Here’s the latest on our efforts to get the State of Iowa to properly and competently apply for federal exemption from federal marijuana laws to protect Iowa marijuana patients and industry supporters.
On April 29, Kim Reynolds, Defendant, filed this motion to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the lawsuit is now moot, since the state went ahead and did a half-assed job of applying for the federal exemption two weeks after the lawsuit was filed. Remember this lawsuit was filed and served on Governor Reynolds April 9th because Iowa stalled on promises to petition the feds as promised? Yeah. The state didn’t act, and was sitting on their ass, but now that the lawsuit was filed, they magically took action two weeks later — on April 23rd, see exhibits A through D below — action Governor Reynolds promised the state of Iowa would take last year.
Funny how that stuff works.
See more: Hawaii Legislature Seeks Marijuana Exemption From DEA
Further reading: Iowa Should Seek Federal Exemption for State Marijuana Laws
See also: Iowa Officials To Seek Federal Marijuana Exemption From DEA
Even more via WeedPress: Minnesota Bill Requiring Minnesota’s Medical Marijuana Program Be Exempted From Federal Law ADVANCES
Here’s the motion to dismiss by Governor Kim Reynolds:
Brief in support of motion to dismiss by Governor Kim Reynolds:
Exhibit A filed by Governor Reynolds attorney Sarah Reisetter is below.
Basically, the Department did the laziest, most half-assed job possible, by filing a weak letter on April 23rd without doing full due diligence or legal research. Basically, Iowa is telling marijuana advocates to “get bent” is my interpretation here. I don’t think this is respectful at all to Iowa marijuana patients.
This is still a good thing overall, because this means Iowa is no longer stalling our ability to move forward with petitioning the federal government for exemptions to our state marijuana laws, which is arguably the minimal ethical duty of lawmakers in Iowa. Failure to notify the federal government to stay out of our state’s business is an ethical entrapment setup, a setup forcing Iowa marijuana business owners and Iowa marijuana users to remain outlaws under the federal law.
I’m glad the state agrees this setup requires being remedied, so as not to continually injure Iowa marijuana users in nursing homes, on school playgrounds, at colleges and universities, and during banking transactions.
Exhibit A:
Exhibits B, C, and D are equally lazy. The only difference is each exhibit shows the State of Iowa sent a lazy request to the federal governmental agencies in the following order: Exhibit A is a request to U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Exhibit B was a request with the same language to the Food and Drug Administration, Exhibit C was the same language sent to the U.S. Department of Education, and Exhibit D was the same request lazily sent to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Did I mention this action by Iowa is lazy? No wonder they stalled, forcing advocates to file for and support this lawsuit that forced the state to pretend to defend their state marijuana program.
See more: Hawaii Legislature Seeks Marijuana Exemption From DEA
Further reading: Iowa Should Seek Federal Exemption for State Marijuana Laws
See also: Iowa Officials To Seek Federal Marijuana Exemption From DEA
Even more via WeedPress: Minnesota Bill Requiring Minnesota’s Medical Marijuana Program Be Exempted From Federal Law ADVANCES
Since these filings on April 29, Carl Olsen, who initiated the original petition to stop Iowa’s stalling, has filed his response, agreeing that now that the state has filed these petitions with the above four federal administrations that the lawsuit against Governor Reynolds for failure to act is now moot. There is likely no way Governor Reynolds would have even filed these petitions without this lawsuit. So, that means the lawsuit was a success, in spite of the state arguing Carl had no standing or injury to file such a lawsuit.
What a world.
Moving forward, I expect the federal administrations to soundly deny Iowa’s alleged attempt to protect their state marijuana laws. It’s noteworthy that this is the first state to officially petition the federal government for exemptions to state marijuana laws, in spite of state medical marijuana laws being on the books for 25 years.
Equally noteworthy is the fact that five federal administrations — Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump and now Biden — have not sued any of the states for violating federal law. The feds clearly don’t want to have the courts decide this issue — likely because of precedent case law that says that the feds can’t interfere in state medical programs of any kind, whether it be psilocybin, MDMA, assisted suicide laws or marijuana.
This fight is far from over, but it’s an immense pleasure to report here at WeedPress that we FINALLY have a state telling the feds to stop pretending to have the authority to overrule state medical laws of any kind, not just marijuana. While Iowa officials seem to be doing the worst job possible at defending our state marijuana program, give them credit where due: they are indeed officially defending our state marijuana laws. To do otherwise would be an ethical and moral failure on part of state lawmakers, and by showing state lawmakers these solutions to the federal issue, state lawmakers can no longer pretend to not know what to do moving forward.
Stay tuned for more updates as this issue of supremacy, exemptions to schedule I federal drug laws, and the tenth amendment/equal protection, continue to be pursued in full. For the latest news, subscribe to our email list and follow WeedPress on Facebook. Thank you!
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See more: Hawaii Legislature Seeks Marijuana Exemption From DEA
Further reading: Iowa Should Seek Federal Exemption for State Marijuana Laws
See also: Iowa Officials To Seek Federal Marijuana Exemption From DEA
Even more via WeedPress: Minnesota Bill Requiring Minnesota’s Medical Marijuana Program Be Exempted From Federal Law ADVANCES
WeedPress: The Paper Trail 
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