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DES MOINES — Legalizing the possession and use of marijuana-based cannabidiol to treat Iowans with seizure disorders is “too important of an issue not to let it go forward,” a lawman-legislator said Friday before an Iowa House Public Safety subcommittee moved the issue one step closer to a full House debate.

In the absence of evidence that it presents any danger to people who use it to control seizures or to public safety, Rep. Tom Shaw, R-Laurens, a police officer, said he didn’t know how the Legislature could deny access to cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive component of marijuana that backers say possesses a wide range of therapeutic benefits.

Meeting a day after the Senate approved Senate File 2360 36-12, the subcommittee heard emotional testimony from parents of children and adults who suffer debilitating seizure disorders.

Sally Gaer of West Des Moines, one of several mothers of epileptics who has been lobbying lawmakers since before the session began, told the panel her 24-year-old daughter had two seizures in the previous 12 hours despite taking four anti-seizure drugs and two more to combat their effects.

“Things aren’t working. We’re out of options,” she said. “This bill is awesome.”