Pubdate: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL) Copyright: 2014 Sun-Times Media, LLC Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/5QwXAJWY Website: http://www.suntimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81 Page: 21 MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES CLOSER TO PHARMACIES OR LIQUOR STORES? When the Illinois Legislature is of two minds on a hot topic, the result is often a law that has not been thought through. Chicago Ald. Edward Burke (14th) thinks that's the case with respect to the state's new law on medical marijuana, which defends pot dispensaries as good and worthy, not unlike pharmacies, but also treats them as potentially bad influences, not unlike liquor stores. Illinois has joined a worldwide movement toward making marijuana available to ill people who need relief from pain, but many state lawmakers have been suspicious all along that the trend is just a backdoor way to make legal pot more available to everybody, sick and healthy alike. They point to California, where the sale of "medical" marijuana is seen as virtually unencumbered. Under the Illinois law, Chicago is authorized to allow up to 13 dispensaries in the city so that patients can get their prescriptions filled. But to keep the dispensaries from becoming a nuisance, the law says they can't be located in a residential area or closer than 1,000 feet to a school or day care center. But that means practically the entire city is off-limits, Burke says. With the exception of O'Hare Airport, virtually no sites are available north of Chicago Avenue, he pointed out in a memo to the City Council. Views toward marijuana are evolving rapidly. In a poll released Monday by Quinnipiac University, nearly nine of 10 New Yorkers backed legalization of medical marijuana. Experiments in legalizing recreational marijuana are underway in Washington state and Colorado, and activists say many other nations are discussing revising their own marijuana laws. U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston and Mike Quigley of Chicago want the federal government to ease the penalties for marijuana possession, and President Barack Obama recently said pot is no worse than alcohol. But given California's experience, we suspect many Chicagoans would view a medical marijuana dispensary in their neighborhood as more akin to a liquor store than a pharmacy. And so, appropriately, lawmakers are treading cautiously. As the state finalizes its administrative rules, the goal should be to make it possible for Chicago to open those 13 dispensaries in a way that does not unreasonably inconvenience legitimate customers, while at the same time preserving those neighborhood protections the Legislature had in mind. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt