cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Bill Clears Senate Panel
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Medical Marijuana Bill Clears Senate Panel
Posted by CN Staff on May 09, 2013 at 16:27:49 PT
By Monique Garcia and Rafael Guerrero
Source: Chicago Tribune
Springfield -- A measure to allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana to patients with serious illnesses advanced in the Illinois Senate on Wednesday. The issue sparked an emotional debate, with supporters arguing for compassion for those suffering from pain they say only cannabis can ease, even as law enforcement officials warned the proposal could create a "public safety nightmare" on the state's streets and highways.The measure was approved on a 10-5 vote by the Senate Executive Committee and is expected to be called for a final vote next week. The bill has passed the House, and Gov. Pat Quinn has indicated he is "open-minded" but wants to give the matter further review.
Sponsoring Sen. Bill Haine, D-Alton, said the measure is the strictest in the nation and is "narrowly crafted to ensure only those who are medically prescribed and verified can use this substance." Haine, a former Madison County state's attorney, promised the legislation was "not an opening to legalization" of recreational pot use.Under the proposal, a four-year trial program would be set up to allow doctors to prescribe patients no more than 2.5 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. Patients must have one of 33 serious or chronic conditions, including cancer, multiple sclerosis or HIV, and have an established relationship with their doctor to qualify. They would undergo fingerprinting and a criminal background check, and would be banned from using marijuana in public and around minors.Patients also could not legally grow marijuana, and they would have to buy it from one of 60 dispensing centers across Illinois. The state would license 22 growers, to be supervised by the Department of Agriculture.Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, implored his colleagues to support the measure as he recounted the pain his late physician father experienced when he had cancer."It takes watching somebody suffer," Raoul said in a shaky voice. "The Vicodin he didn't want to take. The morphine made him feel awful. … Had medical marijuana been available and offered, he probably would have said no. But on the small chance that he said yes to make those final days a little less painful, I think it would be worth it."Opponents acknowledged the relief marijuana could provide but questioned the unintended consequences of endorsing a drug that the federal government classifies as a controlled substance."This isn't just about making sick people comfortable, although I know that is your intention," said Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine. "There is a potential downside to this and it's big and it's scary and I think it needs to be thoroughly vetted, and I'm not sure we're there yet."The measure also drew opposition from the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the Illinois Sheriffs' Association, which sent a letter to the governor and lawmakers warning the proposal would not stop medical marijuana card holders from driving while under the influence. They suggested blood and urine testing be included in the legislation to allow police to determine whether card holders had marijuana in their system while driving.Haine argued the law already has safeguards to prevent that, including designating on a driver's license whether they use medical marijuana. If an officer believes a driver is under the influence, a field sobriety test can be administered to determine impairment.A spokesman for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said he has yet to take an official position on the legislation but noted that "regardless of how this debate culminates, the sheriff's office will enforce the most up-to-date marijuana-related Illinois statutes, though the sheriff and his team have been prioritizing marijuana offenses as low-level citations for many years now." Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)Author: Monique Garcia and Rafael Guerrero, Tribune ReportersPublished: May 9, 2013Copyright: 2013 Chicago Tribune Company, LLCWebsite: http://www.chicagotribune.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/foeSUS3XContact: http://drugsense.org/url/IuiAC7IZCannabisNews  Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on May 11, 2013 at 18:41:02 PT
jetblackchemist 
"Those people shouldn't have a say in it in the first place... do you want hospital janitor's to ban together and decide what happens in the operating room?"That nearly made me laugh, but there is so much not funny about it. I've often wondered about the vitriolic hatred of prohibitionists directed at cannabists and I think it's something to do with the offending person, the high person, looking funny to the prohibitionist. Strange, unusual, and abnormal to them. To the prohibitionist the "Illegal Smile" is highly offensive. It's like... committing a crime... and smiling about it!The eyes of the high one may look sly, sneaky, and perhaps very pleased with their high situation. Maybe their pupils are unnaturally large and black. Eeeek. Get those sunglasses!That is all so totally unacceptable to the prohibitionists. Many people laugh at that picture. The sloe eyed stoner. Often they laugh or smile because they understand. They've "been there". They know what it is about through experience or observation. They know it's nothing to kill or imprison anyone over.The prohibitionist is so offended by the herbalist, by cannabis and it's use, they call it "drug use". They believe it should be a criminal and arrestable offense. To them the sly, sneaky looking (to them), so pleased with himself person that has used cannabis, starts to, on top of all that, act like an ass... as far as the prohibitionists are concerned. They do not understand. The herbalist looks like an ass that they don't understand, that looks odd, and offends them. The prohibitionist is disgusted at how high people look... if they look high. Prohibitionists are highly offended at the disobedience of the law that prohibits cannabis... any law... (well not the ones they break)... unjust law or not. They think that's a patriotic attitude, somehow. I think that has something to do with it. They don't understand and they believe and have believed lies.
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Comment #2 posted by jetblackchemist on May 10, 2013 at 01:09:40 PT
Public Safety nightmare?
Well, lets see Marijuana is already all over the streets from who um I dunno the black market? Who sells black market marijuana oh I dunno gangs? Marijuana is already at peak usage and available everywhere... it's just behind closed doors because people typically don't go running around talking about or flaunting they are breaking laws.So to be honest the public safety nightmare is here now. The reality is these people need to wake up, and make it legal and legitimate, so people can get their choice of medicine and choose what to use for medicine or recreation as GROWN adults. This drug war experiment has blown up in our faces and is a crying shame, that people want to cling to the nonsense of lies and misinformation.The only reason there is a problem is because it is illegal... anyone that can use logic and rationality can see the chain of what the drug wars does, it creates the black market, it creates gangs, the gangs recruit kids, and no one is safe on the streets because the drug war has done nothing to curb use or abuse, it has just pushed it into the shadows and turned everyday people criminals ruined curious children's lives... over what? Something that makes someone feel good for what a half hour at the most and hell its medicine on top of it? Oh you wanna feel good no no no you need something else to do that run a lap around the block paint a birdhouse... those people are out of their minds. Nope you can't feel good from medicine... then why in the world are there anti depressants anti anxiety drugs? If feeling good is a crime... Oh because its a placebo a false sense of well being... um no you have a nice sense of well being that allows you to cope with the suffering that is life. That's why they are here, an oasis from the storm when you need it.From that you learn balance and responsibility... someone abusing drugs has an underlying issue that they are trying to escape from... big difference between use for medicine and recreation and use for abuse, those abusing need treatment for their issues not prison and punishment... life has already dealt them enough punishment that's why they seek it out and abuse in the first place. Everyone against ending the drug war is either A: stupid or B: brainwashed.Obama wanted to discuss rational policy well there it is... and if anyone uses something called thought and understanding and experience then they will see the exact same thing... if they see it with the lies, propaganda, and have no experience what so ever other than second hand rhetoric... then they have no idea what they are talking about.Those people shouldn't have a say in it in the first place... do you want hospital janitor's to ban together and decide what happens in the operating room? Of course not... same thing with these people thinking they can make policy but have no idea what they are talking about what so ever. I heard it was bad, I was told it was bad, so yeah it's bad.I heard the earth was flat, I was told it was flat, so yeah it's flat.Starting to see the real nightmare already in full effect? Well honey time wake up! 
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on May 09, 2013 at 20:31:35 PT
The cops and their unions are the "nightmare"
"...even as law enforcement officials warned the proposal could create a "public safety nightmare" on the state's streets and highways."
 Nightmares? Law enforcement agencies and their unions are responsible for the majority of nightmares caused to citizens regarding the relatively safe, extremely popular, God-given plant cannabis.Law enforcement agencies and their unions seem bent on job security and are willing to sacrifice the country for their self interests.I support sick citizens being allowed to use the beneficial plant and I don't support any law enforcement agencies or their unions, who strive to cage sick citizens for using the God-given plant.The nightmare is when sick citizens risk facing a cop who wishes to cage them for using a plant.
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