Panel Discussion about Medical Marijuana to Follow Screening of Award-winning 'Waiting to Inhale`

MUSCATINE, IOWA – A free screening of the award-winning medical marijuana documentary "Waiting to Inhale" will be held at the Musser Public Library, 304 Iowa Ave., on June 19, at 2:00 p.m.

The screening will be immediately followed by a speech by medical marijuana advocate and MPP grantee Jimmy Morrison and a panel discussion with patients Lisa Jackson, who suffers from fibromyalgia, and Jacob Orr, who has chronic pain due to a car accident. House Assistant Minority Leader Jeff Kaufmann (R-Wilson) is expected to attend as well.

WHAT: "Waiting to Inhale" screening, followed by a panel discussion

WHEN: Saturday, June 19, at 2:00 p.m.

WHERE: Musser Public Library, 304 Iowa Ave., Muscatine, IA

Produced and directed by Jed Riffe, "Waiting to Inhale" examines the medical marijuana debate up close by taking viewers inside the lives of patients, doctors, and activists, while seeking to understand why opponents support the continued criminalization of sick and dying patients who could benefit from medical marijuana.

"Waiting to Inhale" was the winner of the 2005 CINE Golden Eagle Award, the Gold Special Jury Remi Award at the 38th Annual WorldFest-Houston and the 2005 Best Documentary Film/Video at the New Jersey International Film Festival.

With more than 124,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. For more information, please visit www.mpp.org.

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State board votes 6-0 in favor of reclassifying marijuana for medical use and establishing a legislative task force to implement the change

CONTACT: Mike Meno, MPP assistant director of communications ............... 202-905-2030

DES MOINES, IOWA ? Today, the Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted 6-0 to recommend to state lawmakers that marijuana be reclassified as a Schedule II drug and that a state task force be established to study how a medical marijuana law could be implemented in Iowa. Marijuana is currently classified on the federal level as a Schedule I drug, alongside much more harmful substances such as heroin and LSD, as having no proven medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule II drugs have accepted medical uses for treatment.

The recommendation comes after the board held four hearings last year to receive public input on the issue. Dozens of doctors, patients, researchers, and advocates testified before the board, and nearly all comments were supportive of medical marijuana. The Iowa House and Senate are each considering bills that would protect from arrest chronically ill patients who use marijuana to alleviate their conditions, though the bills missed the funnel deadline and will not be enacted this year.

"This vote sends a clear message to Iowa lawmakers that they should, as soon as possible, pass legislation that would give chronically ill patients who could benefit from medical marijuana safe and legal access to their medicine," said Noah Mamber, a legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project, who testified during the Board's hearings last year. "The recognition of marijuana as medicine in Iowa is a huge step. But for patients' lives to improve, the legislature must also provide protections from arrest, as 14 other states have already done."

"This is a great step forward for seriously ill Iowans who can benefit from medical marijuana," said state Sen. Tom Courtney (D-Burlington). "Several years ago, my wife passed away from cancer. Marinol pills gave her some relief, but it would have been so much better if she had had legal access to marijuana."

A Des Moines Register poll released yesterday found that 64% of Iowans support patients' use of medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. Fourteen other states, including most recently New Jersey and Michigan, have passed medical marijuana laws, and nearly a dozen others, including Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, are considering such legislation. In Iowa, the legislature is considering S.F. 293, sponsored by Sen. Joe Bolkcom, and H.F. 2179, sponsored by Rep. Mary Mascher.

With more than 29,000 members and 124,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit www.mpp.org.

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After four rounds of supportive testimony from doctors, patients and advocates, board will now recommend to state lawmakers whether to change marijuana's classification under state law

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA ? Today the Iowa Board of Pharmacy held the last of four hearings to examine the medical value of marijuana, receiving testimony from a range of medical experts, patients who have benefited from medical marijuana, and many others who asked that Iowa allow doctors to recommend the medical use of marijuana for seriously ill patients.

More than 80 people in total testified at hearings in Des Moines, Mason City, Iowa City and Council Bluffs. Almost no one testified against medical marijuana. Among those who spoke out in favor of medical marijuana were state Sen. Joe Bolkcom (D-Iowa City), Dr. Stephan Arndt, director of the Iowa Consortium for Substance Abuse Research and Evaluation, and Raphael Mechoulam, the Israeli scientist who in 1964 discovered THC, marijuana's main psychoactive component.

"Marijuana has been found to be of considerable medical value in numerous diseases," said Mechoulam, considered the world's leading expert on marijuana and cannabinoids, who testified by phone from Israel.

Noah Mamber, a legislative analyst with the Marijuana Policy Project, who testified by phone from Washington, D.C., asked the board to officially recognize the medical value of marijuana and to encourage state lawmakers to allow doctors to recommend marijuana for qualified patients. "In allowing doctors to write 'recommendations,' as opposed to prescriptions, Iowa can still maintain a doctor's place as the gatekeeper who controls who is allowed to possess medicine while still creating an effective medical marijuana law," he said.

Sen. Bolkcom has already introduced legislation that would protect medical marijuana patients from criminal sanctions. SF 293 would also create nonprofit compassion centers that could distribute medical marijuana to qualified patients.

With more than 29,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

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