Pubdate: Wed, 23 Feb 2005
Source: Windy City Times (Chicago, IL)
Copyright: 2005 Windy City Media Group
Contact:  http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/windycitytimes.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3204
Cited: Office of National Drug Control Policy 
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov
Cited: Irvin Rosenfeld http://www.medicalcannabis.com/press/Irvin_Rosenfeld.htm
Referenced: Montel's OPED http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n260/a06.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Irvin+Rosenfeld
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Montel+Williams
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

WHITE HOUSE COMES TO TOWN

To Help Defeat Illinois Medical Marijuana Bill

The Human Services Committee of the Illinois House of Representatives
voted down medical marijuana bill HB0407 by a vote of 7 to 4 Feb. 17.

The committee faced pressure from the White House to reject the bill.
Federal drug czar John Walters spent a full hour testifying against
the measure, according to a release from the Marijuana Policy Project
( MPP ) .

Patient Irvin Rosenfield, who still receives medical marijuana from
the U.S. government through a program that closed to new patients in
1992, was held by police after the hearing. Rosenfield, who suffers
from a painful condition known as multiple congenital cartilaginous
exostosis, brought the tin of 300 marijuana cigarettes he receives
monthly to the hearing. Police detained him while verifying that he
had federal permission to have the drug.

Bill sponsor Rep. Larry McKeon, D-Chicago, remarked that the effort to
have the bill voted down was "an outrageous misuse of tax dollars, and
I am distressed that my fellow Democrats couldn't muster the courage
to resist this White House interference."

The bill was supported by several organizations, including the
Illinois Nurses Association and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.
Television talk show host Montel Williams, who uses medical marijuana
for his multiple sclerosis, advocated HB0407's passage in a Feb. 14
Chicago Tribune column.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake