Idaho governor vetoes marijuana extract oil bill

Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter has vetoed a bill that would have allowed kids with severe forms of epilepsy to treat the disease with oil extracted from marijuana plants.

In his veto message to the Legislature on Thursday, Otter wrote that he sympathizes with the families coping with the debilitating impacts of severe seizure disorders. But the governor said he believes the outcomes of patients using the oil are more speculative than scientific and that there were too many questions posed by the bill to allow it to become law.

Still, Otter said he would issue an executive order directing the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to study and possibly implement an expanded access program for treatment-resistant epilepsy in children.

Advocates of the bill have said the oil reduces the length and number of seizures in kids with Dravet Syndrome, a disease that can be fatal.