Iowa is now home to five medical marijuana dispensaries. They were approved under a law passed last March, permitting the sale of specific cannabis-derived products to those suffering from qualifying conditions including untreatable pain, side effects of cancer, seizures, ALS, and others.

The company that runs two of Iowa’s medical cannabis dispensaries calls the first weekend their products went on sale an “absolute success.”

Iowa’s only medical marijuana manufacturer MedPharm Iowa reports it served about 120 patients at its Windsor Heights dispensary in suburban Des Moines and at least 15 in Sioux City over the weekend.

MedPharm’s General Manager Lucas Nelson was at MedPharm’s Windsor Heights dispensary. He said opening day was “a whirlwind of emotions.”

“It was truly incredible to see the look on peoples’ faces, to hear some of their stories that this was finally officially available for them,” Nelson said. “I can’t even put into words, I think, just the overall happiness that people felt.”

Iowa’s new law allowing limited medicinal uses of cannabidiol was signed in 2017, and five dispensaries will open to legally registered patients Saturday. One of those dispensaries is in Waterloo — the Iowa Cannabis Co., 1955 La Porte Road.

Before that happens, here are four things to know about medical marijuana in Iowa:

How it started

In 2017, the Legislature passed and then-Gov. Terry Branstad signed the Medical Cannabidiol Act, which allows up to two in-state operations to grow marijuana and process 3 percent THC cannabidiol to be distributed by five state-approved dispensaries.

Next month, Iowa’s five medical cannabidiol (CBD) dispensaries will open for business.

The five dispensaries are located in Council Bluffs, Davenport, Sioux City, Windsor Heights, and Waterloo.

When open, these dispensaries will offer gel capsules, tincture and cream forms of medical CBD to Iowans with a valid patient or caregiver registration card.

The state’s new medical marijuana program is ready to kick off its expanded operations come Dec. 1. But growers and sellers of the product are finding they have to address a point of sale much differently than any other industry.

In response to federal law, one of Iowa’s cannabidiol manufacturers is in the process of setting up an alternative electronic payment system for its customers, said Lucas Nelson, general manager of outsourcing services for Kemin Industries, MedPharm Iowa’s lead consultant.

“There are a range of alternative electric payment options that companies have been working on and developing,” Nelson said. “Those are the types of things we’re looking at for our dispensaries.”

A CBD company has organized medical marijuana patients in Iowa to improve the state’s medical marijuana program.

Serious questions linger about the fate of medical marijuana in Iowa as Republican lawmakers find themselves considering an eleventh-hour deal that would expand the program to more patients.

The state's sole manufacturer of medical cannabis oil worries that, once sales begin in about seven months, many patients will realize treatment would be unaffordable, impractical or unobtainable due to restrictions placed on the fledgling industry. The lack of a robust market, in turn, would jeopardize access for those who still could benefit.

"We've provided some false hope," said Sen. Joe Bolkcom, an Iowa City Democrat who has backed efforts to expand access to medical marijuana. "There are thousands of Iowans counting on us to deliver."

The state only allows low-THC cannabis oils and has just one licensed producer — a combination that has caused supply problems for medical marijuana patients in other states.

This week, the Iowa Department of Public Health announced that it has granted the state's first-ever medical cannabis dispensary licenses.

Health department officials received a total of 21 dispensary applications by the deadline of March 9th, and have approved five of them so far, while denying another six.

Iowa plans to dip its toe into the world of legal medical marijuana sales in December, but anyone who’s expecting the state to become a pot-smoker’s paradise is a little hazy on the details.

Here’s what is really expected to happen:

Participation will be sharply restricted

To buy the products, Iowans will need a permit from the Iowa Department of Public Health. Fewer than 400 of Iowa’s 3 million residents now have one. Even medical marijuana proponents are only hoping to see 12,000 approved participants in the first two years. That’s less than one-half of 1 percent of Iowa’s population.

Iowans overwhelmingly support legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, but they don't support allowing recreational uses, an Iowa Poll from 2017 shows. Wochit

Iowa plans to launch a limited medical-marijuana program in late 2018.(Photo: Mark Marturello/The Register)Buy Photo

Iowa’s fledgling medical-marijuana program has drawn interest from 22 potential cannabis shop owners, including people already involved in the business in other states.