To the Editor:

My son, Ethan, has autism.

I am learning more on this parenting journey than I ever expected to learn.

Honestly, I really don't want to learn about the side effects of Risperdal or Zyprexa. I don't want to have a reason to know them. I don't want others to treat my sweet boy with any less dignity than he deserves.

The grip of autism is not selective. This child is only trying to make sense of his world and his emotional kaleidoscope. I want him to be able to cross the train tracks without being gripped by fear and to enjoy the Christmas lights with the rest of us. I want him to know that he is a treasure, every single day.

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I'm writing about the thoughtful column by Georgette Braun, "Belvidere woman seeks guidance from educators, " Oct. 11. It seems to me that all Illinois adults should have the freedom of choice to use cannabis a=C2=80" not just those who need it to treat disease.

Cannabis not only relieves pain and suffering, but it also prevents many diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's. Cannabis is one of the most powerful anti-inflammatory substances on the planet, and chronic inflammation is the root cause of most diseases of the human body.

I strongly urge the readers to read: a=C2=80=C2=9CThe Pot Book: A Complet e Guide to Cannabis: Its role in Medicine, Politics, Science and Culture." It is edited by Julie Holland, M.D.

Kirk Muse,

Mesa, Arizona

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Small Percentage of Patients May Be at Risk, Experts Say

Depressed, withdrawn and coping with a death in the family, Joseph thought getting high would help him feel better.

Instead, he said, his marijuana smoking grew into a daily habit that made him paranoid and constantly question how others saw him. He went days without going home, showering or eating much besides potato chips.

"I always thought (marijuana) would bring down my anxiety, but it just made it that much worse," the Rockford-area man said.

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I'd like to respond to Ms. Fay's letter warning Illinois residents about medical cannabis becoming available in Illinois.

It is unfortunate that Calvina Fay chose to fear-monger about medical cannabis ["Medical marijuana causes host of problems," Counterpoint, Tuesday] when surely she is aware of the prescription pain pills that are leading to an epidemic of opioid addiction and fatalities. Cannabis has neither the same addictive properties as those opioids nor the potential for an overdose fatality and by any objective account is much safer than many prescription pills.

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As medical marijuana becomes a reality in Illinois, residents should brace themselves to the problems seen in other states. Already, as reported last month, the marijuana industry is ignoring bans on advertising and launching a million-dollar marketing campaign to boost sales.

Advertising highly potent edible products, such as cookies and candy, that are appealing to youth sends the wrong message and leads young people to believe marijuana is harmless. The medical marijuana cottage industry lacks consumer safety protocols and has led to an increase in marijuana-related emergency room visits in other states.

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The political dysfunction in Springfield that has made it impossible to do something as basic as pass a state budget threatens to eviscerate an important pilot program for medical marijuana-even as potential patients continue to get in line.

But this is one logjam that could be broken quickly, and it should be.

Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration and the Legislature have shown a good-faith willingness to actually talk to each other about this one - - rare itself these days. For the sake of severely ill people suffering from chronic pain, we urge the governor and Legislature to keep on talking and reach a deal. They might even learn a thing or two about how to bridge the chasm, by giving and getting, on other more difficult issues.

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Advocates, With Cash in Hand, Await the Backing of at Least One Candidate

Hillary Rodham Clinton says she has never smoked pot, not even as a bell-bottom-wearing undergraduate in the 1960s. Her husband's administration went nuclear in the war on drugs. During her 2008 campaign, she publicly opposed marijuana legalization.

But it's now seven years later, and the marijuana industry is a $2.7 billion business - the fastest-growing in the United States - and one that operates without any legal sanctions in four states, is decriminalized in16 others and is permitted for medical use in a few more.

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Veteran Actor in His Element for Thriller 'Sicario'

TORONTO (AP) - No other actor has covered all angles of the war on drugs - its tragedies, its violence, its farces - more than Benicio Del Toro.

It's a story that has followed the Puerto Ricoborn actor from the start: One of his first credits was the 1990 NBC miniseries "Drug Wars: The Camarena Story."

He's played a recovering drug addict ("21 Grams") and one not so recovering at all ("Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"). He starred as Pablo Escobar in last year's "Escobar: Paradise Lost." And the critical pinnacle of his career came in his Oscar-winning performance as an honest Mexico police officer in Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic."

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I'm an Illinois nurse suffering from chronic pain, recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia. As a clinician and now patient, I'm urging Gov. Bruce Rauner to advance the medical cannabis program so patients have access to a natural and effective medicine that has been living in the shadows of less effective, highly addictive and sometimes deadly prescription drugs for far too long.

I am a breast cancer survivor. One of the side effects of the medication I was taking was joint pain. It affected my daily life and my ability to work. I couldn't sleep and was constantly nauseous because the discomfort was so extreme. For me, cannabis was not a first line of defense. I was forced to illegally treat myself with cannabis out of pure desperation when all other treatments failed - and it worked. In fact, it was the only remedy that helped me resume my daily activities and has given me hope for returning to a normal life.

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Hank Kovach's experience mirrors the recent success stories of other children with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Wracked by frequent, daily seizures that delayed his brain development, the 7-year-old Chicago boy was unable to speak, learn much or even sleep without waking up in tears after an hour or two. Conventional drugs didn't help much.

But after he began using a marijuana extract last year, his parents said, they were astounded when Hank went six months without a seizure. He began uttering sounds, learning numbers and colors, and, for the first time, sleeping through the night.

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Governor Rewrites Measure, Which Now Returns to Lawmakers

SPRINGFIELD - Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday used his veto powers to rewrite a bill aimed at decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, saying the measure that lawmakers sent him would let people carry too much pot and sets fines too low.

Rauner said while he supports the "fundamental purposes" of keeping people out of jail and cutting court costs, such a significant change in drug laws "must be made carefully and incrementally." Sponsors of the bill pushed back, saying the changes are "low-hanging fruit" when it comes to reforming the criminal justice system and contending the governor is working against his own goal of reducing the number of prison inmates.

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A Drug Kingpin's Escape Builds to an Epic Showdown

Talk about timing. Don Winslow's new novel, The Cartel, which fictionally chronicles the past decade of Mexico's brutal drug-lord wars, echoes the stunning, headline grabbing jail break from a maximum-security prison by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the legendary billionaire drug kingpin.

Want to know why El Chapo probably won't be captured anytime soon? Never mind the evening news: Truth is in fiction. Read this disturbing and, yes, addictive epic tale instead. Within the first 70 of its 600-plus vivid pages, Adan Barrera, the fascinating, suave, drug-cartel patron - loosely based on El Chapo - escapes from his country's most secure prison to rebuild his Sinaloan drug-trafficking empire.

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While the Chicago Sun-Times' Editorial Board begins commendably enough Thursday by asking Gov. Bruce Rauner to sign the extension for the medical cannabis pilot program, it then asks people who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder to wait an indefinite period of time for relief from addiction and overdosing on opioid pain killers, which are the staples of most regimens of current treatments for PTSD.

While the Editorial Board gave some credence to the realities of PTSD, it is not possible to say PTSD exists and then ask people to wait for non-opioid relief for it unless there's doubt that PTSD is a real condition.

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With every day that passes, it becomes more important that Gov. Bruce Rauner sign a bill resetting the start date of Illinois' medical marijuana pilot program. At the same time, if only to protect popular support for the pilot program, the governor has good reason to veto, for now, a companion bill that would add to the list of conditions for which medical pot can be subscribed.

The pilot program was expected to run for about four years, enough time to evaluate whether it helps people who are ill without creating unexpected problems. But due to a number of delays, the program has yet to start, and it is scheduled to end Jan. 1, 2018. The bill on Rauner's desk would reset the start date, allowing the pilot program to get its full run.

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A state lawmaker opposed to legalizing marijuana vowed to fight pro-pot ballot initiatives expected to be filed today, saying she'll join others taking on state Senate President Stanley C. Rosenberg, who backs legalizing pot and already has an advance copy of one of the questions.

"We all see what opioids do. I don't think we should be adding fuel to the already raging drug issues in Massachusetts," said state Rep. Colleen M. Garry (D-Dracut), who joins high-profile pols such as Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and Hub Mayor Martin J. Walsh in opposing marijuana legalization.

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If you want a bottle of booze in downstate Albion, you have to drive out of town.

But the Edwards County town of less than 2,000 residents is the site of a huge medical marijuana farm.

The seemingly contradictory situation has led some in town to declare Albion "high and dry."

And a local shop has sold dozens of T- shirts with the pithy phrase.

"The high is we're growing marijuana here in Albion," Ald. Arrol Stewart said with a laugh. "The dry is two of the convenience stores have applied for a package liquor license, and they were turned down. The city council voted against it."

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With one major exception, everything Peter Bensinger said about kids being killed on our streets because of "El Chapo" Guzman is right. (Reader Feedback, July 16.) He omitted that El Chapo is our own creation, thanks to our laws that assure that the drug cartels flourish.

De-criminalizing drugs for proven addicts under a government-controlled program would end drugrelated street violence overnight by ending its enormous profits. Society would save billions now spent annually on interdiction, the courts, incarceration and even emergency room costs for shot-up drug peddlers vying for turf.

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On Tuesday, a Sun-Times editorial, "If caught, El Chapo should be tried in the US," brought home the deadly impact in Chicago of Chapo Guzman's trafficking in drugs. The editorial appropriately cited the death of 7-year-old Amari Brown earlier this month to make this very point.

Guzman is the worst of the worst in spreading addiction and death. His crimes are so widespread that he has been indicted in seven different U.S. jurisdictions-from Chicago, which has been the hub of his activity, to Miami, New York City, Texas and Southern California. The indictments include murder, assault and kidnapping, in addition to illegal drug trafficking.

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Look no farther than the shooting death of 7- year-old Amari Brown to understand how the prison escape Saturday night of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is bad news for Chicago.

Amari was gunned down accidentally on July 4 in a gang dispute, it is believed, fueled by illegal drugs. Where did those drugs come from? Guzman's Sinaloa cartel is the major source of the drugs that come to Chicago.

The cartel also uses Chicago as a distribution center for sales elsewhere in the country. Back in 2009, then- U. S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said Sinaloa brought nearly $ 6 billion worth of illegal drugs narcotics mostly to the Chicago area from 1990 to 2008. In 2010, the Justice Department said the Chicago area was the top U. S. destination for heroin and No. 2 for cocaine and marijuana.

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Heroin, once the forbidden fruit of even the most hardcore drug users, is now a problem for even Smalltown, USA.

Experts believe the meteoric rise of addictive drugs such as Oxycontin and Vicodin has contributed greatly to the increase. As tighter controls were put on those drugs, heroin became a cheaper and easier option and offers a similar euphoric high.

By 2011, 4.2 million Americans age 12 and older - yes, age 12 - admitted trying the highly addictive drug at least once. A large percentage acknowledge they are addicted.

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