Illinois MedMJ bill drastically altered to suit law enforcement
SPRINGFIELD, IL. – In a press conference today, Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago), lead sponsor of a bill to protect from arrest seriously ill Illinoisans who use medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation, announced significant changes to the legislation based on input from law enforcement.
Although members of the law enforcement community have been among the most vocal opponents of the bill, Cullerton said the recent amendments reflected specific objections law enforcement officers raised in good faith in a meeting with bill proponents last month.
A comprehensive list of the amendments made at the request of law enforcement representatives can be viewed online.
Also at the press conference, medical marijuana activist and Chicago multiple sclerosis patient Julie Falco announced a new campaign to reach out to representatives by sending personal video appeals by seriously ill patients asking for support on the medical marijuana bill.
Despite opposition from some elements of the law enforcement community, medical marijuana enjoys great support among the medical community and among Illinois voters. In February, the American College of Physicians – the second largest physician organization in the country with 124,000 members – became the latest major medical association to endorse laws protecting patients and doctors from arrest for using medical marijuana.
Also in February, a Mason-Dixon telephone poll of 625 randomly selected Illinois voters – commissioned by the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. – found that 68 percent of respondents agreed that “seriously and terminally ill patients should be allowed to use and grow medical marijuana for personal use if their doctors recommended it.”
SB 2865 – the medical marijuana bill – is expected to reach the Senate floor within weeks.
It always seems odd when I hear about how law enforcement is involved in creating medical marijuana law. I can’t remember the last time anyone asked a panel of doctors how we should build our next prison.
Nevertheless, so long as there is legal medical marijuana and illegal consumer cannabis, activists will have to walk this tightrope between caring for the needs of patients and kowtowing to law enforcement requests. Law enforcement dislikes medical marijuana because it makes their jobs much harder - no longer can they just rip up every plant they see and arrest every person with weed they catch. There is also a strong anti-cannabis bias in law enforcement; so many officers have seen the worst narcotics and amphetamine addicts creating crime and misery and they just lump in responsible marijuana smokers into that group.
The bill has now become a pilot program with a three-year sunset provision, so if it passes this year, activists will have to re-fight these battles in 2011 to keep the program. Imagine the patient who finally gets relief by using cannabis, and then after three years, suppose the program isn’t renewed. It seems almost crueler than denying him the medicine in the first place.
Possession limits have been decreased from 12 plants and 2.5 ounces to 7 plants and 2 ounces. The bill now also sets a limit of only 1200 patients, for a state that boasts a population of almost 13 million. That’s less than 9 per 100K of their population. Here in Oregon we have about 3 million people and 20,000 patients; that’s about 666 per 100K. Sadly, over 29,000 Illinois residents every year are diagnosed with cancer, and that is just one of the many conditions that would qualify for medical marijuana treatment under the Illinois bill.
The new bill also restricts the caregiver to only one patient instead of five, which makes me wonder: if I were an Illinois caregiver with two elderly parents who suffer from Alzheimer’s agitation, do I care for mom or do I care for dad?
Tags: Illinois
