MEDICAL MARIJUANA WORRIES QC ENFORCEMENT GROUP

MOLINE -- The director of Quad City Metropolitan Enforcement Group,
which specializes in drug cases, said Tuesday that, if a bill
legalizing medical marijuana in Illinois passes, he believes there
will be a negative community influence.

At a meeting he called at the Moline Police Station,Chris Endress
told several dozen area officials what he believes they should expect
if SB1381 passes.

Mr. Endress said he thinks there will be marijuana dispensaries "on
every corner," 100,000 patients and caregivers who can grow plants in
their homes and a huge influx of marijuana in the Quad-Cities. He
added that the bill "opens the door to organized crime."

The bill legalizing medical marijuana passed the Senate 30-28, with
one abstention, on May 27, 2009, and was sent to the House, where it
is in the rules committee.

State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-Moline, who voted in favor of the bill,
said he sees the issue strictly as a medical one. "At the end of the
day, you have to be careful. God grows this plant, and I don't know
why you can't use it in a healthy manner," he said.

"If doctors don't prescribe it, then maybe people shouldn't use it.
If a doctor does prescribe it, why can a person have man-made drugs
and not drugs grown in their own backyard?" Sen. Jacobs said.

State Rep. Mike Boland, D-East Moline, could not be reached for
comment Tuesday.

State Rep. Pat Verschoore, D-Milan, said he was on the fence on how
he would vote on the proposed legislation but made up his mind after
Mr. Endress' presentation. "After hearing what I am hearing here
today, I will be a positive 'No'," he said.

Mr. Endress said he sees several problems in the proposed legislation.

One is that it would allow up to six plants to be grown for a patient
or caregiver to get the allowable 60-day supply. However, six plants
would grow more than a 60-day legalized supply, and Mr. Endress said
he believes it would be sold illegally.

People with felony drug convictions could open dispensaries to sell
medical marijuana, landlords could not discriminate and evict medical
marijuana users, and it would be allowable for employees to use
medical marijuana, unless it would cause the employer to violate
federal law or lose federal funding, he said.

He said police wouldn't be able to enforce a charge of driving under
the influence of drugs if the driver was legally allowed to use
marijuana, unless the police could prove the cannabis was in a
concentration to cause impairment. Mr. Endress said there is not a
test made to show the concentration of cannabis in a person's body.
Instead, the test available only shows if it is present or not.

Mr. Endress said the solution is to get people relief from pain
without growing and selling marijuana. There is a prescription drug
not yet available in the U.S. called Sativex, which is made from the
cannabis plant, he said. It is prescribed by a doctor and does not
cause you to become intoxicated, he said.

Mr. Endress doesn't want to see the proposed legislation pass, then,
a year later, see Sativex become available in the U.S. "We need to
wait for a safe alternative to gain FDAapproval," he said.

"We are not against sick people getting the help they need," he said.
"We just need to wait for a safe alternative, one that is FDA approved."