Tag: iowa

Iowa House Passes Bill To Legalize Medical Use Of Psilocybin

The Iowa House passed legislation Monday to legalize the use of psilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in “magic mushrooms,” for psychiatric treatment through a state program.

House File 978, passed 84–6, would establish a Psilocybin Production Establishment Licensing Board within the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), operating in a similar fashion to the existing Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board that oversees Iowa’s medical cannabis program. The board would grant licenses for the production and administration of products with psilocybin to people with certain mental health needs in the state.

The bill also sets new requirements for who can access the substance, including an age 21 restriction and limit of 5,000 patients who can be recommended psilocybin treatment.

Rep. John Wills (R-Spirit Lake), the floor manager for the bill, said he would not have guessed that he would be involved in a bill on psilocybin before this year because “it’s just not something that I’m into.” But he said after learning more about the effectiveness of psilocybin treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), he believed the program will help people suffering in Iowa, like military veterans, law enforcement officers and other groups that face high rates of PTSD.

He said the bill requires people to receive psilocybin in a clinical environment with psychiatric support. In this environment, he said, the drug has been shown to allow people to “relive” their trauma in a controlled, safe space, and be able to resolve or lessen the impacts of PTSD. Wills said he believes this method could help address the high suicide rates of veterans and others suffering from the disorder, and offers a better alternative to other forms of PTSD treatment currently available.

“I will tell you, right now the only option these veterans have, the only option these people with PTSD have, is to be on mind-altering, life-altering drugs for the rest of their life,” Wills said.

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Cops Denied Qualified Immunity After Arresting Sober Teenager for DUI

Two police officers who arrested an Iowa college student for driving while intoxicated—even though a breathalyzer test showed he was completely sober—do not get qualified immunity protections for their actions, a panel of federal judges ruled Friday. 

In 2022, then-19-year-old Tayvin Galanakis was driving in Newton, Iowa, when two police officers—Nathan Winters and Christopher Wing—pulled him over and began asking how much alcohol he had consumed. When Galanakis denied drinking, Winters replied, “What do you mean none?”

Body camera footage of the incident shows Galanakis repeatedly asking to take a breathalyzer test. However, instead of administering a test, Winters required Galanakis to undergo a series of complex field sobriety tests. When Winters finally administered a breathalyzer test, it showed Galanakis’ blood alcohol content was 0.00. Almost immediately afterward, Winters began accusing Glanakis of being high on marijuana.

“I’ve had no weed tonight,” Galanakis told Winters. “I blew a zero, so now you’re trying to think I smoked weed? That’s what’s going on. You can’t do that, man. You really can’t do that.”

The officers were undeterred and arrested Galanakis, taking him to a local police station, where additional drug testing revealed that Galanakis had not consumed marijuana—or any other substances—before driving. Galanakis sued the officers in February 2023, alleging that his arrest was a “gross disregard of [his] civil rights.”

A lengthy legal battle followed Galanakis’ suit. Winters and Wing filed a counterclaim—arguing that several derogatory comments Galanakis left on the lightly edited footage and social media posts defamed them, though most of those claims were dismissed in May 2023. Last year, a district court judge denied the officers qualified immunity. They appealed, and last week, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed the district court’s ruling that the pair were not eligible for qualified immunity. 

“No officer could reasonably conclude that there was a substantial chance that Galanakis was under the influence of marijuana,” wrote Judge Jane L. Kelly of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in an opinion released Friday. “Galanakis evinced almost no indica of intoxication: no erratic driving; no odor of marijuana; no watery or bloodshot eyes; no staggering or physical instability; no refusal to take sobriety tests—rather, he twice asked to take a breathalyzer test.” 

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Iowa takes on Big Pharma: Bill challenges vaccine makers’ liability shield

  • A subcommittee in the Iowa House of Representatives advanced House File 712, which would prohibit the sale and administration of vaccines in the state unless manufacturers waive certain liability protections granted under federal law. The bill specifically targets design defect claims, aiming to hold manufacturers accountable for injuries caused by inherently dangerous vaccine designs.
  • The bill addresses concerns about the VICP, established under the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which has compensated only 11,671 out of 24,602 claims over three decades. Critics argue the system inadequately serves the public and prioritizes corporate interests over accountability.
  • The 2011 Supreme Court ruling in Bruesewitz v. Wyeth reinforced vaccine manufacturers’ immunity from design defect lawsuits, sparking criticism. Justice Sotomayor’s dissent highlighted the lack of incentives for manufacturers to improve vaccine designs, a concern echoed by advocates like Kim Mack Rosenberg of Children’s Health Defense.
  • The bill reflects growing public skepticism toward vaccine mandates and liability protections, fueled by increased access to information and the COVID-19 pandemic. A 2022 Iowa poll showed only 34% support for mandatory school vaccinations, signaling a demand for greater accountability in the pharmaceutical industry.
  • While supporters argue the bill would restore accountability and improve public trust, opponents warn it could lead to higher costs, reduced vaccine access, and unfounded injury claims. The bill has ignited a broader conversation about balancing corporate responsibility, public health, and individual rights, with potential implications for national vaccine policy.

In a bold move that could reshape the landscape of vaccine accountability, an Iowa House of Representatives subcommittee advanced a bill that would bar the sale and administration of vaccines in the state unless manufacturers waive some of the liability protections granted under federal law. House File 712, introduced by State Rep. Charley Thomson, aims to hold vaccine manufacturers accountable for injuries caused by design defects, a move that has sparked heated debate about corporate responsibility, public health, and individual rights.

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Iowa Lawmakers Unanimously Approve Bill To Create Psilocybin Program That Would Treat Up To 5,000 Patients With PTSD

An Iowa House committee has unanimously approved a Republican-led proposal to create a state-regulated therapeutic psilocybin program for adults with PTSD.

The bill, HF 620, from Rep. John Wills (R), passed the House Ways and Means Committee on a 23–0 vote at a hearing Thursday.

If enacted into law, it would allow up to 5,000 patients in the state to legally access psilocybin produced in-state by licensed entities. Administration sessions would need to be supervised by registered facilitators—mostly medical professionals—who would need to complete state-specified psilocybin education.

Psilocybin providers would need to be doctors, advanced nurse practitioners, advanced practice nurses, psychologists or social workers who complete psilocybin continuing education requirements, register with the state and pay a registration fee.

Administration sessions themselves would need to be at registered clinical locations and would need to be video recorded. Those records would need to be available for inspection by state officials upon request.

The psilocybin itself would be produced by state-licensed establishments. Local governments could not outright ban those facilities, nor could they deny them appropriate licenses based merely on the fact that psilocybin violates federal law.

Notably, a licensed psilocybin production facility could be co-located with one of the state’s few licensed medical cannabis producers—known in Iowa as medical cannabidiol producers—and the bill says regulators may grant psilocybin licensing preferences to those existing cannabis producers. Facilities couldn’t be located within 1,000 feet of a community location or 500 feet of a residential area.

Only people 21 and older and without “a misdemeanor for drug distribution or any felony” could work at psilocybin producers, and licensees themselves would face background checks.

Up to four independent testing labs could be licensed under the bill, and the state could also establish its own lab.

License applications would be accepted beginning July 1, 2026.

To oversee the system, the legislation would create a state Psilocybin Production Establishment Licensing Board under the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Appointed by the director of that department, the board would include a member of the public with knowledge of psilocybin, a member with knowledge and experience in the pharmaceutical or nutraceutical manufacturing industry, a law enforcement member, a university chemist or researcher with experience in manufacturing, a member who has a background in fungus or mushroom cultivation and processing.

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Trump Sues Des Moines Register and Pollster J. Ann Selzer for ‘Brazen Election Interference’ After Fraudulent Iowa Poll Shows Kamala Harris Ahead

President-elect Donald Trump is taking legal action against the Des Moines Register and its pollster, J. Ann Selzer, accusing them of “brazen election interference” and fraud.

On Monday morning, President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to sue the Des Moines Register and its pollster, J. Ann Selzer, after Selzer’s manipulated final poll, published just days before the 2024 election, falsely claimed Kamala Harris was leading Trump in Iowa—a prediction proven wildly inaccurate when Trump secured a decisive 13-point victory in the state.

By late evening, Trump followed through, filing the lawsuit in Polk County, Iowa, under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act.

The lawsuit targets the Des Moines Register, Selzer & Company, and the newspaper’s corporate parent, Gannett, Fox News first reported.

Trump’s attorneys argue the poll was a deliberate and orchestrated attempt to deceive voters and sway the election in Harris’s favor.

“Contrary to reality and defying credulity, defendants’ Harris Poll was published three days before Election Day and purported to show Harris leading President Trump in Iowa by three points; President Trump ultimately won Iowa by over thirteen points,” the lawsuit states.

The suit highlights Selzer’s reputation as a so-called “gold standard” pollster—an image that the media has long used to lend credibility to her work. Yet, as Trump’s lawyers point out, Selzer’s track record is far from spotless.

“Selzer had prided herself on a mainstream reputation for accuracy despite several far less publicized egregious polling misses in favor of Democrats” and said she “would have the public believe it was merely a coincidence that one of the worst polling misses of her career came just days before the most consequential election in memory, was leaked and happened to go against the Republican candidate.”

“The Harris Poll was no ‘miss’ but rather an attempt to influence the outcome of the 2024 Presidential Election,” the lawsuit states, adding that “defendants and their cohorts in the Democrat Party hoped that the Harris Poll would create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris in the final week of the 2024 Presidential Election.”

“Instead, the November 5 election was a monumental victory for President Trump in both the Electoral College and the Popular Vote, an overwhelming mandate for his America First principles, and the consignment of the radical socialist agenda to the dustbin of history.”

According to the lawsuit, the Democrat Party and its media allies were desperate for an artificial boost ahead of the 2024 election, given Kamala Harris’s undeniable weaknesses as a candidate.

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Biden Appointee Judge Upholds Iowa’s Crackdown on Questionable Registrations to Protect Election Integrity

U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher ruled in favor of Iowa’s initiative to scrutinize voter registrations flagged as potentially non-citizen.

This ruling, delivered Sunday, permits Iowa officials to continue investigating and challenging the validity of ballots cast by individuals on the state’s “questionable registrations” list—a measure aimed at ensuring illegal votes don’t dilute the voice of lawful citizens.

Judge Locher, appointed by Joe Biden, dismissed arguments from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that the voter registration review threatens newly naturalized citizens’ voting rights, according to AP.

Instead, the judge underscored Iowa’s obligation to preserve the integrity of its electoral process, particularly following a U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing similar voter roll clean-ups in Virginia.

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Iowa Poll Watcher Sounds Alarm on Illegal Aliens Being Allowed to Vote

An Iowa poll watcher took to social media Friday to sound the alarm about illegal aliens being able to vote in her state.

Laynie Marsh volunteered to be a poll watcher in county when she discovered that illegal aliens are in fact able to vote in the upcoming election.

“I feel like this is something I need to share with every US citizen — I signed up to work this November 5th election poll — The reason why I did this was because I wanted to see firsthand for myself if illegal immigrants are actually being allowed to vote. And I’m here to tell you that yes they are,” she said.

“This is what I’ve been instructed. When someone comes in to vote, obviously you ask for their driver’s license. That’s normal, that’s how it should be. You present that, it gets scanned, and then that information instantly goes into the computer, it pops up a screen. If you’re already registered to vote I will instantly see that.”

“You get a ballot and a concealed envelope. Then you’re prompted on where to go to fill your ballot out. After you finish filling the ballot out, it goes into that concealed envelope and it’s handed back to me. Then it is put into the [voting] machine,” she continued.

“Here’s the problem: illegal immigrants are being given driver’s licenses,” she said. “They are being given non-driving licenses. They look exactly like my license, or all of yours. Whatever state they have chosen to reside in, their license looks exactly the same as that state’s license that everyone possesses. There’s no way for me or anyone else working that day to tell if they’re an actual U.S. citizen from looking at that. And they’re being allowed to vote.”

Marsh went on to explain how the illegal aliens are given a provisional ballot that’s separated from normal ballots and vetted by an unknown poll worker using basic information that doesn’t prove citizenship.

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Trans-Identifying 19-Year-Old Arrested After Expressing Desire To Shoot Up Elementary School

Iowa police arrested a trans-identifying 19-year-old on Monday and charged her with a “threat of terrorism” after she revealed in therapy that she wanted to shoot up an elementary school, The Daily Wire has learned.

The Norwalk Police Department announced Monday that it had arrested Margaret Anderson after being made aware last week of a “potential threat” to Oviatt Elementary School, located in Norwalk, Iowa. In a release, the department said that Anderson has been charged with a “Threat of Terrorism” under Iowa Code 708A.5, and had been processed into the Warren County Jail.

Anderson is a 19-year-old female who identifies as a transgender man, Warren County Attorney Doug Eichholz confirmed to The Daily Wire on Tuesday. The police department said on Monday that Margaret also went by Maxwell, raising initial suspicions that gender identity was at play in the case.

Eichholz said that the case arose out of statements that Anderson made to her therapist during the course of her “regular treatment.” The therapist then reported the statements to the Des Moines Police Department, he said, which forwarded the information to the Norwalk Police Department in her hometown.

“And then the investigation took off from there,” he explained.

According to Eichholz, the complaint about Anderson says: “The defendant stated that she had thoughts that she wanted to take a gun to Oviatt Elementary School in Norwalk, at 11 am through the cafeteria, and shoot children.”

The complaint did not contain context as to why Anderson was motivated to shoot children, the Warren County Attorney said. He noted that after Anderson shared these thoughts, she was immediately entered into Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines, which has a mental health facility attached. She was then arrested on Monday, Eichholz said, released Tuesday morning to house arrest with restrictions including a GPS bracelet, and is currently on pretrial release.

Shawn Holloway, superintendent of Norwalk Community School District, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Rising cancer rates in Iowa linked to agricultural chemicals like glyphosate, atrazine and chlorpyrifos

Iowa is grappling with a stark and troubling reality: the state has recently been identified as having the fastest-growing cancer rates in the nation. This alarming increase in cancer rates has prompted a closer examination of environmental factors contributing to this troubling trend. A 2024 report by the Iowa Department of Public Health reveals that cancer rates in rural areas of the state, where pesticide use is more intensive, are significantly higher compared to urban regions. The study highlights that communities with heavy agricultural activity have seen a rise in cases of leukemia, lymphoma and breast cancer.

Iowa’s cancerous frontier dominated by glyphosate, atrazine, nitrates, chlorpyrifos

Iowa has seen a dramatic rise in cancer diagnoses, with 486 new cases per 100,000 people in 2024, surpassing the national average of 444 cases per 100,000. The estimated number of new cancer cases this year stands at 21,000, with approximately 6,100 deaths expected. This surge in cancer rates is particularly concerning given that Iowa’s cancer incidence now outpaces other states facing their own unique health challenges, such as industrial pollution, smoking and high obesity rates.

The state, known for its expansive agricultural landscape, relies heavily on pesticides to protect crops and maximize yields. The state’s agriculture sector uses a variety of chemical treatments, including herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. The most commonly used pesticides in Iowa include glyphosate, atrazine and chlorpyrifos.

Glyphosate, a broad-spectrum herbicide, is used extensively in the cultivation of corn and soybeans. Glyphosate disrupts the shikimate pathway of gut microbes and has been linked to an increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system.

Atrazine, another herbicide, is frequently applied to control weeds in cornfields. Atrazine has been associated with endocrine disruption, which may increase the risk of certain cancers. Studies have found atrazine is responsible for alterations in the HPG axis, damaging reproductive function. It also has estrogenic effects, leading to  aromatase activation, including inhibition of PDE4 and altered hormone secretion — precursors to breast cancer.

Chlorpyrifos, an insecticide, is employed to combat pests in a variety of crops. Chlorpyrifos, although banned for residential use, is still permitted in agriculture and has been linked to developmental and cancer risks.

Nitrates, which are key ingredient in fertilizers used across Iowa, are linked to colorectal cancer.

In addition to herbicides, insecticides and fertilizer, radon — a naturally occurring radioactive gas — also poses a significant risk. Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers and is particularly problematic in Iowa, where levels are six times higher than the national average. Radon can seep into homes undetected, further exacerbating health risks for residents.

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Iowa vaping bill draws opponents from retailers, health care groups

An Iowa bill that would add requirements to manufacturers of vaping and e-cigarette products has two surprising allies standing together in opposition: vape shops and health care organizations.

House Bill 682 and its companion legislation, Senate File 2402, would require vaping manufacturers who sell products in the state to include them on a new registry. The registration fee is $100 per product. Retailers could only sell products listed on the registry.

David Scott of Altria, a manufacturer of tobacco and related products, said the bill does not prohibit the sale of any legal product. What the bill does is prevent illegal products from overseas.

“China have over 50% of the (products) that are illegal,” Scott told a House Ways and Means subcommittee this week. “Three out of the five youth brands are illicit but they are still being brought in.”

The Food and Drug Administration created a similar registry on the federal level. In January, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FDA’s decisions were made arbitrarily and capriciously and that the agency should reconsider its guidelines. Scott said the FDA admits it doesn’t have the resources to monitor the products.

“If you are not on the directory, the FDA has no idea what the ingredients are in your vape,” Scott said. “They have no control of your marketing and we have no idea of the manufacturing process.

Iowa is one of 23 states considering bills that would require a vaping product registry, according to Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association, an organization opposing the bills.

Sarah Linden, owner of Generation V in Council Bluffs and Davenport, told the subcommittee that the bill would put a strain on her business.

“It would eliminate 99% of the vapor products on the market,” Linden said. Retailers said vape users will find other ways to get their product if it is unavailable in their stores.

Retailers have an unlikely ally in health care organizations. The American Cancer Society is listed as “against the bill” in lobbyist declarations. The American Heart Association is undecided. CAFE Iowa Citizens Action Network, an organization that advocates for tobacco control policies to reduce its use, is also against the bill.

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