Marijuana oil should be reclassified, regulators say

Iowa officials have been moving slowly to implement a law allowing for an extract of marijuana to be used for medical treatment, and advocates say they'll keep pressing for more access to the drug.

Medical marijuana advocates had asked the board to reaffirm its 2010 recommendation that legislators remove marijuana’s Schedule I label, a legal classification that forbids almost any use. But the board was unwilling to go that far this time. It only is recommending that legislators reschedule a special type of extract that has little of the chemical THC, which makes recreational marijuana users high.

Board Chairman Edward Maier, a Mapleton pharmacist, noted that the new proposal still would leave Iowa with an odd legal situation. Different parts of state law define marijuana as a Schedule I drug and as a Schedule II drug. At some point, he said, the state should “clean that mess up.”