Pubdate: Mon, 29 Apr 2013
Source: Rockford Register Star (IL)
Copyright: 2013 GateHouse Media, Inc.
Contact: http://www.rrstar.com/contact
Website: http://www.rrstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/370
Author: Georgette Braun

CANNABIS TALK HERE WILL LIGHTEN UP SOONER OR LATER

I entered Whiskey's Roadhouse Bar & Grill in Rockford on April 20 
expecting at least a little revelry.

After all, it was 4/20, the day every year on which stoners and 
casual users alike toke up in what amounts to a salute to marijuana, 
the plant that makes them happy and relaxed and eases certain pains.

And the 16 25- to 65-year-old men and women who had come together 
were at the bar specifically to talk about cannabis. Guest speaker 
was Ali Nagib, assistant director of Illinois NORML, a group pushing 
to legalize marijuana.

I knew those attending wouldn't be smoking blunts or inhaling milky 
smoke through bongs. Doing so is illegal here.

But I thought they would have been in more of a party mood, 
especially given what had happened three days earlier.

On April 17, the Illinois House backed a measure to allow Illinois 
physicians to prescribe marijuana to patients with specific terminal 
illnesses or debilitating medical conditions.

It's a big step, one that marijuana advocates hope will lead to 
legalizing the drug for recreational purposes.

But except for polite applause when Nagib mentioned the House action, 
there was no merrymaking.

The group heeded Nagib's instruction to "talk scientifically and as 
accurately as possible" whenever discussing cannabis. So, they 
studiously conversed about distribution models, legislative opinion 
shifts and cannabinoids. There was no mention of "weed," "grass," 
"pot" or other less-precise words for cannabis.

And while signs around the bar glowed with the names of various 
beers, a lone table focused on cannabis.

It held handouts such as those about Illinois House Bill 2668, which 
would allow institutions of higher education to apply for a waiver to 
grow and study industrial hemp in Illinois. A different paper was 
entitled "Why Not Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol?" A banner draped 
around the edges read "Tax & Regulate Cannabis."

I stifled a few yawns during the 90-minute morning meeting. The 
experience was a comparative bummer, considering what was going on 
that day in Colorado.

More than 50,000 people amassed in a Denver park to celebrate and 
smoke cannabis to their heart's delight. It was the first 4/20 
celebration since the state made it legal to possess up to an ounce 
of marijuana. The term 420 was coined in the early 1970s by 
California high school students who gathered at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana.

Also on 4/20 in Denver, tens of thousands gathered for the Cannabis 
Cup. There, judges sampled and voted for their favorite marijuana 
varieties. Attendees listened to live music and comedy and checked 
out an expo of marijuana-related products. The event was presented by 
High Times magazine.

Talk about cannabis is serious business in Illinois, though, as 
evidenced at the Whiskey's Roadhouse gathering.

And it will need to be for some time to persuade the unconvinced 
public and legislators to permit use of cannabis for anything but 
medical purposes.

Nagib said he expects the Illinois Senate and Gov. Pat Quinn to OK 
the four-year pilot program permitting medical marijuana use as early 
as this summer.

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws to 
legalize medical marijuana. Last fall, Washington state and Colorado 
became the first states to legalize recreational use for adults ages 
21 and older.

"You can tell the politicians see the writing on the wall," Nagib 
said. "The change in tone is dramatic. They read the papers and 
Gallup and Pew polls."

A recent Pew Research Center survey showed a majority of Americans 
support legal marijuana. And an April HuffPost/YouGov poll showed 
that 51 percent of Americans say that marijuana should be "legalized, 
taxed and regulated like alcohol." Thirty-seven percent said they 
expect marijuana will be legal within 10 years; another 37 percent 
said it will be legal eventually, but not that soon.

Considering the pulse of America, it will be time sooner or later for 
marijuana supporters in Rockford to lighten up, man.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom