Tony Leys

tleys@dmreg.com

Iowa should set up a practical program to help patients with legitimate needs obtain medical marijuana, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jack Hatch said Friday.

"We need to grow it here, dispense it here and regulate it here," the state senator said in a health-care forum at Des Moines University.

Last spring, the Legislature passed a law decriminalizing possession of a marijuana extract for treatment of severe epilepsy. But the new law provides no way for families to obtain the extract legally.

Hatch voted for that law, but he sees it as just a first step. "As good as it was, it's impossible to implement," he said.

His Republican opponent, Gov. Terry Branstad, signed the bill, but has indicated he doesn't want to expand the law anytime soon. Hatch said Friday that it should be broadened to let people with other diseases use medical marijuana if there is scientific evidence the drug could help them. Afterward, he said examples could include cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis, cancer and chronic pain.

He said he would have the state government strictly limit who could grow and sell medical marijuana. It should only be available in a few dispensaries, so authorities could keep close tabs on the distribution, he said.

Hatch made his comments about marijuana in response to a question from the state leader of the Epilepsy Foundation, which is lobbying for greater access to the drug for people who have documented need for it.

Hatch has said he wants to see how states such as Colorado fare with legalized recreational marijuana before considering allowing that in Iowa. Branstad opposes any move to legalize recreational marijuana.

Friday's forum was part of a series of such appearances organized at Des Moines University by the Partnership for Better Health. Branstad participated in it last week.

Hatch, the longtime co-chairman of the main legislative committee overseeing health care, spent much of his appearance Friday touting his work on reforming Iowa's health-care system and on helping form and implement the federal Affordable Care Act. "What the federal government did, and what the state did will go down as probably one of the greatest public-policy initiatives of this century," he said.

He said the new federal law "certainly needs some work," including the creation of a state health insurance exchange so Iowa officials would have more control. But he said the law is already making the American health-care system more efficient and effective. Hatch denied critics' allegations that the Affordable Care Act is "socialized medicine." He noted that instead of having the government run the health-care system, the new law relies on private insurers and hospital systems.

An audience member asked if Hatch would support a single-payer health-care system, in which a government insurance plan similar to Medicare would cover everyone. Hatch said he sees the appeal of that idea, but it's politically impossible. "It's not going to happen. Not in my lifetime," he said.

He said that if he's elected governor next month, he would push to improve implementation of the Affordable Care Act, not seek to replace it with a single-payer system in Iowa or nationally.