Pubdate: Wed, 26 Mar 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 Author: Elise Dismer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?259 (Cannabis - Medicinal - Illinois) LEGISLATION TO LET KIDS WITH EPILEPSY USE MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVANCES SPRINGFIELD - Legislation to expand the use of medical marijuana to severely epileptic children and to lower the penalties for possession of pot for recreational purposes advanced Tuesday at the Illinois Statehouse. Three different measures got out of Democratic-led House and Senate committees with only token opposition to a Democratic-led push to go beyond last August's vote to allow only sick Illinoisans to use the drug legally on a pilot basis. Pushed by the parents of severely epileptic children, legislation sponsored by Sen. Iris Martinez, D-Chicago, would permit minors with seizure disorders, including epilepsy, to take a derivative of medical cannabis. Her plan to add a new medical condition to the state's medical marijuana law - and specifically letting minors access the drug - passed the Senate Public Health Committee 8-0 and now moves to the full Senate. "Letters have been sent by so many parents who suffer watching their children have seizures - and not just one or two seizures: 100, 200, 1,000 seizures a week," Martinez said. "This could be a lifesaving solution for children suffering from epilepsy." Naperville resident Nicole Gross, who testified on behalf of Senate Bill 2636, is one of those parents, whose 8-year-old son Chase has seizures constantly. Giving a "conservative" estimate, she said Chase typically has 1,500 seizures a day. Gross has moved Chase, who started having seizures at 10 months old, out to Colorado to get medical marijuana treatment, and she said that has improved his quality of life dramatically. "When we hit 20 minutes seizure-free, I cried," Gross said of her son, who had been having seizures 10 to 15 times in two minutes. "That's 300 seizures he's not having an hour." Gross, who takes care of Chase full-time in Colorado, said she's "ecstatic" that the bill passed in committee and looks forward to the day she can return with him to Illinois. Meanwhile, the House Restorative Justice Committee passed two separate pieces of legislation that would ease the punishment on those caught with marijuana. "The war on drugs has not worked," said Rep. Christian Mitchell, D-Chicago. "Our jails are overcrowded. Drug addiction is a public health problem, not a public safety problem." Under Mitchell's House Bill 4299, which passed 6-0 in committee, instead of getting a misdemeanor for possessing up to 30 grams of marijuana, violators would get a fine of no more than $100 with a "petty offense" on their record. "It would almost be like getting a traffic ticket," Mitchell said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom