MEDICAL MARIJUANA SHOULD BE APPROVED FOR THE SERIOUSLY ILL

Julie Falco eats brownies or cookies with cannabis baked in them three
times a day to help her deal with multiple sclerosis.

"I was taking a multitude of medications and they made me feel sick,"
the 42-year-old Chicago woman said in a telephone interview Thursday.
She tried cannabis and it worked for her when nothing else would.
That's not legal in Illinois, but should be.

Illinois lawmakers have discussed and voted on medical cannabis
legislation for years, but legislation has never passed both chambers
of the General Assembly.

There was new hope this year when in May the Senate approved Senate
Bill 1381, the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program
Act. The lone Republican to vote for the measure was Sen. Dave
Syverson of Rockford.

In May it passed in the House Human Services Committee, but has not
been brought up for a full vote.

We'd like to see it voted on this year and think the Obama
administration's decision not to prosecute users and suppliers of
medical cannabis in states where it's been legalized should encourage
lawmakers.

The Obama order is a reversal from what was going on during the Bush
administration when federal agents raided medical cannabis
distributors.

"I hope this will show (Illinois lawmakers) that they can calm down,"
Falco said. "This is the right thing to do. This might finally get
them to wake up and take care of the seriously ill in the state."

Thirteen states do that. Michigan was the most recent and the first in
the Midwest. Medical cannabis is not legal in Maryland, but you can
present a medical defense and qualify for reduced penalties. Wisconsin
Gov. Jim Doyle recently said he supports medical marijuana if the law
is written so it restricts use to those who have a doctor's
prescription.

Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and New Jersey also are
considering medical marijuana legislation. The Iowa Board of Pharmacy
is conducting public hearings on whether marijuana should be
reclassified to allow for medical use.

Falco pointed out that Illinois' bill is the most restrictive bill of
the states that have legalized marijuana.

The Illinois legislation sets out specific parameters. SB 1381 would
create a three-year test program administered by the Illinois
Department of Public Health. Patients would need written certification
from a doctor. A patient can possess up to seven dried cannabis plants
and two ounces of dried usable cannabis.

Not just anyone with a headache can go to a doctor and ask for
prescription. The program is meant for those with cancer, HIV, Crohn's
disease or other debilitating illnesses such as Falco's multiple sclerosis.

Most patients will be mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers
who are in so much pain that nothing else will work.

Falco has been a leading advocate for a sane medical cannabis law for
five years. Notice that throughout this editorial we've used the word
cannabis rather than the more popular marijuana. Falco considers
marijuana slang and prejudicial. She says the negativity associated
with the word conjures up stereotypes that don't fit with the real
suffering that goes on among the seriously ill.

Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy
Project in Washington, said Falco is not alone in her feeling about
the word marijuana. He said the word "was brought into use by the
forces seeking to ban it 80 or so years ago.

"On the other hand, most people really have no memory of that, it's
just the word they know, while cannabis is unfamiliar to most
Americans. So we've generally stuck with the terminology that's
familiar to people."

The word cannabis also relates to the word endocannabinoids, which are
natural brain compounds similar to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

Endocannabinoids affect our physiological processes including
appetite, memory and pain. It's ironic the same federal government
that has made criminals out of cannabis users was awarded a patent in
2003 for the medical use of the plant.

"They (government officials) know it's beneficial," Falco
said.

Most people think cannabis for medicinal purposes should be legal. A
poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington, D.C., in
2008 showed 68 percent of Illinoisans support it. In the Rock River
Valley, 65 percent support it.

Seriously ill people in Illinois have waited long enough. It's time
lawmakers gave them another option to deal with their pain.