Iowa includes chronic pain as condition for legal marijuana

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state board has approved a measure that expands the number of medical conditions that can legally be treated by medical marijuana in Iowa, but rejected several other conditions.

The Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Board voted Friday to allow those with chronic pain to have legal access to medical marijuana. The condition joins others already allowed, including seizures, Crohn’s disease, AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

But the board denied allowing generalized anxiety disorder and opioid dependency as qualifying conditions. The board also voted to delay a decision on allowing post-traumatic stress disorder to be a qualifying condition until its November meeting.

Friday’s meeting was the first since Gov. Kim Reynolds vetoed an expansion of Iowa’s medical marijuana program in May.