Pompo

Pot proposal a painful one
3/7/08|SouthtownStar| by Fran Eaton - Opinion

As the state creeps nearer and nearer to full-blown financial crisis, tensions run high at the Capitol, power struggles between the Legislature and the governor abound, morale among Republican lawmakers dips to an all-time low, and what do we find Democratic Senate Majority Whip John Cullerton pushing once again? Legalizing marijuana to relieve chronic pain. The controversial measure passed the Senate Public Health Committee on Wednesday and is on its way to a floor vote.

Despite a similar measure being defeated last spring, the Chicago senator has returned to promote legalizing marijuana once again, this time with a soothing new title: "Alternative Treatment for Serious Diseases Causing Chronic Pain and Debilitating Conditions Act."

The Washington-D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project has hired professional lobbyists to push legalizing medical pot in Illinois, Minnesota and New York. Testifying at Wednesday's hearing were two Marijuana Policy Project lobbyists.

Multiple sclerosis sufferer Judy Valco, of Chicago, told the committee she eats three marijuana-laced brownies each day to relieve her chronic pain. Lindenhurst resident Lisa Lange Van Kamp, who also testified from a wheelchair, said she finds no relief from her osteoarthritis pain other than by ingesting pot on a regular basis.

Cullerton, who championed the statewide public smoking ban last year, assured the committee Senate Bill 2865 was stricter than California's medical marijuana bill. His specifies what conditions warrant medicinal marijuana use and requires medical pot distributors to register with the state and pay a $5,000 setup fee.

Cullerton's legislation would protect marijuana users' rights over those of landlords, who would rather not have medical pot cultivated in their apartment complexes. The Illinois law enforcement community opposes Cullerton's bill because of the difficulty it presents to monitor growing marijuana indoors.

Marijuana gardens, as they're called, attract illegal drug users and dealers and make it impossible to appropriately protect neighborhoods and medical pot-growers at the same time.

Despite the women's passionate testimony, marijuana is not a victimless medication. It is an addictive drug. But lots of drugs are addictive, one might argue. Why should medical marijuana be restricted?

"There is a direct correlation between perception of risk and use; the less risk perceived, the greater the use is," an informational sheet from Educating Voices Inc. says. "The message that marijuana is a medicine, thereby safe, is misleading to kids."

Indeed, it's foolish 12- and 13-year-olds who are likely to try marijuana for the first time.

There is no age restriction for marijuana use in Cullerton's proposal. Use would depend on a doctor's recommendation and obtaining a medical use card. Not only would the patient be given permission to transport pot, so would a patient's assigned designate.

But Illinoisans shouldn't be conned with this phony setup. It is not paranoia to declare Cullerton's proposal just the first step toward full-blown legalization of illicit drugs in Illinois.

The good senator has a track record of progressive legislation. It's his modus operandi.

Cullerton's statewide ban on public tobacco smoking last year hasn't alleviated his concerns about cigarette smoking in Illinois public places. On one hand, he promotes smoking cannabis, but on the other, he's introduced two bills this spring that would further restrict smoking tobacco.

One bill would allow a neighbor to sue another if the neighbor's tobacco smoke "drifts" onto his property. So if you're sitting in your back yard smoking a cigar twice within a seven-day period, your neighbor can sue you for the nuisance you're causing.

Another Cullerton bill allows condominium associations to pass no-smoking bans, thereby expanding the public smoking ban into private homes.

What's wrong with this picture? From a conservative perspective, individual rights are paramount over collectivism. Individual rights are based on the right to own property and enjoy it fully.

But as the old saying goes, "Your freedoms end where my nose begins." Who would ever have thought that meant government would interfere to protect others from offensive odors such as certain types of smoke? That legendary nose of freedom balances the right to clean air with your neighbor's right to enjoy a smoke.

But with marijuana, it's obviously different. Marijuana debilitates a person's reaction time and judgment, just as alcohol does. Children are killed by those intoxicated by hard liquor as well as by illegal drugs.

There's no question Cullerton's latest proposal raises a need for more Food and Drug Administration investigation into so-called alternative treatments for serious diseases. What he's pushing on us now is causing chronic pain in the lower posterior.

I wonder if that would qualify for medical use?

Pepper

Nine times out of 10 when people start to babble about children, it's because they have no real argument. It would be good to legalize marijuana.

dooman

Why should we have only 1 legal choice? Liquid Courage isn't for me and it surely isn't for Everyone. Let us have a choice and decide for ourselves what to put into OUR bodies

Buzzby

This is why William F. Buckley, America's leading conservative thinker, pushed legalizing marijuana from the 70s until his death last week. True conservatives want government interference only when a citizen's actions might harm someone else. If marijuana fits that template and should be banned, then alcohol fits it much better and should be banned as well.

__________________

John Walker

Illinois Voters Support Medical Marijuana Legislation by Wide Margin, Poll Says

Polls Conducted Statewide and in DuPage, Rockford, Springfield, Champaign/Bloomington and St. Louis Suburbs.

Illinois residents favor allowing seriously and terminally ill patients to use marijuana for medical purposes by a 68-27 percent margin.

The poll by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research, Inc. and paid for by the Marijuana Policy Project was conducted by phone and surveyed 625 randomly selected registered Illinois voters between Feb. 9 and Feb. 16. The survey asked whether respondents believe “seriously and terminally ill patients should be allowed to use and grow medical marijuana for personal use if their doctors recommended it.”

2008 Illinois Statewide Poll Results

reggie_the_dog

Leave it to the Democrats to introduce a law letting condo associations TELL YOU WHETHER OR NOT YOU CAN SMOKE INSIDE YOUR OWN CONDO.

What in the hell is Illinois coming to????

How in the hell can it be anyones business but mine if I smoke in my own home?

I already only smoke in the bathroom with the window open so that my kid and wife do not get second hand smoke. Now I have to deal with a neighbor not liking the ODOR???? What is next, a ban on garlic, or curry?????

What a dipshit..... and what a shitty idea.

theothersock

"Marijuana debilitates a person's reaction time and judgment, just as alcohol does. Children are killed by those intoxicated by hard liquor as well as by illegal drugs."

Well if they're so similar then why are we throwing people in jail for doing essentially the same thing as the people advertised in the fucking superbowl?