Rhonda Capron

Sioux City leaders at their meeting tonight will consider approving a letter of support for a business that wants to distribute medical cannabis. Council member Rhonda Capron says she was contacted by Med Pharm, who was licensed to manufacture Medical Cannabis in Iowa in December and is applying for dispensary licenses in Iowa.

She says it is not marijuana, it is a prescription given by a doctor and Med Pharm and others are looking to come to Sioux City.

The Iowa Department of Public Health will issue licenses for five locations to dispense medical marijuana within Iowa, and Sioux City could be a dispensary site for western Iowa. Capron says the cannabis products would be used by patients suffering from a medical condition:

“Some of it would by MS, glaucoma, cancer patients, pain medication. So, there is a good thing that’s going to come out of this — and it’s not illegal,” Capron says. The Health Department is requiring the applicants to identify their locations of choice and provide an indication that the city would be supportive of having a dispensary in their community. Capron hopes her fellow council members will support the proposal.

“It just want everyone out there to know that we are being proactive and that we want to do the right thing,” Capron says. “Times are changing And I think if we can get people relief with medical cannabis and get them away from some of the heavier drugs — I think this might be a good answer for them.” The Iowa Department of Public Health has made it clear they will not approve a license for a dispensary if a community doesn’t want it.

(By Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City)