LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA, NOW

Illinois medical cannabis patients cannot wait another year to be
protected from arrest for using a medicine their doctor recommends.

Illinois medical cannabis patients need safe and legal access to their
medicine. Currently, Senate Bill 1381 has been amended to only allow
patients or their caregivers to grow six plants, only three of which
could be mature females. Hopefully this will halt the claims by law
enforcement that seven plants would yield thousands of joints.
Cannabis does not have a documented overdose fatality so concerns
about its potency being dramatically stronger than cannabis from the
'60s should not prevent this legislation from passing either.

In response to claims that there is a pill, Marinol, that has the same
effect as medical cannabis, it should be known that Marinol only
contains one cannabinoid, THC, and studies are increasingly linking
other cannabinoids to beneficial treatments. Plus, a pill cannot have
the quick onset of the medication as inhalation can have, which for
some with epilepsy can halt an approaching seizure. The pill form
simply is not the same as the whole cannabis plant.

A 2008 Mason-Dixon poll found that 68 percent of registered voters in
Illinois support allowing a doctor to recommend marijuana for those
who are seriously or terminally ill. We need to protect sick people
because they are not criminals for seeking relief from their
debilitating condition.

Please contact your state lawmakers and urge them to support the
Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, Senate Bill
1381, because patients are not criminals.

Dan Linn

Executive Director, Illinois Cannabis Patients Association, Chicago