* Back in March, Gov. Rauner talked about one reason why property taxes are so high in Illinois…
(W)e have more bureaucracy, we have more government than any other state in America. We have seven thousand local units of government in Illinois. Two thousand more units than the number two state. Thousands and thousands.
And these are small, you know, mosquito abatement districts and water reclamation districts, and – we have dozens. And you’re paying taxes on all of those. And they’re redundant. No other state has as many as we do.
They overlap with each other and each one is a little fiefdom, a little kingdom for a politician. Where they have their buddies, and their cronies, and they do their – we’ve got to get rid of those. And we need to free it up, so your local community, you can get rid of some of these layers, so we can bring down your property taxes. That’s what we’re working to, advocating for every day.
Illinois on Friday said it won’t get in the way of an 11-year-old girl whose parents want her to be allowed to use medical marijuana at school to regulate seizures, despite state laws that prohibit the use of prescription cannabis on public school grounds. […]
[Ashley Surin] has suffered from seizures for years. She was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 2, and subsequent chemotherapy triggered debilitating seizures and brain trauma that she continues to experience as an adolescent, said her father Jim Surin. For months last year, Ashley had to use a wheelchair after hitting her head during a particularly bad seizure.
Traditional medicines had limited success in helping Ashley with the seizures — she would suffer one to three seizures per day. Late last year, a physician prescribed a ketogenic (high fat, low carbohydrate) diet and medical marijuana for Ashley — what her parents say is proving to be a “golden cure.”
Legislation was introduced this year to protect Ashley and people like her. It passed the House 99-1 and cleared the Senate last week 50-2.
Ashley has been wearing a patch and using lotion containing cannabidiol, or CBD oil, with a small amount of THC, the psychoactive element in cannabis, since December. It does not get her high, but has eliminated her seizures, her parents said.
“We feel like we’re watching a miracle happen,” Maureen Surin said. “She thinks better, she talks better. She used to do one- and two-word sentences. Now she speaks in run-on sentences. Her life has been given back to her.”
Illinois law allows children under 18 to take medical marijuana if two doctors certify that they have a medical condition that qualifies. But the new proposal would change current law, which prohibits possessing marijuana on school grounds.
* I have a regular feature on this blog called “It’s just a bill.” But, sometimes, legislation can be absolutely life-changing. Ashley and her parents were in the Senate gallery when the bill passed and their reaction speaks louder than a million blog posts ever could…
Gov. Rauner is not a marijuana fan, but I hope he watches that video clip before he decides what to do about this legislation. Frankly, everyone should watch it.
