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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom