Cannabis rules lead to parking lot dosing in Dubuque
A Dubuque mother says a wrinkle in Iowa’s cannabis oil program is forcing her to take her young son out into the parking lot of his care facility for his twice-daily dose of the medicine.
Jennifer McFadden jumped through all the hoops to obtain a new state cannabis oil card. The permit is supposed to allow her to possess the oil for treatment of her 12-year-old son, Liam, who has severe epilepsy. To get the card, McFadden found a University of Iowa neurologist willing to sign a state form giving approval of the treatment. She then found a Colorado firm willing to send her the oil.
But the agency that runs the facility where Liam lives says it can’t allow the oil into the place. McFadden said the agency, Hills & Dales, noted that even though state law allows her to possess the oil, federal authorities still consider it a strictly controlled marijuana product.
McFadden said the quandary illustrates yet another problem with Iowa’s flawed cannabis oil program. She doesn’t blame Hills & Dales, which she said is an excellent agency.
“I do believe them when they say they’re doing everything they can,” she said.
When Iowa passed its limited cannabis oil law in 2014, experts estimated that several thousand Iowans with epilepsy could qualify for the new cards. However, just 55 such cards have been issued. Advocates have said that’s because many families see little use in a program that makes no provision for distribution of the medication.
MORE: Despite law, Iowans lack legal way to obtain medical marijuana
McFadden is one of several Iowans taking advantage of a new effort by a Colorado company to mail bottles of its “Charlotte’s Web” oil to customers around the country. The company, CW Botanicals, contends that the oil is not technically a marijuana product, because it has almost none of the chemical that makes recreational marijuana users high. Instead, the company says, the oil has a large amount of another chemical, cannabidiol, which many people believe can dampen seizures from epilepsy and may help ease symptoms of other maladies.
Federal authorities have said they believe interstate distribution of the oil is illegal trafficking of a marijuana product, although they haven’t tried to block it so far. McFadden said she doesn’t expect to be prosecuted, but she’s willing to run the risk because she wants to see if the oil will help her son with his severe disability.
“In my opinion, I’m doing nothing wrong. The state of Iowa says I’m allowed to do this,” she said.
McFadden said she has been retrieving Liam from the care facility twice a day, then taking him to her car in the parking lot. She uses a syringe to squirt a small amount of the oil out for him, then she brings him back into the facility. It’s an odd situation, she said, and she dreads doing it in the winter’s cold.
She said she wasn’t tempted to sneak the oil in to the facility, because she needs Liam’s health care providers to know about all medications he’s taking.
Marilyn Althoff, the facility’s chief executive officer, told the Register she couldn’t discuss Liam’s case. But in general, she said, “we’re a licensed health care facility, and with that come federal regulations.”
McFadden said she will continue to support efforts to expand Iowa’s program and to change federal laws so people with medical problems can try cannabis oil.