ILL. HOUSE COMMITTEE OKS USE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

SPRINGFIELD - People suffering from cancer, AIDS and other diseases
could turn to marijuana for pain relief under a plan approved
Wednesday by an Illinois House committee despite claims that it would
be a step toward legalizing pot.

Under the legislation, people with a doctor's permission would be
eligible for a state registry card allowing up to seven marijuana
plants in their homes and 2 ounces of "usable cannabis." The measure
is written to expire after three years.

Advocates say marijuana eases pain without the side effects of heavier
drugs and reduces nausea from chemotherapy.

"There is needless suffering going on out there," said the sponsor,
Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie. "Everything else is a sideshow."

Sycamore resident Dan Linn is executive director of Illinois NORML, a
group working toward legalizing marijuana for medical use. He was in
Springfield for the committee hearing Wednesday and said he was
pleased with the vote.

Linn was a caregiver for a quadriplegic friend who used marijuana
medicinally, he said. Those who have debilitating medical conditions
that can gain some comfort from the use of marijuana should be allowed
to do so, he added.

"Cannabis has been able to give these people a little bit of relief
and restore a quality of life" that medicines have not been able to,
Linn said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon.

But Rep. Patricia Bellock, R-Hinsdale, said the bill raises serious
questions. Will it be misused by people who don't really have a
medical need for marijuana? Would it open the door to outright
legalization of pot use in Illinois?

"It is the No. 1 drug that introduces young people to other drugs,"
said Bellock, who voted against the measure in the Human Services Committee.

Still, it passed 4-3 and now goes to the House floor.

State Rep. Robert Pritchard, R-Hinckley, said he was against the
legislation and wouldn't categorize it as a pilot program.

"I would rather call this a very broad-based experiment," he said in a
phone interview Wednesday.

If made law, the measure could create "marijuana factories" that are
licensed but not regulated on the selling of what they produce,"
Pritchard said.

Linn noted that the proposed measure dictates who could would qualify
to grow marijuana: They would have to be 21 or older and do not have a
felony drug conviction , he said. It also couldn't be grown within 500
feet of a school, he said.

The decision to use marijuana medically rests between a patient and
his or her doctor, Linn added.

"I respect the privacy and role of the doctor-patient relationship,"
he said. "Politics shouldn't get involved in that."

Thirteen states already have medical marijuana laws that preclude a
criminal conviction for use, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

Similar legislation was approved by a state Senate committee last
year, but the sponsor never found enough support to call it for a
vote. That sponsor, John Cullerton, is now Senate president, so the
latest proposal should have an influential supporter if it ever
reaches the Senate.

Lang called it a "difficult but not impossible bill to pass" in the
House, even as a three-year experiment.

Bellock said she doesn't object in principle to allowing the use of
marijuana for medical reasons, but fears that this plan is too lax.
She said a version where the pot is handled by pharmacists would
reduce the chance of abuse.

Bellock also questioned whether Illinois could take the step while
marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

Technically, Illinois authorized medical marijuana in 1978. But
implementation was left to the Public Health Department, and it never
took action, so the law has been in limbo.