VERNON BENJAMIN: Okay, it's 12:31. Back in session here. When we left we had finished the discussion. We had had a round table discussion of what everybody's thoughts were. And then we discussed the rule that set it up where we actually for research purposes could use marijuana in a medical research project. So that's kind of where we're at right now. Ed had, do you want to talk about what you were talking about right when we closed?
EDWARD MAIER: For purposes of discussion, I'm prepared to offer a motion at this stage, and see, get us to discuss some things. I am going to move that the board of pharmacy recommend that the legislature reclassify marijuana to Class 2, with the recommendation that the legislature form a task force composed of various disciplines, including, but not limited to, a representative of a seriously ill patient, representative of law enforcement, a representative...
EDWARD MAIER: Composed of various disciplines, including, but not limited to, a representative of a seriously ill patient, a representative of law enforcement, a representative of the attorney general office, perhaps somebody can help me, I put down a representative of an HIV organization, if somebody has a specific, I would be perfectly open to a friendly... A person living with a seriously, with a serious illness, a person living with a serious illness on the task force. A representative of palliative care, in other words, hospice. A representative of the board of pharmacy, the board of medicine. Two, make a recommendation to the legislature as to the administration of a medical marijuana program.
EDWARD MAIER: The purpose of the task force would be to make a recommendation back to the legislature as to the administration of a medical marijuana program.
MARK ANLIKER: To open it up for discussion, I'll second that motion. My thoughts would include basically those people that you talked about. Over lunch, here at the table, I was making a list and I think you covered most of the list. I would included somebody from a substance abuse background, and I think your AIDS thing could be taken care of by a physician caring for AIDS patients, a specialist in that field.
ANNABELLE DEIHL: I would like to make a friendly amendment that you include someone from a state nurse practioner organization.
EDWARD MAIER: I would accept that. And I did put down, including, but not limited to.
MARGARET WHITWORTH: Yeah. I tend to think that's very good because there may be other people as we proceed. Or other organizations.
MARGARET WHITWORTH: I think this is an excellent effort to deal with concern that everyone on this board has, but also many other people, in terms of how, in fact, would this be handled. How would it be established, distributed, monitored, all those things? A good motion.
ANNABELLE DEIHL: And your purpose for changing it to Class, recommending the change to Class 2, is for research...
EDWARD MAIER: For research. You know, this board could take a look at any recommendations.
MARK ANLIKER: It would allow that group the you're, that task force that you're putting together to actually accomplish something. They don't need to come back and ask for a, we're ready now kind of thing. It would basically, potentially launch it from here.
VERNON BENJAMIN: Legitimate, not legitimately, legally, us rescheduling marijuana to C2 allows a doctor to actually write a prescription for that product. And that's... Now... It allows... If it's a C2 drug to be dispensed the way the current law is, it is the doctor has to write a prescription. It has to be a hand written prescription for a patient. Medical marijuana laws have changed that, in that the doctor doesn't write for the prescription, he recommends. So, that's what that board is going to be doing. They're going to be looking at what is going to exempt the doctors from being liable. Right now, all we're doing is reclassifying.
MARGARET WHITWORTH: I thought that doctors could not prescribe. All they could do was recommend, because of the federal law.
EDWARD MAIER: I have a question now that as I think through this. Do we need to? Is that sufficient as it was read? To reclassify to Class 2 with the recommendation to establish a task force? Do we want to put something in there and limit the Class 2 for research purposes? Or, just leave it open? Just a thought, throw it out before we get...
MARK ANLIKER: I think it, I think we leave it on the back of that task force.
MARGARET WHITWORTH: Do we need to do anyting in terms of sort of what the charge is of the task force or is that implicit?
SUSAN FREY: Well, didn't you say administering a medical...
EDWARD MAIER: They would recommend back to the legislature their recommendations for administration of any progams.
SUSAN FREY: And I think that in itself would be self limiting. They have a very narrow scope.
TERRY WITKOWSKI: I would recommend that you qualify, because most of the time they don't use the term task force. But maybe say something like a task force or committee.
VERNON BENJAMIN: This way, too, since the board of pharmacy will be having a representation on that, we as a board then can formulate our ideas to recommend to that committee what our feelings are in detail of how that program should run without us being the ones that are actually have to be the investigators of the program.
MARK ANLIKER: All those stake holders are going to be doing that.
ANNABELLE DEIHL: At the risk of being nit picky, I'd better change that to just nursing representative. I wouldn't want the board of nursing to be left out since I'm still licensed.
LAUGHTER
VERNON BENJAMIN: Then I think the legislature could add any number of people to that they want because of the way we've worded it, so... Okay, the motion has been...
TERRY WITKOWSKI: See if this sounds anything like what you said. Motion to recommend to the legislature the rescheduling of marijuana to Schedule II..., rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II, with the recommendation that the legislature form a task force or committee comprised of various disciplines, including, but not limited to, a representative of a seriously ill patient, a representative of law enforcement, a representative of the attorney general's office, a representative of an HIV organization or a doctor caring for AIDS patients, a nursing representative, a substance abuse treatment representative, a person living with a serious illness, a hospice or palliative care representative, a representative of the Iowa Board of Pharmacy, a representative of the Iowa Board of Medicine, for the purpose of recommending back to the legislature as to the administration of a medical marijuana program.
MARK ANLIKER: That's what I was thinking, we'd have the wording that way.
EDWARD MAIER: That way the three boards can have representatives.
ANNABELLE DEIHL: You can stick nurse practitioners in there, if you want to, too. Sometimes they forget us.
VERNON BENJAMIN: The word in between the first recommendation and the second recommendation, we recommend that they change the schedule and then recommend that we set up the committee. Should there be some kind of thing that we recommend this...
VERNON BENJAMIN: ..and further... In order for this to happen, this has to happen, rather than...
MARK ANLIKER: Yes, Scott, how do we get those to travel as a pair?
TERRY WITKOWSKI: Well, initially, I had written condition. But, you could say with the further recommendation.
EDWARD MAIER: With further recommendation, is that, is that tied? Because we really do want them to be tied together.
VERNON BENJAMIN: Further recommend? Is that good enough? Okay. Further recommend that with this classification change, this occurs. Okay. Is everybody ready to vote? Do a roll call vote.
LAUGHTER
VERNON BENJAMIN: Aye. Motion carries. That will be what will be reported to the papers and the legislature.
APPLAUSE
SCOTT GALENBECK: Vern, I have a question. Do you have any interest in doing some explanation of why, I mean articulating in a document that would go to the legislature your reasons or your thinking. I know that's a lot of work, but...
VERNON BENJAMIN: Well, I was thinking that when we were doing, when I said we as a board then could talk and give... But, yeah.
VERNON BENJAMIN: We should probably turn that over to the legislature. You know. Or, do you mean now as we're making this...
SCOTT GALENBECK: Not right now, but, you know, when, just getting that information...
VERNON BENJAMIN: That's what I meant when I said the board is going to be... Okay... No, I think there's definitely...
MARGARET WHITWORTH: I think that the amount of the discussion, the exchange, the amount of research done to provide us with the materials, I think it would be a shame not to really ground the recommendation in that. And I can make one comment. I would especially like to express the, my appreciation, and I think the whole board, the incredible operation, specifically directed to the staff of the board of pharmacy. These people are extremely busy, they work very hard. And assuming, without any complaint, this whole next level of having the hearings, doing, gathering all this information, they were quite exceptional. I know its very stylish to knock state employees. I would like to point out that the state employees are performing above and beyond any level of expectation of good work. And this applies to all of them. It has been an amazing experience. No question that I had was ever dismissed. They always worked very hard. They did an excellent job of gathering the information. And the sheer physical process of getting it all duplicated and mailed, and you don't quite know the joy of Christmas Eve the mailman coming with a box...
APPLAUSE