Last week in the closing days of the Iowa Legislative session, the Senate passed a bill for people who suffer from intractable epilepsy be allowed to be prescribed cannabis oil.

District 24 State Senator Jerry Behn says he wasn’t initially in favor of the bill pointing out that he didn’t want this to be the start of what happened in Colorado when they legalized marijuana.

However, when he learned that cannabidiol wasn’t marijuana but a derivative of the cannabis plant and it was just the oil and it had be proven to be effective for patients who suffer from intractable epilepsy he changed his opinion.

“I’ve kind of come around on that to say that under a doctor’s prescription, only a neurologist, it would be a prescription medication and it would be very, very limited.”

He further points out that the bill says that patients could use the cannabis oil if they tried all other options for medications and were unsuccessful.

Behn comments that he feels more confident about possibly legalizing cannabis oil after talking with doctors and physicians and having them agree with patients using the product.

To hear more of this topic and other happenings at the state capitol, tune into our conversation with Senator Behn on our Let’s Talk Greene County program during the 9am, noon and 5pm hours on KGRA.