(St. Louis Post Dispatch) SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • The Illinois House on Thursday narrowly voted down the authorization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
The bill would have allowed people suffering from chronic pain or nausea caused by certain debilitating conditions to be prescribed a potent dose of cannabis to alleviate the symptoms. It fell four votes short of passage.
The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, pledged to continue pushing toward legalizing the illicit herb. “I am going to continue to press on — on this particular piece of legislation, or some version of it — until I pass it,” Lang said. “Next year, the year after … I’m a young man. I’ll be here awhile.”
Click to view the full size chart in PDF format, with explanatory sheet.
The headline to this story today was “Illinois Legislature shoots down medical marijuana bill“, but when reporting on this yesterday, the Post-Dispatch headline was “Medical marijuana goes up in smoke“. So whomever had “January 6″ and “St. Louis” in the “When and Where Will We Read the First Pot Pun Headline of 2011 Pool” is a winner!
This was a very reasonable bill that was to set up a three-year pilot project. If the dire predictions of Illinois’ opponents of medical marijuana came true, the law would sunset in just three years. It only allowed possession of two ounces and growing of seven plants, which is well within the conservative limits set by all but four of the fifteen medical marijuana states.
The bill also enacted protections for the rights of medical marijuana patients to work, to housing, to drive, and to parent. It would have created a state registry, allowed for dispensaries, and recognized the medical marijuana recommendations and cards from out of state.
The bill had already been passed by the Senate and passage in the House would have sent it to the governor’s desk for signature and we’d have our first medical marijuana state of 2011. Sadly, it is not to be, but for the failure to convince three lawmakers to change their vote to YES.
Activists and supporters, here are the representatives who voted NO (or excused or present) on the medical marijuana bill:
Rep. Acevedo (D); Rep. Bassi (R); Rep. Beaubien (R); Rep. Beiser (D); Rep. Bellock (R); Rep. Biggins (R); Rep. Bost (R); Rep. Bradley (D); Rep. Brady (R); Rep. Brauer (R); Rep. Cavaletto (R); Rep. Coladipietro (R); Rep. Cole (R); Rep. Connelly (R); Rep. Crespo (D); Rep. Cross (R); Rep. Cultra (R); Rep. DeLuca (D); Rep. Durkin (R); Rep. Eddy (R); Rep. Farnham (D); Rep. Fortner (R); Rep. Franks (D); Rep. Gordon, Jehan (D); Rep. Hammond (R); Rep. Hatcher (R); Rep. Hays (R); Rep. Hoffman (D); Rep. Holbrook (D); Rep. Kosel (R); Rep. Leitch (R); Rep. Lyons (D); Rep. Mautino (D); Rep. McAsey (D); Rep. McAuliffe (R); Rep. McCarthy (D); Rep. Mitchell, Bill (R); Rep. Mitchell, Jerry (R); Rep. Moffitt (R); Rep. Mulligan (R); Rep. Osmond (R); Rep. Phelps; Rep. Pihos (R); Rep. Poe (R); Rep. Ramey (R); Rep. Reboletti (R); Rep. Reis (R); Rep. Reitz (D); Rep. Rita (D); Rep. Rose (R); Rep. Sacia (R); Rep. Schmitz (R); Rep. Senger (R); Rep. Sente (D); Rep. Sommer (R); Rep. Stephens (R); Rep. Sullivan (R); Rep. Thapedi (D); Rep. Tracy (R); Rep. Tryon (R); Rep. Watson (R); Rep. Zalewski (D).
That’s 39 Republicans and 19 Democrats if you’re counting… and I am. (To be fair: Rep. Mulligan was an excused absence and Rep. Thapedi voted “present”.)
Contact your elected representatives and urge them to 'Stop Arresting Marijuana Smokers'. 
Dear Gentlemen, I would like to see medical marijuana legalized in illinois. I think it could help many people with there aliments. I have been fighting with constent pain from diabetes neuopathy ,arthrits,bone degeneration.The doctors say that i can’t take anything like ibprofene meds because of my kidney desease ,they only allow xanax for my axienty , and soma for the pain which i am tolerant to all this and getting sideaffects and no relief. i think truthfully we need to change goverment and sign that bill Quin ! If there is any hope out there lets do it .Thank You and Happy Holidays Frank….
I’m 19 I have degenerating disks all throughout my back it hurts all the time I feel like I’m 80 when I wake up. So I continue to ask why can I be prescribed ibuprofen which is PROVEN to cause liver damage AND stomach ulcers but I absolutely CAN NOT smoke marijuana, which takes away the pain without causing more….. To all of the politicians who voted this down please take about ten steps back and ask yourself why you voted no…. We live in a new era there are 15 states and DC that have passed a medical marijuana bill so why are WE WAITING?????
if its like delaware we have a zero tolerance for drugged driving which means that if a blood test were taken and the metabolites released into the blood stream that are associated with cannabis consumption are found then you can be given a dui. it is these metabolites that are detectable for a month or so and dont necessarily mean current or recent use and certainly dont indicate under the influence. i believe this is the protection that was offered from the bill
Yes sir!
Its not over yet. A member who intentionally voted no so they could recall the bill….We have fifty-nine votes and a member who voted present has voted yes on the bill in the past..We got one more shot! I can’t hardly take this any more. Come on people help your brothers and sisters! ONE MORE VOTE
This is just nasty politics on the part of “Pig” lobby in Springfield. Did you know that nearly one million of our brothers and sisters are arrested each year for simple bud possession in the U.S.? Eliminate those arrests and you reduce the need for thousands of unionized stormtrooper jobs.
It’s just like oil. The government says that they want to go green yet the loss of the excise taxes on gasoline at the pump would cripple their public tax enslavement agenda.
Peace world. Meditate, pray, bong.
Louie
Evan,
I know. If they weren’t asking for so much, it would have passed. Greed caused it to fail. For instance, perhaps if they didn’t have to try to add cultivation to prop 19, it might have passed. It only failed by a few percentage points. How many voters thought growing was going too far?
It’s not like a growing law couldn’t have been revisited a couple of years later. That’s how change happens. It doesn’t happen overnight.
To put it another way, you don’t get laid your first date.
-Chris
whats wrong with (enacted protections to drive)?????? If you use MedMary that does ‘nt mean you are high 24/7. get real…..
Chris: California (and other Compassionate Use states) has had Compassionate Use of MEDICAL Cannabis for years which PASSED as Prop. 215. What failed this year in CA was legalization for RECREATIONAL use.
I believe all states have laws against driving UNDER THE INFLUENCE of anything. Driving protections make it possible to TRANSPORT one’s medicine home legally, as well as what Radical Russ said.
In the end that’s really the answer to everything. Right now the biggest obstacle to marijuana legalization is the 70 odd years of smearing. We have to break down a reputation before we can sit at the cafe and light one up. Medical marijuana redefines the image of reefer madness and killer pot. It flips the lies about how dangerous marijuana is on their heads. This substance helps people! Thats the message that needs to get out. Shock and awe does not change the mind of a people. It has to be a gradual acceptance or it wont stick.
It’s time to come to our senses Illinois! Start by decriminalizing it, and then drive out the illegal activity. Then gain a foothold for regulation and the legal dispensing of it to patients and Over 21 adult users. Either that or make Whiskey illegal again too, talk about a killer…
Well put. The driving protection wasn’t “hey, if you’re medical, you can smoke and drive!” It was more like, “hey, if you’re medical, turning up positive on a pee test isn’t per se evidence you were a drugged driving.”
But I agree – get it legal first then expand it later.
It failed because it asked for too much. I don’t know the wording of the bill, but the summary above says that it enacted protections to drive? Give me a break.
Greed is what is killing the movement. Same reason it failed in Cali. Ask for a little now, expand later. Don’t ask for EVERYTHING right off the bat. What the hell did it even have to go into driving for? Why bother going into growing? Get a medical bill passed so the idiots see there is no end of the world scenario, then expand the rights.
The end of segregation started with a woman who refused to get to the back of the bus, not a bill asking for every single right under everything. Baby steps.
Think.