Dave Muhlbauer, running mate to Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, defended the campaign's plan to legalize recreational marijuana for adults during a Thursday visit to Ember Recovery, a youth treatment facility in Cambridge, Iowa. Ember Recovery is part of YSS, an Ames-based nonprofit that helps children dealing with mental health issues, substance use, addiction, family conflict, and unstable housing.
Andrew Allen, Ember Recovery's president and CEO, told Muhlbauer he worries the campaign's "legalize, tax and regulate" cannabis proposal could increase youth exposure to the drug. Allen said roughly 1 in 6 people struggle with substance abuse at some point in their lives, with 90 percent of those cases starting during the teen years. He said exposure to drugs or alcohol before age 14 carries close to a 50 percent chance of developing a problem, compared with about 5 percent if first exposure is delayed until 18. "Our concern is that legalized recreational marijuana means a reduced perception of risk, more kids potentially using and more investments that we're going to have to make as a state from a treatment standpoint," Allen said.
Muhlbauer said getting cannabis into the hands of minors is not the campaign's goal, and that Sand intends to regulate marijuana the way Iowa regulates alcohol. "The plan is to treat it much like alcohol, limit the marketing, and the advertising and put a framework and structure on it for those people that are already doing it," Muhlbauer said.
Muhlbauer disclosed that one of his children was admitted to Ember Recovery roughly a year ago during a family crisis, and that he only learned of the facility through a personal connection. "Last fall, we were harvesting corn, and later that evening, my wife met me at the door with our kids because we were in a crisis moment," he said. "The uncertainty of where your family is at, the future of one of your kids, and knowing that they need help, but not knowing exactly where to go, it's nerve-wracking."
Muhlbauer toured the facility and joined a roundtable with four other participants to discuss gaps in Iowa's behavioral health system for children and how the Sand campaign might address them. Afterward, he praised Ember Recovery's staff, saying, "There's a genuine passion here to help young adults and youth get on the right path and see a brighter future."