Pubdate: Sun, 17 May 2009 Source: Rockford Register Star (IL) Copyright: 2009 GateHouse Media, Inc. Contact: http://www.rrstar.com/contact Website: http://www.rrstar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/370 Author: Stephen Dickson Note: Stephen Dickson is Rockton chief of police. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) ALLOWING MEDICINAL MARIJUANA COULD LEAD TO A SLIPPERY SLOPE Two bills have been introduced in the Illinois Legislature intending to make legal the medicinal use of smoked marijuana. The companion bills, called the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, have been filed in both the Illinois House and Senate and are supported by a surprisingly large percentage of the Democratic caucuses in both chambers. Legislative members, however, have been misinformed by supporters regarding both the effect the bills will have upon Illinois and the long-term motivations of the bill's supporters. Lobbyists are making no attempt to conceal their long-range goal for Illinois: cannabis legalization. The Illinois bill is similar to one that passed in California several years ago. In northern California, marijuana has become the most lucrative agricultural commodity in the region (surpassing wine) and is known in California as the "cash crop." California is fast overtaking Mexico as the exporter of the marijuana being smuggled into the Midwestern and Eastern United States. During the past year, more cannabis loads were interdicted along Interstate 80 in Illinois originating from California than from Mexico. Is Illinois poised to become the next supplier of marijuana to the East Coast? The law is nominally intended for terminally ill patients. In California, 40 percent of medical marijuana patients are between 21 and 30 years old and not terminally ill. As the current legislation is written, anyone complaining of chronic pain is eligible to obtain a license. Proponents of the bill claim that compounds in cannabis have medicinal properties that ease the pain and suffering of certain terminally ill patients. If so, then those chemical compounds should be isolated and researched. In the United States, there is a process for creating and vetting medicines that should not be skipped with this particular chemical compound. Several plant-based substances have been converted to medicines (aspirin and morphine, for example), including opium plants. In no medicinal prescription has smoking been determined to be the best delivery system of the drug. The American Medical Association also opposes smoking as a viable delivery system. Dr. Rafael Meshulam from Hebrew University has been conducting brain injury research for more than 20 years. He has isolated compounds from the cannabis sativa plant that experimentation has shown has some promising medicinal qualities for trauma patients. He has patented those medicines with injectable delivery systems, and a large Israeli pharmaceutical company is working toward commercializing the products. When doctors prescribe any other drug, the dosage recommendation is extremely specific. There is a substantial difference, for example, between giving a patient 30 milligrams or 10 grams of a particular drug. Marijuana's THC content, on the other hand, can range by as much as 3 percent to more than 30 percent. Is this a controlled medical drug? This is not a road that Illinois wants to travel down. If there are therapeutic benefits to compounds within the cannabis plant, let them be extracted and delivered safely like every other medicine. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom