Iowa’s Medical Cannabis Dispensaries May Need a Bigger Market to Sustain
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]M[/dropcap]edPharm, Iowa’s first licensed medical cannabis manufacturer officially announced that its products are ready for sale. MedPharma’s website says that medical cannabis products like oils, creams and capsules will be available in five dispensaries located across Iowa from Dec. 1 onwards.
The state approved medical cannabis for limited use in 2017 and strictly restricted the categories of medication that could be manufactured and sold. Since then, some lawmakers have advocated expanding the law to accommodate more varieties of cannabis products and make them available to more people. But Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa House Speaker Linda Upmeyer have said that the program requires time to mature before they can embark on changes. Hence for the time being, MedPharm will offer three products with ranging levels of cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, only 438 patients in Iowa have been issued registration cards that allow them to purchase medical cannabis. So the future of MedPharm and similar dispensaries in a small market like Iowa is somewhat precarious.
MedPharm leaders are still pushing for legislators to lift Iowa’s current three percent cap on THC to make medical marijuana more effective and economical. It is common knowledge that THC is the cannabis compound that entices most recreational cannabis consumers towards cannabis, but advocates of medical cannabis say that it is also an essential component of cannabis that makes products more effective and efficient towards pain management.
MedPharm has also asked legislators to expand the list of conditions for which Iowans may purchase medical marijuana. The current list consists of just nine qualifying conditions, including seizures, cancers, Parkinson’s disease and untreatable pain; adding issues like post-traumatic stress disorder to the list would make Iowa’ cannabis market bigger and on par with other states where medical cannabis is legal.
