Stoners Rejoice! Well, Sick Stoners Anyway
By Sam Bakken in News on Feb 11, 2005 2:30AM
On January 26th, 2005, Rep. Larry McKeon, D-Chicago, introduced a bill to the Illinois House that would permit the use and possession of marijuana for registered individuals diagnosed with a "debilitating medical condition" by a physician. The Medical Cannabis Act would amend Illinois' current Cannabis Control Act that sets penalties for the sale, use and possession of Mary Jane. Under Section 11, the Cannabis Control Act allows for the creation of a state-sanctioned medicinal marijuana program, but the goal of McKeon's bill is to specifically detail a program's operation and prevent the state from prosecuting those legally registered with it.
The bill hasn't seen much action yet, other than a referral to the House's Human Services Committee, so you might say, "But Chicagoist, get with the program. That's not news. That was weeks ago!" Well, we missed it the first time around (as we're sure some of you did), and for that we apologize. But in our defense, our friend Poncho brought in some killer kind bud for New Year's and we were stoned throughout the entire month of January.
Anyway, yesterday Dr. Andrea Barthwell, who resigned from her position as deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in early July 2004 to possibly replace Jack Ryan in the run against Obama (and also enjoys her fair share of adolescent "you're a fag!" humor in the workplace), discussed the dangers of legalizing medical marijuana in Mt. Vernon as a part of her "Illinois Marijuana Lectures".
McKeon, openly gay and living with AIDS, calls Barthwell's series of lectures a "marijuana disinformation tour" aimed at smearing his proposed legislation. Last week he challenged her to a public debate on the issue. She said no.
Who knows where it will go, but it is interesting that Illinois could be one of the few states outside of the Western half of the nation to pass such legislation. Here's some information from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws on active state medical marijuana programs. And speaking of NORML, did you know the group's founder is one of Illinois' own?