cannabisnews.com: Legislation Allowing MMJ Advances To Senate





Legislation Allowing MMJ Advances To Senate
Posted by CN Staff on March 01, 2006 at 15:04:57 PT
By John O'Connor, Associated Press
Source: Associated Press 
Springfield, Ill. -- Although an Illinois law has allowed the use of marijuana as medicine since 1978, the statute has sat on the books unused. Now a Chicago lawmaker has won the chance to take a practical medical marijuana bill to the Senate for a floor vote for the first time in three decades.Under Sen. John Cullerton's legislation, people with debilitating illnesses such as AIDS or cancer could use marijuana to ease pain or spasms or jump-start a sluggish appetite.
But whether the Democrat can find enough votes from conservatives for the prickly measure when two-thirds of the Senate faces voters this fall is another matter."It would be better if it wasn't an election year, but we have to move forward," Cullerton said at a news conference Wednesday after the Health and Human Services Committee approved a revised version of his bill.It would allow sick people, with a doctor's permission, to have up to eight cannabis plants in their homes and 2 1/2 ounces of "usable marijuana" at a time. It would limit the number of places eligible users could buy the drug to 15 in Chicago and one in each metropolitan area of 50,000 or more people.Transferring the plants would not be an option. It would carry tougher penalties than current law on possession charges.People have found smoking or eating marijuana eases nausea brought on by chemotherapy, stimulates appetite dampened by AIDS drugs, relieves glaucoma-induced eye pressure and reduces pain and spasms in people with multiple sclerosis, said Dr. Christopher Fichtner, an associate psychiatry professor at the University of Chicago and mental health director for the state Department of Human Services from 2003 to 2005."We're certainly not advocating cannabis as a first-line treatment for any of these conditions," Fichtner said, "but there are some for whom other alternatives have failed or were not as effective as whole-plant cannabis."Lawmakers approved medicinal use of cannabis nearly 30 years ago but left authorization to the Public Health Department, which has never taken action. House measures requiring a marijuana-treatment option for people who can't get relief from traditional drugs have failed the past two years, doomed by anti-drug groups' fear that the plant's therapeutic approval would fuel its abuse."What we're telling our kids is it's medicine, it's safe," said Judy Kreamer, president of Educating Voices of Naperville, which is working against Cullerton's bill. She said each plant produces a pound of marijuana and can be harvested quarterly."This is not about giving sick people medicine," Kreamer said. "No sick person could smoke that many joints."Advocacy group IDEAL Reform of Chicago countered that a plant produces only four ounces - the equivalent of two pounds a year if a user has eight plants.Eleven states allow the use of medicinal marijuana, Fichtner said. Another 11, including Illinois, are considering proposals.Chicagoan Julie Falco, 40, who has had MS for two decades, said she endured intolerable side effects from more than two dozen prescription medicines, from antidepressant-related nightmares to a muscle relaxant that lowered her heart rate. Even smoking marijuana didn't ease her headaches.For two years, she's eaten three or more marijuana brownies a day, bringing her "phenomenal relief.""I'm able to stand here right now today and talk to you because I've eaten brownies, I've had them today and I do it," said Falco, helped from a wheelchair to the news conference podium by Cullerton and Fichtner. "I live in fear that I'm going to be arrested for taking a medicine that helps me. That terrifies me."Cullerton said a Senate vote could come as early as Thursday.Complete Title: Legislation Allowing Medicinal Marijuana Advances To SenateThe bill is SB2658On the Net: http://www.ilga.govSource: Associated Press (Wire)Author: John O'Connor, Associated PressPublished:  March 01, 2006Copyright: 2006 Associated Press Related Articles:Medical Pot Has Tough Testhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21631.shtmlTime for Legislature To Pass Marijuana Billhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21628.shtmlIllinois Legislature Takes New Look at Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21618.shtml 
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Comment #8 posted by paulpeterson on March 11, 2006 at 09:14:00 PT
Illinois history
In 1971 the "research with cannabis" act was passed. From 1978-1983 there is legislative testimony the Dangerous Drug Commission (DDC) had an active program. Then the Reagan storm troopers came in (with a $5 million bribe check) and consolidated the DDC with the Dept. of Mental Health-the rub? they wanted cannabis addiction "treatment" under the same roof as for alcoholism (DMH).An FOIA request response in 2002 indicated that the DHS (Dept. of Human Services) has never authorized, however, they had no record of anything the DDC may have done on this one. (Those records were probably burned in 1984, that George Orwell year if you get my drift). paul peterson
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Comment #7 posted by runderwo on March 02, 2006 at 09:55:26 PT
Hope
My thoughts exactly. I couldn't believe what I was reading.
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on March 02, 2006 at 09:15:42 PT
Good Grief
"What we're telling our kids is it's medicine, it's safe,"When and where in the world did this woman get the idea that anyone, including herself, ever thinks "medicine" means it's "safe" for a child to mess with?Does she let children have the run of the medicine cabinet...because it's "safe", because it's "medicine"? I hope her kids aren't huffing any of the "safe" stuff in her cleaning cabinet, either."Safe" because it's "medicine"? That has to be the "Dorkism" of the year.So she's saying that Aspirin, Tylenol, Advil, and Oxycontin are "safe" for kids to have access to?It's just so sad that her "reefer madness" keeps her from even realizing what she is saying.We're trying to make the world saner and safer and she's running around saying idiotic things like that. She's not "safe" to have around children.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on March 02, 2006 at 08:44:16 PT
Mayan
This made me happy to see. I never turn on Fox and mostly watch CNN and sometimes MSNBC. CNN has been staying on the unfolding Katrina disaster and the Port issues which are very important to me.http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/1/111723/4980
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Comment #4 posted by dongenero on March 02, 2006 at 07:47:36 PT
should be Mis-Educating Voices
"What we're telling our kids is it's medicine, it's safe," said Judy Kreamer, president of Educating Voices of Naperville, which is working against Cullerton's bill. She said each plant produces a pound of marijuana and can be harvested quarterly.What absolute misinformation! Quarterly? There is one growing season in Illinois Ms.Kreamer, you ding-dong.
Furthermore cannabis requires a vegetative period of lengthy sun exposure. Then it requires fall conditions when the daylight hours are near 12/12. That happens once a year Ms. Kreamer.......speaking of educating! In tropical locations with some strains of cannabis you may achieve 1 lb per plant.....outdoors....one growing season.Growing indoors you could do quarterly grows but, you will acheive nothing close to 1 lb per plant. IDEAL counters that it would be only 4 ounces per plant. Actually that figure is on the high side. Most would only see 25-50% of that on a indoor grow.What the heck, anybody can find this info on the internet.
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Comment #3 posted by AOLBites on March 02, 2006 at 00:54:32 PT
$$$$
And just how much money does "Educating Voices" take from Big Pharm?they say they make under 25000 a year, thus they don't have to say a damm thing.. their form 990 is basicly blank
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Comment #2 posted by mayan on March 01, 2006 at 18:28:32 PT
ELECTION YEAR
"It would be better if it wasn't an election year, but we have to move forward," Cullerton said at a news conference Wednesday after the Health and Human Services Committee approved a revised version of his bill.No, it is better that it IS an election year considering that the vast majority of citizens support medical cannabis! Those who oppose this bill will lose many more votes than they will gain."What we're telling our kids is it's medicine, it's safe," said Judy Kreamer, president of Educating Voices of Naperville, which is working against Cullerton's bill.Yes, we ARE telling our kids it's medicine and it's safe! Lying to them would send the wrong message. Being honest with them about cannabis is much better than telling them that certain killer pharmaceutical drugs are safe medicine! And just how much money does "Educating Voices" take from Big Pharm?The neo-cons are going down,down,down...FOX Ratings In Free Fall - O'Reilly Leads The Way Down: 
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/1/111723/4980Bush ratings plummet to all-time low:
http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/mar/01bush1.htmTHE WAY OUT...Experts Call for Release of 9/11 Evidence: 
http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20060301/bs_prweb/prweb352979_1Scholars for 9/11 Truth Petition:
http://www.st911.org/PetitionThe Big Lie: 9/11 and the Government's Complicity in Mass Murder:
http://www.911blogger.com/2006/03/big-lie-911-and-governments-complicity.htmlDetention Camp Jitters - by Maureen Farrell:
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20060228133228613
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on March 01, 2006 at 16:57:59 PT
the AP
hey, this is a great article from the AP. "A practical medical MJ bill" Wow, I never thought I'd see those words in an AP articleI'd love to ask Judy why she doesn't have any patients in her group? Why are all the sick people aligned with IDEAL? I wonder what it feels like to wake up in the morning and stand in front of the mirror, KNOWING that you are a mean person. I guess if your heart is really mean, you probably enjoy being evil.
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