911 Dispatcher Fired For Buying Family Member Weed

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Mar 17, 2009 9:20PM

A 911 dispatcher at the Round Lake Beach CenCom E9-1-1 center was fired from her job last week after her supervisors discovered she had bought marijuana for a cancer-stricken aunt. Laura Llanes told the Tribune that her aunt, who had undergone a double mastectomy in 2008, was, "sick constantly, not eating, not having an appetite. She is diabetic. She has to eat. She was whittling away to nothing. I thought I will get her some marijuana so it would get her to eat. It worked. She did get the munchies." Afterwards, she confided in some coworkers who in turn, as Llanes put it, "ratted me out." Llanes was never charged with any crime; "All that mattered was that I admitted to committing an illegal act," she told the Trib, adding she had no regrets.

Soon, though, Llanes may not have to worry about the repercussions of buying medicinal marijuana for her 60-year-old aunt. Just two weeks ago the Illinois House Human Services Committee passed HB 2514, a bill making medical marijuana legal under certain circumstances, by a vote of 4-3. A similar state senate bill, SB 1381, is under review by subcommittee with an April 3 deadline.