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The medical cannabis issue is not about abstractions. It is about people. Copious research has shown many medical conditions benefit from the controlled use of cannabis. Children who can be relieved from multiple seizures are the most poignant examples. Many adults with acute pain and suffering can be helped, including cancer patients, those with neurological disorders and veterans with PTSD.

Janet experienced the heartbreak of watching her previously active 59-year-old son die of cancer. At his second home in a Western state, he had a card to give him access to medical cannabis, but his friends and family were in Iowa. Like many cancer patients, he had a choice between severe pain or being so doped up on painkillers he could not spend his last days having meaningful relationships. Medical cannabis would have given him some pain relief without forcing him to tune out. Why are we in Iowa denying this vital humanitarian benefit to people during their last days of life?