best way to proceed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, DEA\u00a0rejected a request for an exemption<\/a> that was submitted by Olsen himself, but he has been hopeful that the result would be different with the state formally involved.<\/p>\n

DEA regulations stipulate that the agency\u2019s administrator \u201cmay grant an exemption in his discretion, but in no case shall he\/she be required to grant an exception to any person which is otherwise required by law or the regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a related note, the Hawaii legislature recently adopted a resolution seeking an exemption<\/a> from DEA stipulating that the state is permitted to run its medical cannabis program without federal interference. While the House\u00a0approved an identical measure last month<\/a>, it only\u00a0applied\u00a0to that chamber. This separate concurrent\u00a0version<\/a> cleared the House first before being adopted in final form by the Senate last month.<\/p>\n

Read the state and Olsen\u2019s most recent court filings below:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Iowa Motion to Dismiss and \u2026<\/a> by Marijuana Moment<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Louisiana House Votes To Legalize Medical Marijuana Flower And Advances Bill To Prepare For Recreational Legalization<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Photo courtesy of Kimberly Lawson.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Iowa Asks DEA To Guarantee Protections For Medical Marijuana Program After Facing Activist Lawsuit<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Iowa Asks DEA To Guarantee Protections For Medical Marijuana Program After Facing Activist Lawsuit<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iowa officials are requesting that federal agencies guarantee they won\u2019t punish people for participating in the state\u2019s medical marijuana program, avoiding a protracted legal challenge in the process. Last year, the legislature approved a bill that required the state to seek the protections for its medical cannabis program from theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47489"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47490,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47489\/revisions\/47490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}