Iowa’s new medical-marijuana law would be extensively expanded, allowing use for a range of chronic conditions besides epilepsy, under a bill introduced this week.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Joe Bolkcom, also would allow production and distribution of the drug.

The current law, passed last spring, only allows use of a type of marijuana extract by patients with severe epilepsy. Critics contend that the law is practically useless, because it doesn’t provide patients with a legal way to obtain the medication. Critics also say people with other health problems should be allowed to use medical marijuana.

The bill would allow medical marijuana use by people with a range of health problems, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, AIDS, glaucoma, hepatitis C, Crohn’s disease, colitis, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder. In order to qualify for the program, patients would need a health care practitioner to provide a written diagnosis.

The Iowa Department of Public Health would license four medical cannabis manufacturers, who each would run three dispensaries.  [Read more at the Des Moines Register]