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Medical marijuana bill clears Senate

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Illinois

* The medical marijuana bill passed the Senate yesterday with the minimum majority of 30 votes. There was quite a debate.

Of all the reasons to oppose medical marijuana, I’m not sure this one is the best…

“There’s no attention to quality control. There’s no attention to dosage amount,” [Sen. Tim Bivins (R-Dixon)] said, reading off the manufacturer, expiration date, and lot number from a bottle of aspirin to emphasize his point. “It has a lot of information on this tiny little bottle. This is not something you will get by growing marijuana at home”

Right. Because you can’t possibly monitor a plant’s quality when you’re growing it yourself.

* This is also odd..

“The bill would allow people to grow and possess cannabis. Those folks are not subject to a background check,” Righter said. “This bill does not require law enforcement to be involved in the administration program at all, and I think that’s a fatal flaw.”

The medical marijuana bill’s sponsor, Democratic Sen. Bill Haine, is a former state’s attorney. Here’s his response to Righter…

Haine said every dispensary would be required to go through a background check, but the patients are the ones responsible for the caretaker. “It’s a bit offensive to demand everyone go through a background check,” Haine said. “If the patient is not qualified, the doctor will not sign the recommendation. We delineate the diseases [that qualify] and demand extensive corroboration from the doctor.” He added that if the privilege were abused, the prescribing doctor’s license would be on the line, too.

Agreed.

* And while this is an oft-heard refrain, it opens the door to a whole lot of other possibilities…

“God grows these seeds,” said state Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, who voted for the legislation.

Yep. And God also grows magic mushrooms, poppies, coca plants, etc.

* As we say in the bidness, the bill’s future is uncertain…

The plan’s immediate future is uncertain. Given how long it’s taken to build support in the Senate, Haine told reporters Wednesday that it’s unlikely to get a vote this spring in the Illinois House. Lawmakers are trying to wrap up business and adjourn before May 31.

There’s always next year.

* And kudos to two Senators who reminded the chamber yesterday that what they were talking about was the fate of real people…

Sen. Linda Holmes, an Aurora Democrat with multiple sclerosis, said passing this bill was the right action to take. “We are talking about people here that are not looking to abuse a drug,” she said. “To sit here and say that this drug has the potential to be abused, therefore, we should not be voting in favor of this bill … well, then go home and empty out your medicine cabinet because all your pain medications and all your sleep medications have the potential to be abused.”

Sen. Kwame Raoul, a Chicago Democrat, moved the room to silence as he spoke about a recent visit with his mother. Raoul said she suffers from a variety of ailments and, as a result, her doctors have prescribed her multiple drugs to treat one issue while prescribing others to offset side effects. “This is a bill about compassion for those who are suffering,” Raoul said. Having recently lost his father, Raoul noted, “pharmaceuticals had no answer for the pain he had to go through. So we can make this a political issue, but this is about compassion.”

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 10:51 am

Comments

I give the Senators on both sides of the question points for taking a stand on a controversial issue. No matter how they voted, each one of them is going to anger a sizeable group.

With all due respect to those in opposition, I predict in just a short couple of years after this becomes law we’ll be wondering what all the fuss was about.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 11:01 am
In the practical sense, this law will not do much except at the margins.

There’s a better than 99% chance you won’t be arrested for personal and private use for medical reasons if you’re doing it now…not that it makes it any easier for those unfortunate few who are caught and harrassed. And it might encourage a few who suffer, but decline MJ out of respect for the law, to seek relief.

All I want to know is, who do I see to get my stash?

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 11:02 am
Bravo! Common sense and compassion win out over irrational fearmongering. There’s hope for us yet.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 11:02 am
===There’s a better than 99% chance you won’t be arrested for personal and private use for medical reasons if you’re doing it now===

And if you are arrested, your life could be ruined.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 11:04 am
And if you are arrested, your life could be ruined.

Ruined is pretty strong a word. This isn’t Texas circa 1969. Inconvenienced and harassed, most definitely. Unless you’re dealing kilos.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 11:08 am
===Inconvenienced and harassed, most definitely. ===

If you’re a college student, you will lose your financial aid and student loans. If you’re a lawyer, you could be disbarred. If you’re a licensed professional, you could lose your license. Etc.

That’s not an inconvenience.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 11:15 am
Six,

Try getting a Pell grant with a minor marijuana offense on your record. Ruined isn’t too strong of a term.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 11:15 am
This is a victimless crime (on the books) that should have been updated long ago. I will still be surprised if the governor signs it. Entirely too much angst from the fear mongerers remains. If the majority of the general public only knew that this is simply the beginning of taking the money out of the criminal’s hands.

Comment by tunes Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 11:18 am
“magic mushrooms, poppies, coca plants, etc…”

And plutonium.

Comment by Anonymous Coward Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 11:22 am
It doesn’t do much good to waive your prescription and state license for marijuana to a federal agent.

Comment by anon Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 11:24 am
IIRC, there is a process to go thru drug “treatment” to get reinstated for college aid. And I know more than one practicing attorney who has been busted for possession and they are still practicing without being suspended. All the same, this is one drug that the bureaucratic stigma for using should go away for the aforementioned circumstances.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 11:27 am
Any professional convicted of marijuana possession with intent to deliver has ruined his or her life. The federal administration has said they will not target individual growers…its about as much a green light as can happen now.

Comment by Vote Quimby! Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 1:04 pm
Duhhh, poppies and coca plants have to be processed by man before they are smoked or snorted.On the other hand demon weed can be rolled up in a blunt and smoke in the field!

Comment by waitasecond Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 1:48 pm
Hard to light a green plant, all that moisture and all.

Comment by Ghost Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 2:03 pm
Ghost–nearly impossible! You have to dry it out for 10 to 14 days before divid….or, at least that’s what I’ve heard some guy I used to know say. Hey, how bout that local sports team?

Comment by Vote Quimby! Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 2:06 pm
waitasecond, coca leaves are chewed by workers all over central and south america.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 2:09 pm
Doesn’t the FDA approve a medication that contains THC, the active ingredient in marijuana? So I don’t get it. Why are these pro-recreational marijuana groups fighting so hard for non-federally regulated marijuana in all states accross the country? What a minute, I get it now.

Comment by That makes sense Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 2:10 pm
The THC tablets have not been as effective as absorption of THC by smoking it for various naseu and pain patients. Of course why pay a pharmacetuical company and a pharmacy if yah dont have to.

Comment by Ghost Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 2:17 pm
===What a minute, I get it now===

No, you don’t.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 2:19 pm
You know, not every man that drinks beer punches his wife in the face, but the more alcohol use that exists, the more societal problems we have with it. You can say that recreational marijuana is harmless for many people, but will that still be true for all of society when it comes with an entirely set of different problems, if it ever becomes as socially acceptable as alcohol, and teen marijuana use rates rise as high as teen alcohol use rates? Just my thoughts…

Comment by These are my thoughts Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 2:20 pm
Thoughts: the only problems I foresee if it becomes “as socially acceptable as alcohol” are lower-brow animated TV humor and increased traffic at fast-food restaurants.
Not every recreational marijuana user is a couch-in-mom’s-basement sitting, Little-Debbie-cake-eating, Grateful-Dead-tie-dye-shirt wearing, menial-job-hater loser: many of us, I mean them, are responsible parents, taxpayers and drivers. If not for the social stigma against recreational users that still exists, there would be more public support for legalization for any use. You might be surprised who around you is a “midnight toker”…

Comment by Vote Quimby! Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 2:34 pm
California, Here We Come! - DeSylva/Meyer, enhanced by VanillaMan

When the medical bongs starts smokin’
After the Dems win in the fall
Then my eyes go westward knowing
To the place were economies stall
California, Illinois’ also blue
You’re a crazy liberal state too
I can’t wait ’till this fad’s over
I sure hope after that; we’ll recover

California, Here We Come
Illinois’ leaders are also dumb
where state budgets bankrupt us,
come every spring
new taxes are coming,
upon the Tax For Everything
a reformer governor says, “Let’s pay-to-play!”
then legalize marriage for the gays
it’s a [bleepin’] golden thing
California, Illinois Comes

California, Here We Are (yeaaaaaah!)
Passing a bill to outlaw the car
Watch closely how the political hacks
Say you’re not patriotic if you don’t pay tax
illegal aliens say, “It’s our right!”
our freebies are immune when the budget’s tight
families and businesses are leaving the state
California, Here Illinois Comes!

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 3:06 pm
Vote Quimby, clearly you did not listen to what I said. Not everyone who uses will have problems, but I wonder how many increased societal problems we will have if more people begin to use it. It’s too bad these posts weren’t only about medical marijuana, which if regulated properly would without a doubt be more beneficial than harmful. But I question these posts about how harmless it is. I used to smoke pretty heavily in high school, and I’ve seen both kinds of people, those who can do it recreationally, and those who cost us citizens more problems, whether in increased taxes from their problems (mental health, etc.), increased employment turnover, decreased parental involvement, etc.

Comment by These are my thoughts Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 3:09 pm
This issue is the twin of “gay marriage”…all the arguments against are social/ideological boogie man/ick factor arguments that have no substance beyond emotion.

Comment by Abe's Ghost Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 3:20 pm
I think Bivins makes a good point. This will certainly be the least controlled ‘prescription’ in the state. I support legalization of medical marijuana, but completely absent quality control for a medication is irresponsible.

Comment by Sewanee Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 3:33 pm
completely absent quality control for a medication is irresponsible.

I say the same thing about people who self-medicate with Coors, but nobody listens.

The SAME people who complain about the absence of quality control in medical marijuana are the SAME people who want someone to be able to get a concealed weapons license after missing the shooting range target 40% of the time.

Laughable.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 4:10 pm
TAMT your assuming that the people who will fall into abuse problems with marijuana are right now otherwise constrained. I would suggest as a social principal, that those who would have a tendency to abuse marijuana and cause societal problems are already casuing societal problems now. The factors that make one a soceital problem are most likely independet of the drug or non-drug being used. You may see somone who would be a societal problem from alcohol switch to marijuana. Or people who are alreayd soceital problems will also use marijuana; but I would bet there are pretty much no people who are perfectly fine now, but will suddenly create problems tomorrow because another drug has been added to the market place.

Same with the teen analogy, I bet the ones who would be drawn to marijuana are already invovled with alcohol or already have marijuana.

Comment by Ghost Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 4:28 pm
Too many of our political decisions are based from guessing and biased opinions. It’s a good thing the federal politicians pay slightly more attention to the experts than do our state politicians, or else we’d all be screwed for sure. Ghost, your question is one that has been studied for decades, “Do substances cause societal problems or is it just that problematic people are more likely to use substances?” Correlation does not be causation, right? Well, experts have been digging up the real answer. It’s reciprocal (which means it does in fact cause problems, and vise versa) Read this:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19000215

Comment by What does science say...? Thursday, May 28, 09 @ 4:38 pm
I applaud the Senate and encourage the house to support this legislation. I support the medical bill use, industrial use and even the recreational use. I have to believe that most legislators have smoked it for fun or hung with people who smoked even once and then went on to be successful people. Please don’t deny a person a simple remedy because of a political (reelection) concern. Stand up for what is right.

And to the drug “could be abused” argument; They are correct. it could be abused, As most things could be abused. In fact, I read that comment last night and I quickly threw away 19 Ding Dongs mmmm. I often abuse them with a big glass of cold milk.

Comment by Larry Mullholland Friday, May 29, 09 @ 8:42 am
There are those politicians who make decisions based solely on fears. There are those who look to the experts who are saying, “We should not have easier access to marijuana, but we need to treat users rather than just criminalizing them, and we need increased prevention efforts for our youth.” There are those politicians who say, “I believe it’s harmless, I want to move on to the next issue.” And then there are those who make decisions based on their own personal desires.

Comment by What does science say...? Friday, May 29, 09 @ 12:22 pm
I agree with TAMT, “It’s too bad these posts weren’t only about medical marijuana.” If this was only about the ones who truly needed it then the proper regulations would have been added into this bill, and it would have been passed a long time ago, possibly in most of the 50 states.

Comment by What does science say...? Friday, May 29, 09 @ 12:26 pm