Iowa should legalize marijuana

Sep 29, 2022

Iowa Democrats made a bold, and long overdue, call to legalize marijuana by putting it at the center of their fall election platform.

It’s legal in Illinois. Moline is going to do a land-office business from neighbors in Davenport, no doubt — and collect a ton of taxes. South Dakota voters are expected to pass a constitutional amendment this November legalizing recreational use of weed by adults. It passed in South Dakota with 58% support two years ago, but Gov. Kristi Noem successfully sued to stop it. This time around, Noem says she won’t stand in the way. Missouri is set to vote on it, too.

Minnesota recently legalized THC edible products.

Recreational use of cannabis is legal in 19 states, with more falling every year.

The Des Moines Register-Mediacom Iowa Poll reported last year that 53% of those surveyed favor legalization.

Pretty soon, Iowa will be surrounded by states where it is legal — and all that business will flow to South Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois and probably Missouri. When Iowa realized that Native Americans would be able to have gambling on reservations, we decided that gambling was not immoral anymore and allowed riverboat casinos. We didn’t want the Natives getting all our money.

Likewise, eventually we will recognize how much business and tax revenue is flowing out of state, come off our cloud and get with reality: People like to get high. Compared to drinking or sniffing glue, marijuana is about the safest way to temporarily escape reality.

Willie Nelson is no worse for wear. He probably wrote “Crazy” while stoned. Barack Obama smoked weed, Bill Clinton never inhaled or had sex with that woman, even Shakespeare was said to enjoy a puff of the stuff after which he would make up words, and a Rocky Mountain High is good business for Colorado.

A lot of people find relief from chronic pain, anxiety, PTSD, MS and chemotherapy from various forms of marijuana. Iowa makes it extraordinarily difficult for patients to access legal forms of cannabis for no apparent reason — just a few medical conditions apply, and only products that do not contain the psychoactive ingredient THC are allowed. There is considerable testimonial evidence that THC does relieve anxiety and pain. Although there is a lack of scientific study on the drug, the largest experiment in history has been conducted and found that it won’t kill you or drive you to Reefer Madness.

Science does tell us that THC can trigger schizophrenia in predisposed teen males. It’s a small cohort, and if THC doesn’t trigger it something else could. Not enough is known about how THC generally affects brain development in adolescents. Kids should not smoke weed, drink beer or use other drugs. As for adults, there is no academic work stating that cannabis is dangerous other than that excessive smoking leads to emphysema (so can working in a hoghouse). Most of the science indicates it has therapeutic uses, or is generally harmless so long as you do not sing along to the Doors.

It’s wrong to criminalize people for smoking a joint. That’s what we said in the dorm room with the Doors. We thought 45 years ago that maybe we would see it legalized in our lifetimes.

Republicans don’t want to give it a hearing in the Iowa Legislature. Even if they did, Gov. Kim Reynolds has indicated “over my dead body.” Senate Democrats have pressed for a constitutional amendment, but it would take Republican support to get it on the ballot.

Mike Franken, trying to upset Sen. Chuck Grassley, says he supports legalization for adults. So do the Democrats running for congressional seats, and Deidre DeJear in her governor’s campaign.

That is new to Iowa. Never before has legal cannabis been the official position of the Republican or Democratic Party. In the past, it’s mainly been Sen. Joe Bolckom of Iowa City, who could afford to bring up the issue. He just retired.

Pretty soon anybody in Storm Lake will be able to drive just over an hour and buy cannabis legally. It’s stupid to let all the money go to South Dakota or Minnesota when people are going to do it anyway. The money could go to schools or drug abuse prevention among teens or building up the Ioaw State Patrol, or it could be used just to lower property taxes. It would create jobs and small growing operations — who knows better how to cultivate than Iowa State grads?

It probably will take that stream of traffic through Inwood from the Iowa casino to the South Dakota dispensary to get state politicians on track with the majority of citizens. Another bonus: The state could expand its liquor monopoly by incorporating cannabis into that enterprise in socialism. It will happen someday, maybe not in my lifetime because I am old. Once South Dakota is in, all those people in Sioux and Lyon counties will get on board. That’s what it will take.

Art Cullen is editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot in Northwest Iowa, where this column appeared. For more columns and editorials, please consider a subscription to the Times Pilot. Or, if you wish, you can make a tax-deductible gift to the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation to support independent community journalism in rural Iowa. Thanks.

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Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi