Medicinal marijuana is a term that draws snickers out of most Iowans.

While there are quite a few medical conditions marijuana is able to ameliorate, the mainstream media is littered with examples of the rampant abuse of California’s system. Often times, it seems that these pot shops are patronized and run by normal, everyday people — not that an affinity for corduroy and beach cruiser bicycles is particularly normal, but neither is multiple sclerosis.

It’s also important to point out that California will be voting on Proposition 19 in November; a bill attempting to outright legalize all cannabis use in the state and requiring a simple majority vote. As of April, 56 percent of Californians approved of such a measure. On one hand, it’s surprising to see majority approval in a state with a significant conservative population, but even the most staunch conservative has a harm time ignoring the potential tax benefits in the middle of a recession.

At the very least, the outcome of Nov. 2 is going to prove particularly interesting. We have a friend who self-identifies as a Rastafarian. He insists he’ll be moving out west should the legislation pass, but he has a pretty hard time finding his way off the couch, let alone to California.

Unfortunately, Iowa’s reefer madness is at a bit of a stalemate. In February, the Iowa Board of Pharmacy recommended marijuana be reclassified for medicinal usage. Federally, marijuana is a Schedule I drug, with no accepted medicinal use. However, harder drugs like cocaine and heroin have obvious uses as analgesics and can therefore be legally used by physicians. By making the decision to reclassify marijuana, the Board of Pharmacy effectively opened the door for medicinal legislation, and defers the actual incorporation to the Iowa Congress.

However, legislative leaders have pointed out that a decades-old clause in Iowa law gives the Board of Pharmacy the authority to make such a decision, and have relayed this to the board themselves.

The board’s response? They’ve outright rejected the requests to write Iowa rules, stating that board members, appointed rather than elected, would be outside the scope of their authority.

We hope both sides can come to an amicable decision, and we support legislation loosening restrictions against cannabis. Despite what we were told in D.A.R.E., current data suggests marijuana has been getting a bad rap. With mandatory minimum drug sentencing, we’re seeing jails become overcrowded with the kind of guys you’d have expected to see at a Bob Marley concert.

Would marijuana use increase if it were legalized? Obviously. Would that trend be seen among adolescents? Probably, but we can think of worse things than our teenage brother trying to grow dreadlocks and never shutting up about Radiohead.

To us, it’s worth it. If you’ve never met someone with multiple sclerosis, you most certainly lack the perspective to contradict that claim. The efficacy of medicinal marijuana isn’t a debate suited for public discourse; it’s a decision that should be left to professionals. If the American Medical Association goes on record espousing the benefits of medicinal marijuana, it’s more than ploy by liberal hippies.

We’d definitely get a kick over the hysteria of a pot shop coming to Ames, and you’d probably see a few of us there, but we’d rather see people get safe, effective treatment for what ails them. If anyone has the right to be stoned, it’s cancer patients, and that’s something we can all agree on.