Public Hearing on SF79

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Carl Olsen

To keep the audio file from load­ing every time this page loads, I moved the audio file to its own page:
http://www.carl-olsen.com/sf79-march-4–2013/

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Committee Vote on HSB 52

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Carl Olsen

To keep the audio file from load­ing every time this page loads, I moved the audio file to its own page:
http://www.carl-olsen.com/hsb52-february-5–2013/

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Hearing on HF 22

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Carl Olsen

To keep the audio file from load­ing every time this page loads, I moved the audio file to its own page:
http://www.carl-olsen.com/hf22-january-31–2013/

Feb­ru­ary 1, 2013 85GA
Bill His­tory for HF 22
By Hunter.
A bill for an act pro­vid­ing for the cre­ation of a med­ical mar­i­juana Act includ­ing the cre­ation of non­profit dis­pen­saries, and pro­vid­ing for civil and crim­i­nal penal­ties and fees.
Jan­u­ary 16, 2013 Intro­duced, referred to Pub­lic Safety. H.J. 83.
Jan­u­ary 22, 2013 Sub­com­mit­tee, S. Olson, Ander­son, and Sands. H.J. 103.
Jan­u­ary 29, 2013 Sub­com­mit­tee reas­signed, Baudler, Berry, and Fry. H.J. 131.
Posted in States | 3 Comments

Hearing on HSB 52

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Carl Olsen

To keep the audio file from load­ing every time this page loads, I moved the audio file to its own page:
http://www.carl-olsen.com/hsb52-january-31–2013/

Jan­u­ary 31, 2013 85GA
Bill His­tory for HSB 52
A study bill relat­ing to the con­trolled sub­stance of mar­i­juana, pro­vid­ing a penalty, and includ­ing an effec­tive date pro­vi­sion. 1–24-13 Sub­com­mit­tee assigned, Klein, Bran­den­burg, and R. Olson. H.J. 116.
In Pub­lic Safety
Jan­u­ary 24, 2013 Date Recorded
Jan­u­ary 24, 2013 Pub­lic Safety: Klein Chair,Brandenburg, and Olson, R..
All Related Bills to selected Study Bill
LSB 1308DP HSB 52
LSB 1308DP SSB 1045
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Senator Grassley is a Superstitious old Coot

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Carl Olsen
U.S. Senator Charles Grassley

U.S. Sen­a­tor Charles Grassley

I got a let­ter from U.S. Sen­a­tor Grass­ley today.

I wrote to Sen­a­tor Grass­ley about a peti­tion by two states, Wash­ing­ton and Rhode Island, ask­ing the DEA to reclas­sify mar­i­juana as a sched­ule II con­trolled sub­stance.  He respond by say­ing he doesn’t think mar­i­juana should be legalized.

And why?  Because he thinks mar­i­juana is dangerous.

Has he looked at the other stuff in sched­ule II?  Does he think mor­phine is not dan­ger­ous?  Does he think cocaine is not dan­ger­ous?  Does he think metham­phet­a­mine is not dan­ger­ous? Seriously?

The Iowa Depart­ment of Pub­lic Health thinks mar­i­juana should be in sched­ule II.  They filed a bill in the Iowa leg­is­la­ture to have it reclas­si­fied in sched­ule II.

You can read Sen­a­tor Grassley’s let­ter here.

Posted in Federal | 2 Comments

Alcohol promoting drug czar strikes again

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Carl Olsen
just say yes to saying no

Steve Lukan appre­hended by the Mus­ca­tine Journal

Iowa Drug Czar Steve Lukan (one joint of mar­i­juana is equal to drink­ing a keg of beer — Legal drug indus­try wants you dead) is at it again, this time with the help of Mus­ca­tine County Attor­ney Allen Ostergren.

Ostergren

Oster­gren

Oster­gren told the Mus­ca­tine Jour­nal, “I may go home tonight and have a glass of bour­bon,” Oster­gren said. “I’m not going to get drunk. Plenty of peo­ple use alco­hol respon­si­bly. The whole point of mar­i­juana and other drugs is to get impaired.”

Komendowski

Komen­dowski

Rep. Mark Lof­gren, R-Muscatine, invited Steve Lukan, direc­tor of the Governor’s Office of Drug Con­trol Pol­icy, and Peter Komen­dowski, pres­i­dent of the group Partnership@DrugFreeIowa.org, as well as local law enforce­ment offi­cials and Mus­ca­tine County Attor­ney Alan Oster­gren to a com­mu­nity dis­cus­sion on the direc­tion of drug pol­icy in Iowa.

Accord­ing to the Mus­ca­tine Jour­nal, “The speak­ers may have out­num­bered the audi­ence  of three, but the group still stayed on task and pro­moted their message.”

Kudos to the cit­i­zens of Mus­ca­tine for hav­ing the wis­dom to stay away from these pro­po­nents of misinformation.

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Legal drug industry wants you dead — after you pay them for it

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Carl Olsen


The Iowa Governor’s Office of Drug Con­trol Pol­icy is at it again, this time com­par­ing a mar­i­juana cig­a­rette to a keg of beer.

What’s even more annoy­ing is the spokesper­son for the legal drug indus­try, Peter Komen­dowski, pres­i­dent of Part­ner­ship for a Drug-Free Iowa.

In an arti­cle in Today’s Des Moines Reg­is­ter, Mr. Komen­dowski is quoted as say­ing, “What we’re doing,” said Komen­dowski, “is send­ing a mixed mes­sage to our kids that some drugs are OK and some aren’t OK. If you know kids, it’s extremely con­fus­ing to them if you’re not on message.”

And what is that mixed mes­sage, pray tell, Mr. Komen­dowski? Steven Lukan, the direc­tor of the Governor’s Office of Drug Con­trol Pol­icy, quickly sup­plies the answer, “A good anal­ogy I was given is that back in the ‘60s, smok­ing a joint was like drink­ing three beers. You achieved a quick high that didn’t stick around as long,” Lukan said. “Today smok­ing a joint can be like drink­ing a keg.”


So, the mes­sage we’re cur­rently send­ing, accord­ing to these two, is that alco­hol is okay and mar­i­juana is not. Pre­scrip­tion drugs are okay and mar­i­juana is not. That mes­sage is exactly the oppo­site of what it should be. These intel­lec­tu­ally bank­rupt rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the legal drug indus­try haven’t made a step toward mak­ing alchohol and tobacco ille­gal in Iowa, or deny­ing access to pre­scrip­tion drugs. Alco­hol and tobacco, along with pre­scrip­tion drugs, are the biggest killers out there. Mar­i­juana has never killed anyone.

So, the mes­sage, kids, is that you should drink lots of alco­hol and smoke lots of cig­a­rettes so you can get sick and use lots of pre­scrip­tion drugs. Got it? Good, now shut up and do what you’re told.

I don’t know about you, but I’d vote for Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Bruce Hunter or Sen­a­tor Joe Bolk­com for gov­er­nor in the next elec­tion if I had the oppor­tu­nity. Both of them promised to fight vig­or­ously for the rights of Iowans to choose a safe and effec­tive med­i­c­i­nal herb over toxic chem­i­cals cho­sen for us by the legal drug industry.

Posted in General, States | 3 Comments

Legal Marijuana? New Domestic and International Initiatives Challenge the Status Quo

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Carl Olsen
Octo­ber 3, 2012

Thomas Schelling Beau Kilmer Jonathan P. Caulkins Mark A. R. Kleiman Ale­jan­dro Madrazo Jonathan Rauch John Walsh

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Abolish the Office of Drug Control Policy

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Carl Olsen

Dear Edi­tor,

Register's Editorial June 10, 2012

Register’s Edi­to­r­ial June 10, 2012

Thank you for writ­ing the Register’s Edi­to­r­ial today, “Right pick for ‘drug czar’?  That’s the wrong question.”

The Office of Drug Con­trol Pol­icy (ODCP) is a state agency with no pub­lic over­sight.  It has no admin­is­tra­tive process, so you can­not peti­tion the agency for an admin­is­tra­tive hear­ing.  The Office of Cit­i­zens’ Aide/Ombudsman has no juris­dic­tion over ODCP.

States Moving Forward on Marijuana

States Mov­ing For­ward on Marijuana

ODCP rep­re­sents the inter­ests of sub­stance abuse treat­ment and law enforce­ment agen­cies.  Iowa would be much bet­ter served by split­ting those func­tions between the Iowa Depart­ment of Pub­lic Health and the Iowa Depart­ment of Pub­lic Safety, which have more exper­tise than either the cur­rent direc­tor (with a back­ground in com­mer­cial sales) or the assis­tant direc­tor (with a back­ground in radio broadcasting).

Governor's Wife Says ODCP Worth Saving

Governor’s Wife Says ODCP Worth Saving

To make mat­ters worse, the agency actively lob­bied in 2011 and 2012 against the Iowa Depart­ment of Pub­lic Health when the Iowa Board of Phar­macy rec­om­mended unan­i­mously that mar­i­juana be reclas­si­fied as med­i­cine in Iowa.  ODCP’s mis­sion should be to pre­vent the unau­tho­rized use of med­i­cine, not decid­ing what med­i­cine should be.

Carl Olsen
130 E. Aurora Ave.
Des Moines, IA 50313–3654
515–288-5798 home phone
515–343-9933 cell phone
carl-olsen at mchsi dot com

Des_Moines_Register_20120610_OP001_1
Des_Moines_Register_20120611_A004_1
Des_Moines_Register_20120612_A009_2

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Iowa Democrats Support Marijuana Law Reform

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Carl Olsen

It’s been a while since I’ve writ­ten a blog post, but I gave a speech at the Global Mar­i­juana March yes­ter­day and I’m going to post my notes here.

POLK COUNTY PLATFORM
ADOPTED BY THE CONVENTION DELEGATES ASSEMBLED
MARCH 10, 2012

AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENT, AND ENERGY
Page 3, Line 95, Res­o­lu­tion 2

We sup­port: diver­si­fi­ca­tion of crops and live­stock includ­ing hemp.

GOVERNMENT AND THE LAW
Page 7, Line 277, Res­o­lu­tion 10

We sup­port: amend­ing the crim­i­nal pro­hi­bi­tion of mar­i­juana and replac­ing it with tax­a­tion, reg­u­la­tion and education.

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Page 8, Line 344, Res­o­lu­tion 7

We sup­port: legal­iz­ing med­ical marijuana

March 10, 2012

Mont­gomery County adopted one res­o­lu­tion to the 2012 Iowa Demo­c­ra­tic Party 3rd Dis­trict Convention

Agri­cul­ture & Environment

U.S. Agri­cul­tural policy

Because

Hemp is a fiber crop that should be grown in the USA, not imported from Canada. It has many qual­i­ties that make it a valu­able crop: few if any pests, shades out weeds, needs very lit­tle fer­til­izer. Cot­ton is hard on the soil, needs lots of pes­ti­cides, and we can do bet­ter. Hemp oil has many good qual­i­ties as well. Because hemp has lit­tle THC, it can be grown for the fiber and oil. That hemp is good for the soil and would add one more crop for our farm­ers to use in their rotation.

Resolved

Hemp growth should be per­mit­ted in the United States.

Adopted unan­i­mous voice vote

http://www.idp3.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/MontgomeryPlatform2012.pdf

THIRD DISTRICT PLATFORM
ADOPTED BY THE CONVENTION
APRIL 28, 2012

AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENT, AND ENERGY
Agri­cul­ture
Page 2, Line 75, Res­o­lu­tion 2

We sup­port: diver­si­fi­ca­tion of crops and live­stock includ­ing hemp.

GOVERNMENT AND LAW
Page 8, Line 330, Res­o­lu­tion 36

We sup­port: the legal­iza­tion of mar­i­juana in the same man­ner as tobacco and alcohol.

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Page 8, Line 365, Res­o­lu­tion 7

We sup­port: legal­iz­ing med­ical mar­i­juana.

FIRST DISTRICT DEMOCRATS
2012 PLATFORM

HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
Page 14, Res­o­lu­tion 23

We sup­port: Fed­eral and State laws allow­ing med­ical use of mar­i­juana.

Demo­c­ra­tic Plat­form: Dis­trict 2
As amended and approved by
Demo­c­ra­tic Con­ven­tion
Ft. Madi­son Iowa, April 28 2012

GOVERNMENT AND LAW
Crim­i­nal Jus­tice
Page 6, Res­o­lu­tion 89

We sup­port: cannabis legal­iza­tion, reg­u­la­tion, taxation.

AGRICULTURE & ENVIRONMENT
Agri­cul­ture & Farm­ing
Page 15, Res­o­lu­tion 292

We sup­port: indus­trial hemp production.

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Patient Rights
Page 21, Res­o­lu­tion 435

We sup­port: med­ical mar­i­juana.

2012 Fourth Dis­trict Platform

AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT
Envi­ron­men­tally Respon­si­ble Energy and Com­bat­ing Cli­mate Change
Page 3, Line 93

We sup­port: indus­trial hemp production.

GOVERNMENT AND LAW
Drug Poli­cies
Page 15, line 633

We sup­port: legal­iz­ing mar­i­juana use, heav­ily tax­ing its pur­chase, and tightly reg­u­lat­ing its purity and tetrahy­dro­cannabi­nol (THC) con­tent to ensure as much safety as possible.

SUMMARY

Legal­iza­tion of mar­i­juana: 2, 3, and 4 (3 out of 4 plat­forms)
Legal­iza­tion of med­ical mar­i­juana: 1, 2, and 3 (3 out of 4 plat­forms)
Legal­iza­tion of hemp: 2, 3, and 4 (3 out of 4 platforms)

2011 – S.F. 266 (would legal­ize med­ical use of mar­i­juana)
Sen­a­tor Joe Bolk­com
Sen­a­tor Jack Hatch

2011 – H.F. 183 (opposes legal­iza­tion of mar­i­juana for med­ical use)
Rep. Clel Baudler, Chair, House Com­mit­tee on Pub­lic Safety
Governor’s Office of Drug Con­trol Pol­icy (refused to par­tic­i­pate in phar­macy board hear­ings on med­ical mar­i­juana in 2009)

2012 – H.F. 183 (votes against)
Ako Abdul-Samad (D, Dis­trict 66) Des Moines IA, 50314
Deb­o­rah L. Berry (D, Dis­trict 22) Water­loo IA, 50703
Ruth Ann Gaines (D, Dis­trict 65) Des Moines IA, 50313
Rick Olson (D, Dis­trict 68) Des Moines, IA, 50317
Mary Wolfe (D, Dis­trict 26) Clin­ton IA, 52732

2012 – H.F. 2270 (would legal­ize med­ical use of mar­i­juana)
Rep. Bruce Hunter (D, Dis­trict 62) Des Moines IA, 50315
Feb. 14 – referred to Com­mit­tee on Pub­lic Safety
Rep. Clel Baudler — Chair of subcommittee

Sen. Eugene Fraise (D, Dis­trict 46) Fort Madi­son IA, 52627
Sen­ate Com­mit­tee on Judi­ciary, Chair
Told the media he was going to intro­duce his own med­ical mar­i­juana bill

Sen. Mike Gron­stal (D, Dis­trict 50) Coun­cil Bluffs IA, 51503
Sen­ate Major­ity Leader
Told me med­ical mar­i­juana was going to hap­pen because Pres­i­dent Obama sup­ports it

Posted in States | 5 Comments