Pubdate: Sat, 18 May 2013
Source: Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL)
Copyright: 2013 Southern Illinoisan
Contact:  http://www.TheSouthern.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1430
Author: L.E. Hlavach

STATE SENATE APPROVES MARIJUANA PILOT PROGRAM

SPRINGFIELD -- A proposal to legalize limited medical use of 
marijuana for certain chronically ill patients now is headed to 
Illi-nois Gov. Pat Quinn.

By a 35-21 vote, the Illinois Senate on Friday approved a four-year 
pilot project to legalize medicinal use of marijuana under a 
regulatory framework the sponsors called the "tightest, most 
controlled" in the nation.

Currently, 18 states and the District of Columbia permit some medical 
use of marijuana.

Under the Illinois measure, patients diagnosed with about 40 specific 
terminal illnesses or debilitating medical conditions, such as 
cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis, would be able to get a special 
ID card allowing them to buy medical marijuana from one of 60 
state-licensed dispensaries, which in turn would buy the product from 
one of 22 state-licensed growers.

The measure narrowly passed in the Illinois House by a 61-57 vote in April.

Quinn previously has said he was "open-minded" about the proposal. 
His office in an email Thursday said the governor "will re-view the 
bill if it reaches his desk."

The chief House sponsor, state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, said Friday 
that "the governor's office was involved in drafting the regulatory 
process" outlined in the proposal.

Even if Quinn signs the measure, patients probably would have to wait 
at least 14 to 15 months before being approved to receive medical 
marijuana, Lang said.

First, the proposal would not take effect until Jan. 1, 2014. Then, 
the state departments involved in licensing and regulating the 
growers and the dispensaries and in investigating patients and 
issuing cards would have 120 days to draft rules to administer the 
pilot project.

The proposed regulatory process is intentionally strict to avoid some 
of the problems other states faced, said Lang and state Sen. William 
Haine, D-Alton, a former prosecutor and the bill's Senate sponsor.

State Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, who voted for the proposal, 
called the Senate's 90-minute discussion a "good debate" with "valid 
points on both sides." Ultimately, Manar said, Haine "made a compelling case."

But most other local senators were unconvinced.

State Sen. Darin LaHood, R-Dunlap, noted opposition from two law 
enforcement groups, the Illinois Sheriffs' Association and the 
Illinois Association Chiefs of Police, who last week sent Quinn a 
letter expressing concerns about patients driving after they have 
smoked marijuana.

Haine said the proposal requires medical marijuana cardholders 
stopped by police when driving to submit to field sobriety tests and 
if the patients refuse or are driving under the influence, their 
marijuana card will be revoked

LaHood also said in his nine years as a state and federal prosecutor, 
he noticed that marijuana is "a gateway drug and leads to a harder drug."

He said that in some other states with medical marijuana laws, 
teenagers begin to see even recreational use of marijuana as "be-nign."

"My concern is that this is a debate that needs to occur in 
Washington, D.C.," said state Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington.

Instead of lobbying Congress and the U.S. Food and Drug 
Administration and using the federal drug approval process, the 
Illinois proponents have created "a new bureaucracy to handle one 
drug," Barickman said. "What drug is next?"

"I wish we could provide some comfort to people with painful chronic 
illnesses, but I don't like the precedent that we're setting by 
setting up a separate regulatory structure for medical marijuana," 
state Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, said in a prepared statement. 
"I think this is an issue that needs to be dealt with on the federal 
level instead of a piecemeal state-by-state approach."

"I'm extremely empathetic for those suffering," said state Sen. 
Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet. "My own father died of cancer when I was in 
junior high, and my heart goes out to them."

"However, I believe this should be between a pharmacist and a 
physician -- like any other scheduled drug," Rose said in a pre-pared 
statement.

State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said he worried that Illinois 
risks sending the wrong message to teens -- that marijuana is not 
harmful. "With what parents have to fight these days on behalf of 
their children, I'm not sure why we add this burden."

"I have a lot of reservations about whether this leads to more drug 
use," said state Sen. David Luechtefeld, R-Okawville. "In other 
states when they've gone to medical marijuana, it's sort of the first 
step before legalizing marijuana."

One local Democratic senator -- Gary Forby of Benton -- also was not 
convinced by Haine's arguments that the marijuana use would be 
contained by the safeguards.

"I'm for anything helping someone with disease," Forby said, "but I'm 
just scared that might start something and it might just move on."

LaHood, Barickman, Brady, Rose, Righter, Luechtefeld and Forby all 
voted against the measure.

State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, was not there for the vote.

The measure is House Bill 1.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom