Gov. Rauner to sign SB 336 soon, which creates the Opioid Alternative Pilot Program. It will allow patients to have access to medical cannabis as an alternative to opioids. pic.twitter.com/6ZIDArgAF7
A measure that could dramatically expand access to medical marijuana in Illinois — making it available as an opioid painkiller replacement and easing the application process for all who qualify — is expected to become law on Tuesday.
The measure is a response to the epidemic of overdose deaths from narcotics, which killed almost 2,000 people in the state in 2016 and an estimated 72,000 people nationwide last year. It would allow doctors to authorize medical marijuana for any patient who has or would qualify for a prescription for opioids like OxyContin, Percocet or Vicodin.
But the measure is also noteworthy for removing some of the major restrictions on the medical marijuana program in Illinois.
No longer will any applicants have to be fingerprinted and undergo criminal background checks. And those who complete an online application with a doctor’s authorization will get a provisional registration to buy medical cannabis while they wait for state officials to make a final review of their request.
Kudos. This is an important bill.
* The Pritzker campaign, however, takes us through some Rauner history…
Mid 2018: Rauner refused to take a position on SB 336 and let it sit on his desk for almost two months despite its immediate effective date.
Early 2018: Rauner’s IDPH fought a court ruling requiring Illinois to include chronic pain in medical marijuana, even though a judge called their argument “clearly erroneous.”
Late 2017: One week after unveiling his opioid task force, Rauner announced he would slash funding to a critical behavioral health and substance abuse facility.
Early 2017: Rauner reportedly disbanded the state’s Medical Cannabis Advisory Board in exchange for adding two new conditions to the list of qualifying conditions.
Mid 2016: After a judge ordered the state to add PTSD to the medical marijuana program, Rauner signed legislation to comply after holding out for a year.
Early 2016: Rauner again refused to add eight conditions to the state’s medical marijuana program for the second time in five months. A military veteran told AP, “I’m flabbergasted…I think (Rauner) is intentionally stalling the program. … He’s putting politics before people.”
Late 2015: Rauner vetoed a bill to add a dozen conditions to and extend the state’s medical marijuana program.
Late 2015: Rauner vetoed the Heroin Crisis Act, calling funding for opioid treatment “a very costly mandate.” The legislature overrode Rauner’s veto, allowing police to have access to Narcan, a lifesaving drug that resulted in more than 11,000 overdose reversals since 2010.
“From vetoing the Heroin Crisis Act to stalling the state’s medical marijuana program, Bruce Rauner has been a repeated obstacle to solving our state’s opioid epidemic,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Lives have been on the line while this failed governor has ignored this epidemic for years, and no last-minute photo-op can change that.”
There’s an old saying that goes something like: When a politician changes positions away from you, he’s a flip-flopper. When he changes positions toward you, he’s a statesman.
Today, Rauner’s a statesman.
…Adding… He’s evolving slowly…
Rauner on why he's backing medical marijuana as opioid alternative, a switch from his previous stance; says he has and still is studying the issue. https://t.co/RkLjZhG6bz
* We’ve discussed much of this stuff before (click here and here for background), but Kristen McQueary’s new column is about the appointment of Helene Miller-Walsh to replace disgraced former Rep. Nick Sauer on the ballot…
Mark Shaw, Lake County GOP chairman and co-chair of the Illinois Republican Party, and Chris Geissler, Barrington Township GOP committeeman, interviewed nine candidates to replace Sauer, according to Shaw. They selected Helene Miller Walsh. She is now the representative of the 51st District and faces Democrat Mary Edly-Allen on the ballot. […]
So when Lake County Republicans announced that his wife secured the seat appointment, it took Democrats about five minutes on her Facebook page to find a series of strongly worded posts too — not the N-word but charged posts on Muslims, immigration and Chicago violence, to name a few. […]
For its part, the Illinois Republican Party shifted questions about her appointment to the “local committee” that made the decision to choose her. That committee was made up of two people. One of them is Shaw, co-chairman of the state party.
No, this is not a hands-off moment for Illinois GOP leadership. This belongs to them. It’s going to be a fiasco.
* So, why would Illinois Republican Party Co-Chairman and Lake County GOP Chairman Mark Shaw appoint Miller-Walsh? There are a lot of reasons, but one is that he may also be a fan of conspiracy theories. Check out this Lake County Republican Party Facebook post…
A day after a competitive video gamer shot and killed two people, wounding 10 others, at a Madden video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida, a group of far-right news outlets announced that they had found the Reddit account used by the shooter, who they said used the pseudonym “Ravenchamps.”
But the groups were wrong.
“Ravenchamps” did not belong to the shooter, who the police say was a Baltimore resident named David Katz and who killed himself in the shooting. And the announcement caused considerable trouble for the real person who owned the account. […]
This is not the first time Gateway Pundit has misidentified someone who committed an attack or mass shooting. The site said the Charlottesville car attack was conducted by an “anti-Trump protester” who in reality was hundreds of miles away at the time of the attack. The site also named the wrong person in the Las Vegas mass shooting, and spun an elaborate conspiracy based on an anonymous Twitter post which identified the wrong person in a mass shooting at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in January 2017.
* And the original GP story’s headline has finally been changed to reflect reality with this little notation at the bottom…
UPDATE: An anonymous Reddit user was mis-identified in an earlier post.
…Adding… The Lake County GOP has removed the Facebook post.
If it hasn’t already, a flier will soon be arriving in the mailboxes of many of Illinois’ approximately 400,000 public school teachers, state employees and municipal workers (including police officers and firefighters) informing them that their “legal rights as a government employee have changed.” […]
The flier was sent by the Illinois Policy Institute, a self-described free-market think tank with links to billionaires like Dick Uihlein, who are bankrolling campaigns for conservative candidates in Illinois and elsewhere.
“We want to be a resource,” IPI spokesman Eric Kohn said. “About what Janus means, what was decided in the case. What their rights are – their constitutional rights were withheld from them for 40-some years. Now that they’ve been restored, we want to make sure they have all of the information that they need to make the best choice for themselves about whether or not they want to be a part of the union, whether they want to pay money to a union and support a union.” […]
“When you look at who funds IPI, it’s definitely about politics. Gov. Bruce Rauner gives them money. You can see that Dick Uihlein, who is a big conservative billionaire investor, gives them money as well. This is about privatizing public education and our members know that,” said Illinois Education Association spokeswoman Bridget Shanahan. “If they can take away our members voices, our teachers, our education support staff – if they can silence them and the voice they use to advocate for their students, then they are one step closer to privatizing education.”
Shanahan said the IPI flier is “misinformation” because of a section headlined “member money spent on politics” when in fact legally member dues cannot be spent on political activities.
Do you know where your news is coming from? Illinois' has a massive news propaganda machine at work. The groups behind that article you're reading, newscast you're watching or radio show you're listening to can be alarming. Help us spread the word.
*** UPDATE *** From Mailee Smith, staff attorney and labor expert for the Illinois Policy Institute…
“What we’ve seen since the Supreme Court ruled that forced union fees are unconstitutional is that workers are being bombarded with information. We are a resource to break down what the ruling truly means.
“Hundreds of workers across Illinois have already chosen to leave the unions at their workplace. We hear from folks all over the state who are grateful to be able to choose their own path. Meanwhile, dozens are reaching out to us for clarity about the ruling and how it affects them. Downstate, a ‘fair share’ payer was told by her union president that she was not allowed to opt out; in another instance, a union told their members they needed to opt out together as a group. Both of these are violations of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“We support our state and local workers — including teachers, police officers and government employees — and believe they deserve to have all of the information on the choices they have now, as well as how to exercise those options, available to them.”
Today, the Rauner campaign is launching a new TV ad titled “Moby Dick.”
The ad features Ron Wilson, a Vietnam veteran and proud Illinoisan, talking about the Madigan-Pritzker tax hike agenda. In the ad, Ron says, “Madigan’s been in since Moby Dick was a minnow. 47 years, he hasn’t fixed it.”
Ron, like many other Illinoisans, knows that giving Madigan total control by electing JB Pritzker means higher taxes and more corruption.
A friend suggested to me this morning that the “Moby Dick” thing kinda works in this case. Bruce Rauner is Captain Ahab and Madigan is his great white whale. But the book didn’t end too well for the Captain, she reminded me.
Truth is, Illinois is in trouble. It didn’t get here in just a decade. It didn’t get here in two decades. Madigan’s been in since Moby Dick was a minnow. 47 years, he hasn’t fixed it. And he’s got JB Pritzker in there. What makes you think one of his lackeys is going to change it. They want to tax and then spend more. He’s not going to hit you with just one tax. He’s going to hit you with two or three. It’s just not going to work. It will not work.
JB Pritzker and Mike Madigan. Higher Taxes. More Corruption.
…Adding… Four years ago, the Rauner campaign billed Ron Wilson as a former AFSCME local president who said in the spot of Gov. Pat Quinn: “Don’t attack Bruce, tell me what you got done”…
Bruce Rauner's campaign just released an ad featuring Ron Wilson, who also appeared in a commercial for Rauner's 2014 campaign.
— Illinois Working Together (@IllinoisWorking) August 28, 2018
…Adding… DGA…
Today, Governor Bruce Rauner launched a new ad that only served to remind voters of how little he’s accomplished in four years as Governor. The newest ad features Ron Wilson, who four years ago called out Rauner’s opponent for his negative ads and challenged him to “tell me what you got done. I see zero.”
Four years later, Rauner is using Wilson to attack his opponent instead of telling voters what he’s gotten done.
“Bruce Rauner has zero positive things to say about his failed record in office,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “If anything, Rauner’s failed leadership negatively affected Illinois families as his two-year budget crisis added billions of dollars of debt and slowed job creation in the state.”
“DuPage cancer risk linked to Rauner” has to rank right up there as one of the worst headlines the guy has ever received.
* The online story’s hed is less harsh, but still not great: “High cancer risk in southeast DuPage County linked to company co-owned by Rauner’s former firm.” From the piece…
Two low-slung industrial buildings, tucked behind a Target store in west suburban Willowbrook, are about as nondescript as they come. For years, they have been home to Sterigenics International, a company that has quietly gone about its business of fumigating medical instruments, pharmaceutical drugs and food to kill bacteria and pests.
But a new federal study is putting a bright spotlight on the company, finding that people living nearby face some the nation’s highest cancer risks from toxic air pollution.
A gas used by the company, ethylene oxide, is far more dangerous than previously thought, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In one census tract near the plant, the EPA estimates the risk of cancer is more than nine times the national average.
Another federal agency concluded the cancer risks could be significantly higher.
Federal officials began investigating Sterigenics last year after surrounding communities popped out on a national map of health hazards from breathing toxic chemicals.
You have to scroll six paragraphs down to find the first mention of the governor’s former firm.
* However, this is from the Willowbrook Village website…
The emissions of ethylene oxide from the Sterigenics International, Inc. facility in Willowbrook, IL are not an immediate threat to public health and are not considered to be an emergency situation. ATSDR recommended to U.S. EPA that actions be taken to reduce emissions of ethylene oxide from this facility to protect the public from long-term exposures that could harm their health. […]
The highest measured levels of ethylene oxide in those areas were about 1,000 times lower than levels associated with cancer risks in scientific studies of workers with industrial exposure to EtO.
Emphasis was in the original.
…Adding… Sen. John Curran (R-Downers Grove)…
“The residents of Willowbrook and I have deep concerns, and many questions, about the recently released toxicity report from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) regarding the air quality in our community. The health and well-being of our residents is my number one concern and priority. Therefore, I have demanded that Sterigenics and government agencies involved in this matter attend the public forum being held Wednesday night so we can have all our questions answered. I am pleased all parties have agreed to attend, and I would encourage residents with questions to attend as well. It is vital that we have all the information available so we can best mitigate this issue in order to reduce any long-term impact on our community. We cannot delay, we must act now.”
*** UPDATE *** The governor was asked about the story today…
.@govrauner on @scribeguy story of chemical used by a suburban company posing heighted risk: the federal government created a scare, cautions "this is not a public health crisis," we will work to monitor and manage risk https://t.co/u9GoqYpj7T
