* Media advisory…
What: Gov. Pritzker to sign medical cannabis legislation.
Where: Memorial Hospital Campus, Memorial Center for Learning and Innovation, 228 West Miller Street, Springfield
When: 1:30 p.m.
He officially signed the bill on Friday because the 60-day clock was about to expire.
* Dot points from the bill’s House sponsor…
Adds qualifying medical conditions that were previously approved by the Illinois Medical Cannabis Advisory Board. Allows APRN’s and Physician Assistants to certify patients in addition to physicians.
Increases the number of caregivers (up to 3) that patients can designate to help them access the medical cannabis program, particularly helping children and senior patients.
Requires 5 remaining dispensaries to be awarded using social equity as a significant factor.
Real-time changes from IDPH when qualified patients designate a new registered dispensary.
Directs the IDFPR to establish guidelines permitting returns and refunds for damaged and inadequate products, and streamlines program access for veterans.
The new law also gives qualified patients the right to grow as many as five plants in their homes.
* But the IML and the coppers are still up in arms…
There is confusion, [Brad Cole, executive director of the Illinois Municipal League] said, about how law enforcers will know a person who is growing cannabis in their home is doing so legally as a prescribed medical marijuana user. […]
The new law allows those who have a medical marijuana card to grow no more than five plants in their home without needing to be a licensed cultivation center or craft grower. The League’s concern, Cole wrote in his letter, is the lack of “registration or notification requirements to municipalities or their police departments” about which residences can legally grow cannabis plants.
“We’re saying, we need to know,” he said. “How do we know if these are five legal plants or five illegal plants?”
[Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, one of the statute’s framers and her chamber’s sponsor] said the idea of “a registry had been raised,” but some interest groups expressed concerns it might be a civil rights violation. She added local governing bodies would know if the plants were legal by asking whether their owner had a medical marijuana card.
Steans is exactly right. If the patients are selling their personal stash to others, then bust ‘em. If not, why do the cops need to know what people are doing in the privacy of their own homes for their own health benefits? A registry is essentially a prior assumption of guilt in this instance.
Times have changed. The stigma needs to be lifted.
- JS Mill - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 10:31 am:
=Steans is exactly right. If the patients are selling their personal stash to others, then bust ‘em. If not, why do the cops need to know what people are doing in the privacy of their own homes for their own health benefits? A registry is essentially a prior assumption of guilt in this instance.
Times have changed. The stigma needs to be lifted.=
Ball game.
- anon - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 10:36 am:
I agree, if ownership is legal there should not be a registry. But don’t complain if police arrest someone for growing 5 plants because there is no indication the person is a qualified individual. Otherwise, you essentially have done away with the “qualification” requirement.
- Ali Nagib - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 10:36 am:
If a patient had a card, the plants are legal. If they don’t, it’s a ticket. Why is this so hard for law enforcement to understand?
- the Edge - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 10:38 am:
Coppers have better things to do than trying to keep track of weed users; dah, like try to solve crimes and slow traffic down.
- Extended - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 10:43 am:
Agree. If it’s legal, no need for a registry. 2A. Oh, perhaps that’s a different situation?
- Thomas Paine - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 10:49 am:
Sorry, where do we get the list of FOID card holders?
- TheInvisibleMan - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 10:53 am:
Why are we still listening to the police about this?
- Grandson of Man - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 10:55 am:
Exactly right. Times have changed. Go after more serious crimes. Leave poor sick people alone, who grow a couple of plants.
Thanks to all who passed and advocated for making MMJ permanent and adding chronic pain as a qualifying condition.
- TBL - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 10:57 am:
==Coppers have better things to do than trying to keep track of weed users==
The focus needs to be on assault weapons minimization to prevent organized crime gun violence and preventing potential active shooters from accessing assault weapons.
- The Doc - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 11:00 am:
Ah yes, the dangerous scourge of (checks notes)…glaucoma patients growing herbs in their homes.
- JoanP - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 11:02 am:
Before the law changed to allow possession of hypodermic needles and syringes without a prescription, participants in needle exchange programs received a card that they could show to the police.
The world did not end because there were no “registration or notification requirements to municipalities or their police departments”.
All they did was carry and show the card when necessary.
Same here.
- Kayak - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 11:04 am:
There is a registry. I simple drivers license check reveals if a IL person has a medical marijuana card.
- NoGifts - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 11:07 am:
LOL thanks “Thomas Paine” good one.
- Cent IL guy - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 11:08 am:
What type of registry was required to identify if someone is in legal posession of opiates? If the police find Oxycontin in a house, for example, and a member of the household has a prescription for them, aren’t they presumed to be legal? If none of this was required when millions of pills were going circulated in Illinois, I can’t imagine why it’s needed for growing 5 plants.
- Techie - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 11:09 am:
“Adds qualifying medical conditions that were previously approved by the Illinois Medical Cannabis Advisory Board.”
Which conditions have been added?
- Thomas Paine - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 11:12 am:
This reminds me of all those times Brad Cole loudly demanded a list of all of the gun owners for every municipality on the state.
#BowlingGreenMassacre
#NeverRemember
- Blue Dog Dem - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 11:15 am:
Brad Cole….that about says it all.
- Last Bull Moose - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 11:16 am:
Given the proven inability of the state to keep databases secure, having a list showing where pot is legally grown sets up those people for robbery. Same argument as for not publishing the list of FOID holders.
- Langhorne - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 11:22 am:
If there is a registry, the next thing they will want is warrantless inspections, and so on.
How about spending the time on domestic abusers who shouldnt have weapons? Oh wait, thats guns.
- Blue Dog Dem - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 11:23 am:
How about spending some time on the countless murders going on in our state.
- Dotnonymous - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 11:59 am:
If I remember correctly,Cole was Mark Kirk’s former campaign guy…seems about right.
- Dotnonymous - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 12:07 pm:
- Langhorne - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 11:22 am:
If there is a registry, the next thing they will want is warrantless inspections, and so on.
Law enforcement previously wanted a registry and random searches without a legal warrant.
- Dotnonymous - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 12:09 pm:
Who runs the show…voters or police?
- Dotnonymous - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 1:18 pm:
Was Cole instrumental in advising Kirk to form his firing squad who stood in a circle?…I wonder.
- Leslie K - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 1:48 pm:
What a red herring. Police will determine whether the plants are legal the same way they determine whether a gun is legally possessed, or if someone is driving illegally, etc. Ask for the relevant card (medical cannabis/FOID/CCL/DL). It’s really not that difficult.
- Dotnonymous - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 2:25 pm:
How will Brad Cole know who is a legal operator of a motorized vehicle?
- Kayak - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 2:49 pm:
The Gov signed the MMJ bill on Memorial Medical Center property, yet MMC doctors have been directed not to recommend MMJ. Hopefully they rethink their position soon.
- Dotnonymous - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 3:04 pm:
“We’re saying, we need to know,” he said. - Brad Cole
Simply wanting to know is legally insufficient.
Our founding fathers had something to say about proving a need to know.
Mr. Cole may benefit from a Constitutional re-read.
- Palatine pop - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 3:49 pm:
Rich Miller will be in line to grow his plants. I guess your better off stoned if you have to listen to the Illinois legislators all the time. This legislation will be one of the factors in the death of Illinois, but most likely the death of innocent victims first.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 3:54 pm:
===Rich Miller will be in line to grow his plants===
Nope. I don’t have a medical card, don’t plan to get one and don’t want my house smelling like skunk.
- Dotnonymous - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 4:06 pm:
These enhancements to the Medical Marijuana program should improve access in areas currently denied.
I am uncertain where any Physicians or Hospitals,clinics et al. certify patients in my Central area.
As far as I can determine…access to MMJ is still out of reach for many persons who medically qualify.
I wonder about other areas?
- Maryjane - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 4:19 pm:
Palatine pop:
“you’re”
- Dotnonymous - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 4:49 pm:
- Palatine pop - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 3:49 pm:
I think they’re on your porch again…and I don’t believe they ate their meat…but still the same …leave those kids alone.
- Grandson of Man - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 4:57 pm:
It takes a lot of work and patience to successfully grow marijuana, but very much a labor of love for many who are into it. It’s very therapeutic (good for the soul), to grow plants and bond with nature. Great to see that option for medical patients.
- Dotnonymous - Monday, Aug 12, 19 @ 6:22 pm:
I wonder how many elderly and or disabled people will be able to successfully grow their own medicine?