Pubdate: Sat, 05 Oct 2013
Source: Janesville Gazette (WI)
Copyright: 2013 Bliss Communications, Inc
Contact: http://www.gazetteextra.com/contactus/lettertoeditor.asp
Website: http://www.gazetteextra.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1356
Author: Nico Savidge

AS ILLINOIS ROLLS OUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA, LITTLE IMPACT EXPECTED HERE

BELOIT-Drive west out of Beloit on Shirland Avenue, just past the Rock
River, and you won't notice many differences on either side of the
road.

Stateline Liquors on the left gives it away; the center line on this
part of Shirland Avenue divides more than traffic, it splits Wisconsin
and Illinois.

Despite that division, you'll still see small houses with big lawns
and businesses with cracked parking lots either way you look. The only
clues to what makes the sides different are the phone numbers those
businesses advertise and the signs for street names-green to your
right and white to your left.

Another distinction is coming to Shirland Avenue soon,
though.

Starting next year, anyone with a doctor's prescription and a state
registration can have up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana on the south
side of the center line in Illinois. On the other side, here in
Wisconsin, that pot will remain as illegal as it ever was-no matter
what your doctor says.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn in August signed the Compassionate Use of
Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, making Illinois the 20th state to
legalize marijuana for medical use.

For the first time, state-sanctioned pot will soon be on Wisconsin's
southern doorstep, with the potential to spill over into cities such
as Beloit and Janesville.

But as state agencies in the Land of Lincoln go to work implementing
and regulating medical cannabis, authorities in Wisconsin's border
communities say it won't mean much to them, and as such aren't
planning to change how they enforce marijuana laws.

"Medical marijuana doesn't impact what we do," Janesville police Sgt.
Jim Holford said.

"Maybe we'll see more people pulling out those cards," said Capt. Dana
Nigbor of the Walworth County Sheriff's Office, referring to medical
marijuana users' registration cards, which aren't valid in Wisconsin.
"Other than that, I don't see it being a big impact. It's not going to
change how we do business with them."

That's in part because of the economics of the illicit marijuana
market and because laws that changed on one side of Shirland Avenue
are still the same on the other.

High quality, low volume

The main reason police aren't concerned about marijuana from Illinois
is that medicinal pot from other states hasn't proven to be a big
issue in the years it's been legal, authorities said.

Like with other drugs, the bulk of marijuana in Rock County-your
cheaper, "everyday" pot-comes from Mexico, Beloit police Sgt. Dan
Tilley said.

Medical marijuana is more potent and has higher quality, Tilley said,
but it has a price tag to match.

"It's more rare than the Mexican marijuana because it's higher grade
and it's more costly," Tilley said.

While a pound of cheap marijuana could run a dealer $1,000 or less,
medical cannabis from states such as California might cost three times
that much, Tilley said.

So while authorities sometimes come across medical marijuana shipped
in from other states, it occupies a far smaller piece of the pot market.

Medical cannabis proponents and state officials in Illinois also say
restrictions will keep the drug out of illicit markets and neighboring
states.

Three state agencies will regulate how marijuana is cultivated,
distributed and prescribed in Illinois, said Melaney Arnold, a
spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Illinois' cannabis will be grown at 22 state-operated centers, Arnold
said. Unlike in other states, patients won't be able to grow marijuana
at home, and the number of stores where patients can buy the drug will
be limited to 60.

"Illinois is going to have some of the most stringent laws when it
comes to medical cannabis," Arnold said. "It's going to be a very
regulated process."

Wisconsin impacts aside, medical marijuana won't even make it to
Illinois for a while. The law goes into effect Jan. 1, but that date
merely marks the start of a 120-day period for state agencies to set
up the rules for medical marijuana. At the end of that period there's
time for review and public comment, all of which means Illinois' first
marijuana crop likely won't even be planted until summer at the earliest.

While Illinois' law will bring medical marijuana closer than it's ever
been to Wisconsin's southern communities, local cops say they don't
expect the legitimate trade in Illinois will translate to a busier
black market up here.

Things could get interesting at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, the
Walworth County music venue where deputies frequently bust
concertgoers for pot possession, Nigbor said. Other than that, there
won't be much difference.

In Janesville, Holford said, "The amount of marijuana being available
is not going to change a bit.

"There's still going to be an illicit pipeline of other sources of
marijuana that are not going to go away just because you passed a
medical marijuana law," he said. "I don't see it having an impact on
us at all."

No changes to enforcement

For proponents of marijuana legalization, Illinois' move toward
medical cannabis is another step in a broader national trend loosening
restrictions on pot.

The Illinois law means 40 percent of states, plus the District of
Columbia, now allow some form of medical marijuana. Voters in
Washington and Colorado have outright legalized the drug for
recreational use by adults.

Even federal authorities have started easing their stance on pot, said
Gary Storck, co-founder of Wisconsin's chapter of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and an advocate for full
legalization.

"The tipping point may have been reached," Storck said. "It's only
harming Wisconsin, continuing to live in marijuana
prohibition."

While local cops recognize the changes to marijuana laws around the
nation, they don't have any plans to alter how their departments
police the drug.

"It's still against the law here," Nigbor said. "People are still
possessing it, selling it, and it's still against the law."

The Walworth County Sheriff's Office seized about 13 pounds of
marijuana and 247 plants in 2012, Nigbor said. Janesville police
seized five pounds, department statistics show.

Two Democratic state legislators, Rep. Chris Taylor of Madison and
Sen. John Erpenbach of Middleton, introduced a bill to allow medical
marijuana in Wisconsin on Thursday. This is the third time Taylor and
Erpenbach have introduced similar legislation, and as happened in 2010
and 2011 the bill is expected to go nowhere in the
Republican-controlled statehouse.

Tilley recognized a national trend that's more accepting of pot and
suspected the drug might eventually be decriminalized nationwide, he
said, though he added it likely won't happen soon.

Still, while his department will keep enforcing marijuana laws, it's
more concerned about harder drugs such as heroin and cocaine.

"(Marijuana) is most used, but it's probably the lowest priority," he
said. "Heroin is killing people, and crack is so addictive, so that's
why we try to focus on that."

No matter the priority, Storck sees any effort to enforce marijuana
laws as misguided.

"Any thoughtful law enforcement person has to really consider that
they can't enforce all the laws, and they have to use their
discretion," he said. "Laws that involve public safety or crimes that
have victims should be the ones that get the most priority-not
somebody smoking a joint."
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