38 Comments - Ghost - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:14 am: its safer then many refined prescript drugs….. thoughts…. legalize it. make the state the exclusive producer…. then subcontract out for a huge chunk of chnage up front to a prvt party or parties to grow/supply. tax it higher then cigaraettes, and statutorily mandate all proceeds are split between the 5 pension systems and carve off 10% for CPS - A guy - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:18 am: The societal shift has occurred and the legislation needs to catch up. History repeating itself. Hope it’s sooner rather than later. - 360 Degree TurnAround - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:20 am: Fake Governor: “We will support expanding medical marijuana, only if it is laced with collective bargaining agreements.” - Adam Smith - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:21 am: While we are at it, why not base all medical prescriptions on polling data? I support MedMar availability in Illinois, but it is critically important to understand the sensible limitations on its use for some conditions. “Chronic pain,” and “anxiety” are highly subjective diagnoses, that, in other states, represent the huge bulk of MedMar prescriptions and present a very easy way to game the system. As we have seen early on in Illinois, limiting the availability to much more explicitly diagnosed conditions has significantly squeezed the patient population, leaving many of the financial backers of Illinois pot operations justifiably worried. The big money investors are launching a political campaign to increase their customer base so they can reap the biggest profits possible. There is a case to be made for legalization in Illinois (and the US in general) but let’s not hide incremental legalization behind the false front of medical care. - Sick & Tired - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:25 am: I see more reasons to ban tobacco products than marijuana. So, in short, legalize it already, and allow health insurance to cover costs if it’s for a medical condition. And as tempting as it is if it were legalized for recreation, don’t tax the living crap out of it unless you want the black market to continue profiting off of it. - wordslinger - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:25 am: I encourage everyone to go back and catch up on the New York Times exhaustive and alarming series on the opiod epidemic in this country. Medical marijuana is a safe alternative to the Oxy that is literally killing tens of thousands of people every year. Oxy is the good stuff, baby; Dr. Feelgood prescribes that for you, you get hooked and all you want is more. You’ll do anything to get it. You’ll destroy your life and all you love to get it. If you can’t, you’ll hit the street for heroin. Take a ride on the Green or Blue Lines any day and you’ll see the poor white suburban souls of all ages getting off on stops on the West Side in which you know they have no business but to cop on the street. It’s happening everywhere in the country, right now. There’s a reason that the Illinois GOP causcuses bucked the governor on his heroin bill veto. No community is immune. - ChicagoVinny - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:25 am: Can I get a prescription given the anxiety not having a state budget is causing me? /s - Homer J. Quinn - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:26 am: but if legal cannabis sales took off, we might start raising revenue and that would ease some of the financial pressure on state government. how can bruce force his agenda through if there’s no crisis? - Jeff Trigg - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:28 am: This will help expand the program, but its not nearly enough. The Doctor/patient relationship requirements need to be scrapped. Many potential patients for the program have Doctors that can’t or won’t recommend cannabis for a qualifying condition because their health network tells them not to. Patients who want to try cannabis are forced to find another Doctor who is allowed to recommend, and then that Doctor has to treat them for up to a year before that patient meets the Doctor/patient requirement for the state program. Its overly paranoid. Obviously, with only 4,000 patients thus far, all of the unnecessary restrictions written in to this program are scaring patients away from going through such a giant hassle to be part of the program. They bragged about this being the most strict medical cannabis program when they passed it, and we are seeing the results of that as this program is failing miserably right now. That, and they should legalize it already and start cashing in. - Publius - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:29 am: Just legalize it and tax it. Gives a small boost to the states coffers and brings Illinois forward. I’m surprised this is an issue at this point considering society has moved on and supports it in general. - Rabid - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:34 am: Prohibition has been the experiment,you could buy this stuff in sears catalog , and was removed from the pharmaceutical list in 1941 - Jeff Trigg - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:37 am: Michigan will have a full legalization referendum on this ballot this November, most likely. With a very good chance of passing. A lot more people from Illinois will be spending money there once they get started. This would be the perfect time for Illinois to legalize. - PhDScientist - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:37 am: For Cancer patients, for kids suffering from Seizures, and for so many others, safe, legal, access to Medical Marijuana is a matter of life and death. Please call the whitehouse comment line at (202) 456-1111 and ask that the President have Marijuana removed from Schedule 1. Ask everyone you know to call them too, and to keep calling until he does it. I’m a Scientist with a strong interest in Cancer research. The clinical evidence of the value of Marijuana as a life saving medicine is now so strong that the need to remove Marijuana from Schedule 1 has become a moral imperative. Google Medical Marijuana testimonials. Google Medical Marijuana Cancer Patient Testimonials. This weekend over 3,000 Americans will die, in pain, of Cancer. Every single day, 1,500 Americans die of Cancer after suffering horribly. it. Every single minute another American dies of Cancer. Every American Cancer patient deserves the right to have safe, legal, and economical access to Medical Marijuana. Every single one. Americans who need Medical Marijuana shouldn’t be used as “Political Footballs” Please call the Whitehouse comment line at (202) 456-1111 and ask that the President take immediate action to remove Marijuana from Schedule 1 so American Physicians in all 50 states can prescribe it. Oncologists have know it for more than a quarter of a Century that Marijuana is a “wonder drug” for helping Cancer patients . The American Society of Clinical Oncologists wants Marijuana removed from Schedule 1. So does the American Medical Association, the professional society of all Physicians. A strong majority of Americans want Physicians in all 50 states to be able to prescribe Medical Marijuana. So do their Physicians., Cancer patients can’t wait. The need to immediately, completely, legalize Marijuana throughout the world is one of the most pressing moral issues of our time, because of its medical benefits and because of the damage prohibition causes to America and to the world. Complete legalization is critical — its vital that there aren’t “strings” or “hoops” that Cancer patients and others who need Medical Marijuana are forced to jump through . “Charlottes web” is NOT the solution. Cancer patients and people who suffer from chronic pain need THC, not just CBD. The “Berkeley study”, where 96% of stage 4 Cancer patients who had a wide variety of Cancers achieved remission, used high dose Medical Marijuana oil, 72% THC, 28% CBD, 1 gram/day (oral) over a 90 day course of treatment. It was a small study, and not placebo controlled, but those kinds of results are clearly remarkable, have been widely reported on in the press, and demand the need for immediate large scale clinical trials. More and more present and former members of law enforcement agree about the need to end prohibition, and have formed a rapidly expanding group of current and former undercover cops, FBI, DEA, prosecutors and Judges, from all over the world, called LEAP — Law Enforcement Against Prohibition because they’ve seen the damage prohibition causes to America and the world. See http://www.leap.cc/ I’m a Scientist. Not a politician, not a cop. But as a Scientist with a strong interest in Cancer research, I feel even more strongly about the need to ensure that no Cancer patient is denied it, because I’m so impressed with its benefits for Cancer patients. I urge everyone reading this to PLEASE call and email the Attorney General, the press, Congress and the President today. Medical Marijuana helps with Alzheimer’s, Autism, Cancer, seizures, PTSD and chronic pain, and has helped many Americans, including many veterans, stop using Alcohol, and hard drugs, both legal and illegal ones. Every minute an American dies of Cancer. Every 19 minutes an American dies of a prescription drug overdose. Many vets become addicted to prescription opiates and die from them. NOBODY has ever died from smoking too much pot. Cancer patients are seeing remarkable results using high dose Medical Marijuana oil, in many cases achieving complete remission, even for stage 4 cancers — there are many excellent articles on the web, and videos on youtube with patient’s personal stories about their experiences with it — and every Cancer patient that uses Marijuana to ease their suffering benefits greatly from doing so. It is immoral to leave Marijuana illegal, for anyone, for even a second longer. For Cancer patients, its a matter of life and death. Cancer patients can’t wait. Medical Marijuana has an unmatched safety profile, and for people who suffer from so many diseases, of so many kinds, its a medical miracle — and the scientific evidence behind it is rock solid. For Cancer patients, Medical Marijuana encourages apoptosis and autophagy of Cancer cells, while leaving normal cells untouched, is anti-angigogenic, anti-proliferative, and is anti-angiogenic. Its also synergistic with chemotherapy and radiation therapy, making both more effective. For many Cancer patients its meant the difference between life and death. For everyone else, its a far safer alternative to Alcohol, and infinitely safer than Cigarettes. Either take them off the market too, or legalize Marijuana right now. This year, over 600,000 Americans will die of Cancer. And Its a horrible way to die. - cdog - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:40 am: great points above! Expand now. Legalize soon. - Illinoisian - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:41 am: @Jeff Trigg: There is no requirement whatsoever that a doctor has to see a patient for a year in order to certify. This is a commonly repeated falsehood that stems from a misunderstanding of the requirement to review the past twelve months of medical records. - yinn - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:43 am: I was just talking yesterday to another person who has been trying to help a friend obtain a permit for MM and he described the same situation as Jeff Trigg does. Lots of hassles with doctors, problems with the online application process, etc. Lots of extra expenses such as for fingerprinting and hunting down a cooperative doc. It’s a procedural nightmare that, intentionally or not, is set up to fail. - Homer J. Quinn - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:49 am: yinn: there is also a non-refundable application fee, right? PhDScientist: thank you for the information. it sounds like the “Berkeley Study” was looking into the anti-cancer claims of Rick Simpson Oil? - illinoised - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:53 am: I have IBS. The medicine my gastroenterologist prescribes helps somewhat but the side effect is extreme nervousness. He told me medical marijuana would be his first choice for my condition and lamented the weak medical marijuana legislation currently in effect. - 22 Vets per day - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 11:56 am: 22 veterans commit suicide everyday pumped full of antidepressants and opiates. Cannabis works ask any vet. We also have an opiate epidemic in this country and every state that allows cannabis to treat pain sees a 25% or more reduction in overdose deaths and aditions rates. No one has ever died from the use of cannabis It does huge amounts of good and nobody gets hurt The people have spoken. Rauner can be on the right side or the wrong side of history. Unfortunately he is heavily invested in pharmaceuticals industry and makes a ton of money off of addiction to these poisons - Former Hoosier - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 12:00 pm: As a psychologist, I am concerned about how these decisions are being made, the motivation behind the decisions and the potential fallout for patients. If a major impetus is that the growers/distributors (and the state) need more customers (money) then how does that impact decision making? Whose best interests are being served? For example, PTSD is one condition that may be added. Although many PTSD patients self medicate with marijuana (for sleep related and other symptoms) there is not much research supporting marijuana for this use and, there is some evidence that marijuana can further negatively impact sleep patterns. So, for example, by making marijuana legal for treating PTSD, patients could be treated with it by unscrupulous prescribers when another, more effective treatment may be available. I realize that unscrupulous providers are a ongoing threat (whether or not marijuana is involved), however, this is a special case since the state is making it legal to do so. There are 8 health professionals on the advisory board so one would hope that these types of questions have been asked and answered. - ash - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 12:10 pm: Just legalize it and tax the bejeezus out of it. It is already decriminalized in Chicago. Take the next step and generate some much needed revenue. Colorado is raking it in, but if we wait too long (as is the Illinois way), and are late to the table, much of the potential will be gone as other surrounding states beat us to the punch. - Rabid - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 12:10 pm: Full legislation would be an economy killer,drug gangs would go belly up,cops lose their funding,courts lose fines and court cost,prisons lose out on inmates just say no - Jeff Trigg - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 12:14 pm: Illinoisian - This is the requirement Doctors are being careful about: “that the patient is under the physician’s care for the debilitating medical condition.” Just reviewing a year’s worth of medical history on a new patient does NOT meet this requirement. Doctors and their networks are interpreting these rules and taking the better to be safe than sorry route. The Doctors can’t vouch for everything in that medical history from another DR, so they tell patients they need to treat the condition for up to a year before they are comfortable giving a written certification for cannabis. There is no specific one year Doctor/patient relationship requirement, you are right, but Doctors are taking the requirements as a whole and being extra cautious, which is understandable. No Doctors are going to take in a new patient and give a written certification for cannabis on the first visit. Most are going to treat the condition for several months before they will sign a recommendation, and some are going to wait until they have a year’s medical history with that patient. - qualified someone nobody sent - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 12:14 pm: Gov. Raunger already didn’t allow the last round of qualifying diseases/conditions to be added and won’t allow the next round or the next round to be added. He didn’t start this program and doesn’t believe in Cannabis as a medicine or view it as a minimal harm substance. Therefore, he’ll allow this pilot program to die on the stem, so to speak. - jerry 101 - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 12:21 pm: Full legalization. Regulate and tax it. - Norseman - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 12:39 pm: I would like to expand it to include all persons affected by the impasse and public employees. They need something to ease the stress. - Payback - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 1:02 pm: Support medical marijuana for PTSD. Lots of these veterans are unemployed, homeless, etc. If they served in a combat zone they gave up a lot and deserve any help we can give them. Would be nice if those who used marijuana legally did not get their FOID or CCL revoked when the Man gets wind of it also. The NICS fireams buyer check has lots of vets on their list as prohibited persons. The G seems to be worried about separated veterans as a voter pool and seeking ways to disenfranchise them. They don’t want another Vietnam Veterans against The War type group popping up. - Mr. Nice - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 1:09 pm: Have you ever looked at the warning labels that come with pharmaceuticals? Many come with the warning that they may cause suicidal thoughts or behavior or liver damage. Patients should have the right to use medical cannabis if their physician thinks it can help treat their condition. - Saluki - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 1:09 pm: I’ve been opposed to Med Mar from the start, and would be happy if the project failed due to lack of customers. - Hit or Miss - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 1:10 pm: ===Do you support or oppose expanding Illinois’ medical marijuana program so that more people are eligible for it like veterans suffering from PTSD?=== There appears to be lots of support for allowing the use of marijuana for those with PTSD. However, there is little research on the use of medical marijuana if one has PTSD. The best study, which is NOT controlled, was done by the VA and it concluded “there is no evidence at this time that marijuana is an effective treatment for PTSD. In fact, research suggests that marijuana can be harmful to individuals with PTSD.” For example, “Medical problems include chronic bronchitis, abnormal brain development among early adolescent initiators, and impairment in short-term memory, motor coordination and the ability to perform complex psychomotor tasks such as driving.” and “Psychiatric problems include psychosis and impairment in cognitive ability.” The use of term “research suggests” means that more research is needed and that the results will probably be negative. For the full study see http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/co-occurring/marijuana_use_ptsd_veterans.asp - illini97 - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 1:11 pm: Expansion should occur based on medical science rather than a profit/loss analysis for the dispensaries and cultivators. That the topic of profitability for investors keeps coming up at least as often as what’s best for patients isn’t helping, in my opinion. - Homer J. Quinn - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 1:18 pm: Saluki: that says more about you than it does about the program. - Grandson of Man - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 1:29 pm: I fully support adding the 8 conditions. Marijuana is much safer than opioids, which kill. We should not only expand medical marijuana, we should legalize adult-use marijuana. Colorado sold nearly $900 million in adult-use and medical marijuana last year (not counting December). That’s a big increase from 2014. http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/01/13/colorado-marijuana-sales-taxes-november-2015/46522/ Colorado’s population is less than half the size of Illinois’, so that could be $2 billion in total sales for us if we legalize and expand. - Just Observing - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 1:39 pm: === While we are at it, why not base all medical prescriptions on polling data? === The reason this needs to be driven by polls is because marijuana, unlike other prescription drugs, and for no good reason, is highly politicized due to nearly a century of government false propaganda. Let’s not pretend that the sole reason even recreational marijuana is not fully legal is because federal and state politicians are a bunch of cowards and are scared of being perceived as soft on crime. So, this issue is already being driven by politics, not science. If this was about logic and science, marijuana would be fully legal, recreationaly. - Jon - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 1:57 pm: I think everyone is surprised that only 4000 or so patients can currently obtain medical cannabis and it has to be hurting the cultivators and dispensaries, however I think most are in it for the long haul on the assumption that cannabis will be fully legalized in the next decade either within the state or nationally. I would like to know if there is some type of study indicating that visits to physicians declines in medical cannabis states that’s keeping IL physicians from signing off for their patients. One of the current conditions is cancer, which is pretty common, and there is some pretty good evidence to suggest that cannabis helps to alleviate some of the side effect of chemo. I’d think at a minimum there would be at least 4000 cancer/chemo patients alone seeking cannabis. My “tin-foil hat” thought is there is some coordinated effort by the medical/pharmaceutical industry to suppress the product. Adding “pain” and “anxiety” in conjunction with removing the “bona fide” physician relationship requirement (e.g., no physicians with offices next to the dispensaries or same day certifications) will likely ramp up the qualified patients, but doing so would essentially legalize cannabis use. While cannabis is likely to be less harmful than many prescription medicines, there are still some risks with its usage. While it would be great to help a new industry in Illinois, it’s not always good governance to weaken regulations to spur a fledgling industry. In a sense weakening cannabis regulations would be akin to weakening driver’s license regulations so dealers and manufacturers can see a uptick in sales. - wordslinger - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:04 pm: –I’ve been opposed to Med Mar from the start, and would be happy if the project failed due to lack of customers.– I can walk to my corner Walgreens, pick up a pack of Luckys, a case of Bud and a bottle of Jack Daniels while I wait for the pharmacist to cook my Oxy script (if I had one; I don’t roll that way). All legal, baby. Feel better? Winning that War on Drugs? - Mr. Nice - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:05 pm: In regards to the comment posted above:“there is no evidence at this time that marijuana is an effective treatment for PTSD. In fact, research suggests that marijuana can be harmful to individuals with PTSD.” Most of the medications that are used to treat PTSD come with a black box warning because the side effect is suicide. And the other medications that are prescribed are off label use, which means there is NO SCIENCE to prove that those medications work. “A review of the use of off-label antipsychotic medications in the VA health care system found that 60.2% of patients who received an antipsychotic drug had no record of a diagnosis for which these drugs are approved.35 Prescriptions for off-label antipsychotic agents were most often written for PTSD (41.8% of patients). Quetiapine (Seroquel, AstraZeneca) had the greatest off-label use (42.9%), followed by risperidone (Risperdal, Janssen) (21.2%). Relatively few patients received off-label olanzapine (Zyprexa, Eli Lilly) (7.5%).” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3278188/ December 13, 2006 meeting of the Psychopharmacologic Drugs and Advisory Committee requested labeling changes to include: “1. Revisions to the Black Box entitled Suicidality and Antidepressant Drugs at the beginning of the prescriber labeling. 2. Revisions to the WARNINGS-Clinical Worsening and Suicide Risk section. 3. Revisions to the PRECAUTIONS-Information for Patients section. 4. Revisions to the MEDICATION GUIDE” http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/drugsatfda/index.cfm?fuseaction=Search.Label_ApprovalHistory - Homer J. Quinn - Friday, Jan 22, 16 @ 2:15 pm: Jon @ 1:57: “In a sense weakening cannabis regulations would be akin to weakening driver’s license regulations so dealers and manufacturers can see a uptick in sales.” not a good comparison. the requirements to get a driver’s license are not so egregious that they prevent those who qualify and are interested from obtaining a driver’s license. the current regulations on medical cannabis do exactly that, while prohibition ensures that most cannabis is still sold through the unregulated black market. loosening cannabis regulations in Illinois is akin to allowing MORE properly licensed drivers on the road, because more transactions will then take place in the legal, regulated market. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.