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Is Illinois heading towards legalized medical marijuana? State Senator John Cullerton (pretty website!) hopes so. He's sponsoring a bill that the Senate Public Health Committee approved 6-4 yesterday. A similar measure failed in the Senate last year, but try, try again.
The Alternative Treatment for Serious Diseases Causing Chronic Pain and Debilitating Conditions bill would allow some patients to possess "no more than 8 plants and two and one-half ounces of usable marijuana." The bill defines qualifying conditions as
cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Crohn's disease, agitation of Alzheimer's disease, nail patella, or the treatment of these conditions;...a chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces one or more of the following: cachexia or wasting syndrome; severe pain; severe nausea; seizures, including but not limited to those characteristic of epilepsy; or severe and persistent muscle spasms, including but not limited to those characteristic of multiple sclerosis...
Affected patients would be eligible with a doctor's certification to receive an ID card from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Washington have similar laws.
Apparently Illinois already has a law that decriminalizes medical marijuana use and has since 1978, but the Public Health Department never did anything with it, so it's just kind of flapping around out there in the ether, not helping anyone. [Senate Bill 2865, Rockford Register Star, AP, Salem News, The Daily Journal, image via Aforero]
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Even if they legalize it there will always be a black market. The government will set a benchmark on what is legal and more "potent" drugs will be sought after on a black market.
Yea even if we do, that the feds will just swoop in and arrested a punch of cancer patients at deaths door, like they did in California. I never thought I would say this but "states rights!"
Legalize it, tax it and quit spending money arresting people for it,.It's no worse than booze and I love my Bombay.
And hey, it just might reduce the amount of those evil little baggies that litter the streets! Am I right? Huh? Come on!
You know, at least its a step in the right direction. Let's just give them credit for that, because if we don't, then it'll keep being that the feds go bust grannies as in California.
Fed Up Bombay is soooo passé and you haven't even graduated to Bombay Saphire yet ahhh the midwest. Any way the new gin of choice is Hendricks & Tonic, next time please read the Spook Memos titled "New York Style Section"
This thing will never pass, according to capfax. It's just an annual exercise in bullshit.
Legalize it already. Christ, it's only pot.
Spook...you forgot to add that they read the Red Eye.
When making any point, you really like that whole "Midwest" jab, eh?
Reminds me of the joke, "How do you know someone is from New York"?
"Easy, they TELL you!!"
Spook...you forgot to add that they read the Red Eye.
When making any point, you really like that whole "Midwest" jab, eh?
Reminds me of the joke, "How do you know someone is from New York"?
"Easy, they TELL you!!"
Hooray Senator Cullerton!
Medical marijuana (cannabis) could help so many seriously ill people in Illinois...
Medical marijuana has been used as medicine for thousands of years by millions of people WITHOUT A SINGLE OVERDOSE, which is ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! (Findings of Fact: In the Matter of MARIJUANA MEDICAL RESCHEDULING PETITION, September 6, 1988. Docket No. 86-22. Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young).
Cannabis (marijuana) is enormously safer than most FDA-approved medications, which kill over 100,000 people per year -- even when properly prescribed and properly taken -- according to a shocking and quickly buried J.A.M.A report (JAMA - Incidence of Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospitalized Patients - A Meta-analysis of Prospective Studies. Jason Lazarou, MSc; Bruce H. Pomeranz, MD, PhD; Paul N. Corey, PhD; JAMA.1998; 279:1200-1205).
In order to effectively treat the ravaging symptoms of diseases like HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and glaucoma, physicians and patients need all the medical options at their disposal, especially options that cannot kill from toxicity, like Cannabis.
Please help to restore logic, reason, and compassion to the subject of medical cannabis (marijuana), by examining the facts and asking your officials to support this bill.
Thanks for doing the right things and trying to protect your most vulnerable constituents, Senator Cullerton!
Good one Irishman.
J Tilla, have you heard of J Dilla?
Any way I'm against the full Legalization of dank, just because its already too many kids smoking it. If it were legale then it would be like kids smoking cigs, just them walking up and down the street. I mean I see kids rolling blunts on the bus and the train in the morning, but more kids smoke cigs. God I'm just thankfull it wasn't as accessible when I was in high school as it is today. Legalizing it would make it even more so. To me its just about kids. I'm not saying lock up kids either. Yea I know its between a rock and a hard place.
At least they'd be getting it from a registered outlet and not from some thug on the street. By keeping it illegal you force the "Black Market" to be the only way to get it. Think about the kids but don't forget about the people who actually need it.
I am advocating for Access to Medical Marijuana for patients with serious diseases, NOT general legalization of marijuana.
Two different issues.
But to address spook's concern, in the 12 MEDICAL marijuana states, teenage recreational use has not gone up. In fact, according to the California Student Survey, use among 11th graders dropped 21%, use among 9th graders dropped 44% and use among 7th graders dropped 34% since the passage of medical marijuana legislation in Calfornia.
Credible Links on Medical Marijuana (cut and paste into Google Web engine, if you would like to learn more about the historical and medical realities of marijuana):
1)"Marijuana's History as a Medicine," Lester Grinspoon, M.D. - Dr. Grinspoon is Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the author of several cannabis-related books, including "Marijuana Reconsidered" and "Marijuana: The Forbidden Medicine." Dr. Grinspoon founded the Harvard Mental Health Letter, and served as its editor for fifteen years. The following history is fascinating:
http://www.maps.org/mmj/grinspoon_history_cannabis_medicine.pdf
2)"Exposing Marijuana Myths: A Review of the Scientific Evidence" - John P. Morgan, M.D. and Lynn Zimmer. William F Buckley surprised the whole establishment -- conservatives and liberals -- when he praised the book where this synopsis came from as a "a miracle of intelligent concision."
http://www.bisdro.uni-bremen.de/boellinger/cannabis/08-zi-mo.pdf
3)"Emerging Clinical Applications for Cannabis and Cannabinoids: A Review of the Recent Scientific Literature, 2000 - 2006" - Paul Armentano, Senior Policy Analyst, NORML (this document takes a while to download) :
http://www.norml.org/pdf_files/NORML_Clinical_Applications_for_Cannabis_and_Cannabinoids.pdf
Positions on medical marijuana from two of the most prestigious health organizations and societies in the world:
1. National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine:
"Nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety are all afflictions of wasting and can be mitigated by marijuana...there will likely always be a subpopulation of patients who do not respond well to other medications." -- Institute of Medicine, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base, 1999
2. New England Journal of Medicine:
"Federal authorities should rescind their prohibition of the medical use of marijuana for seriously ill patients and allow physicians to decide which patients to treat. The government should change marijuana's status from that of a Schedule I drug ... to that of a Schedule II drug ... and regulate it accordingly."
Reference: Editorial by NEJM editor Dr. Jerome Kassirer, January 30, 1997
Spook
Saphire is my drink of choice, But no tonic a little vermoth, a stuffed olive and a little ice.I am loyal to my brand like a good little brain washed capitalist but I know what I like.
Recently, the American College of Physicians (ACP) released a landmark position paper calling for legal protection for medical marijuana patients, reconsideration of marijuana’s federal classification as a Schedule I drug (banned for medical use), and expanded research.
The ACP is the largest medical specialty in the United States, representing over 124,000 members, and the publishers of "Annals of Internal Medicine," the most widely cited medical specialty journal in the world. Here are some excepts from the ACP's paper on medical marijuana:
“A clear discord exists between the scientific community and federal legal and regulatory agencies over the medicinal value of marijuana, which impedes the expansion of research.”
“ACP urges review of marijuana's status as a Schedule I controlled substance and reclassification into a more appropriate schedule, given the scientific evidence regarding marijuana’s safety and efficacy in some clinical conditions.”
“Given marijuana’s proven efficacy at treating certain symptoms and its relatively low toxicity,
reclassification would reduce barriers to research and increase availability of cannabinoid drugs
to patients who have failed to respond to other treatments.”
“ACP strongly urges protection from criminal or civil penalties for patients who use medical
marijuana as permitted under state laws.”
ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA'S EFFICACY:
“Anecdotal, survey and clinical trial data suggest that smoked marijuana and oral THC provide
relief of spasticity, pain and tremor in some patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), spinal cord
injuries or other trauma.”
“Current available data suggest numerous indications for cannabinoids, especially antiemesis, appetite stimulation, and pain relief.”
“Clinical trials have demonstrated that both oral and smoked marijuana stimulate appetite, increase caloric intake and result in weight gain among patients experiencing HIV wasting.”
“For patients with AIDS or those undergoing chemotherapy, who suffer severe pain, nausea and
appetite loss, cannabinoid drugs may provide symptom relief not found in any other medication.”
“Studies of chemotherapy patients with nausea and vomiting found THC to be equivalent or superior to other antiemetics (including prochloperazine or metoclopramide)for symptom reduction.”
“Research suggests that cannabinoids may have synergistic effects that may indicate its use as an adjunctive therapy to both antiemetics for nausea and vomiting and opiods for pain relief.”
"Yea even if we do, that the feds will just swoop in and arrested a punch of cancer patients at deaths door, like they did in California. I never thought I would say this but "states rights!""
Why would you never say something like states rights? It's in the Bill of Rights it's the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. The Federal government has been abusing the states for far too long. But it is people like you who don't understand what this country was founded on that let the federal government get away with these things.
"Yea even if we do, that the feds will just swoop in and arrested a punch of cancer patients at deaths door, like they did in California. I never thought I would say this but "states rights!""
Why would you never say something like states rights? It's in the Bill of Rights it's the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. The Federal government has been abusing the states for far too long. But it is people like you who don't understand what this country was founded on that let the federal government get away with these things.
Fed, look at it like transcendentalism. I'm just trying to get you to expand your mind like Emeson witman Thoreau, dickenson when it comes to Alcohol consumption. if you're not going to try Hendricks at least Google it, perhaps that might move to to broaden your liguid horizons
No Getreal its people like You with a truncated Red Eye grasp of history, including American history, which includes the rise of the "states rights" movement in the south.
Spook,
I Will give Hendricks a try in a few more hours.
Fed in your honor in exactly three and a half hours I will do likewise!
Well the need for a stiff drink as one man said is what this nation needed and as of right now i beleive its just a bong rip away. No deaths related to overdose on marijuana and there is almost no other drug legal or illegal that can say that, and if the raids by the dea and feds keep happening it will brake the word of president Obama who said he would make them stop and a waste of millions of tax dollars. Its an illegal drug that hurts you less than cigarettes. Open your eyes to the ignorance and legalize today.