An Iowa Senate committee voted 11-3 to advance a bill to remove the 3 percent cap on THC allowed in the state’s medical cannabis products, the Associated Press reports. The measure would also exempt the cannabis oil products from sales tax and expand the qualifying condition list to include any condition a physician recommends.
The law was first signed in 2014. The legislature approved a bill last year to allow for in-state medical cannabis cultivation (the previous bill would have forced the state’s dispensaries to obtain the oils from out-of-state, an obvious federal crime). The current law only allows epileptic patients to possess CBD oil and that law is set to expire in July. Patients are expected to begin accessing products on Dec. 1.
What’s included under the regime if the expansion bill doesn’t pass: cancer, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, AIDS and HIV, seizures, Chron’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and most terminal conditions with untreatable pain that have a life expectancy of less than one year. High Times reports that 700 patients have been approved to access the state program.
According to the AP, the state’s legislative session is set to end soon and lawmakers may not have enough time to pass the measure.