1 in 5 Applications for Grow Houses, Retail Centers to Get Approval Illinois received 369 applications for medical marijuana business licenses, which means about 1 in 5 applications will win approval to open grow houses and retail centers in the state. The state received 211 applications for dispensaries - retail shops for medical marijuana - and 158 applications for grow centers. Illinois will allow 60 dispensaries statewide and 21 grow centers. Bob Morgan, statewide project coordinator for the Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program, said the number of applications, which were due Monday, was higher than anticipated. [continues 319 words]
One week after Bruce Rauner said he wouldn't have signed a bill supporting medical marijuana in Illinois, the Republican gubernatorial candidate on Tuesday said he was "open to the discussion" of decriminalizing small amounts of the substance statewide. When asked about Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and reducing to a misdemeanor the penalty for possession of one gram or less of any controlled substance, Rauner said: "I think we can and should talk about ways we can creatively deal with nonviolent offenders. We should have that discussion . . . We have a massive failure by Pat Quinn to deal with violent criminals." [continues 237 words]
Marijuana legislations in the United States Over the past couple of years, 22 states have either legalized or decriminalized the use of marijuana. Alaska, California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada and Oregon have all legalized marijuana for medical use and decriminalized the possession of specific amounts of marijuana. Other states have also decriminalized the possession of specific amounts, including Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin. Recently, Washington and Colorado took the next step and legalized marijuana for recreational purposes. Unfortunately, the possession of a small quantity of marijuana will result in jail time or fines anywhere else in the U.S. Even with the new policy, the overall drug law has stayed the same. However, no state has taken action to decriminalize or legalize drugs such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and other drugs. First, prohibiting a drug does not eliminate the drug market. All prohibition does is raise costs and consumer prices. To protect and continue production of the product, those who are marketing it turn to guns and violence instead of being able to resolve disputes with courts, lawyers or arbitration. [continues 269 words]
You would think that medical marijuana was contagious to hear Chicago aldermen talk about an appropriate zoning district for the location of its dispensaries. Instead of thinking so hard about where medical marijuana should not be available, aldermen should swallow hard, forget the foolish historic prohibition of marijuana and allow medical marijuana to be sold anywhere that other medicines are sold. Sick people are not benefited by making it inconvenient, if not difficult, to visit a business that will sell a substance that helps people suffering from cancer, chemotherapy, AIDS and other serious illnesses. [continues 53 words]
I read with interest the article "Medical marijuana may cost patients top dollar" by Robert McCoppin because I am part of a group seeking licenses to operate cultivation and dispensary facilities in Illinois. While there is much speculation as to the size of the market, patient access and pricing, one fact stands out: the most widely used plant-based medicine up until 1937 will once again be available to people who need it in Illinois. Propaganda in the past 80 years has put cannabis in the same light as cocaine and heroin while hiding its medicinal benefits. [continues 60 words]
Jim Champion was the first person to submit an application to legally use medical marijuana in Illinois. Champion led the pack of more than 2,000 seriously ill Illinoisans who have sent in applications seeking to use medical pot, according to state officials on Friday. Officials started accepting the paperwork Tuesday, beginning with letters A through L. Champion, an Army veteran who has multiple sclerosis, smokes two marijuana cigarettes a day to help with painful spasms. Since he started using marijuana, he's down from using 59 pills, including powerful narcotic pain relievers, to just six to help manage his condition. [continues 258 words]
Experts Predict Illinois Prices Could Be Among Most Expensive in U.S., Thanks to Restrictive Rules When Jim Champion goes to a medical marijuana dispensary in Illinois for the first time, his wife, Sandy, plans to take a picture to mark the victory, after years of fighting for an alternative treatment for his multiple sclerosis. "It'll be like going to the candy store for his birthday," she said. Champion, a military veteran from Somonauk in north-central Illinois who said he already takes marijuana to ease his symptoms, probably should plan on bringing plenty of cash. [continues 1055 words]
Areas Concerned With Visibility, Safety, Zoning As state officials enacted the rules that will govern the rollout of medical marijuana in Illinois, dozens of individual communities updated their zoning codes to determine where grow centers and pot stores can and cannot be located. Now, with the state poised to begin accepting applications next month for businesses and patients, many suburbs have moved from the theoretical to the concrete as they consider specific proposals from people who want to grow or sell legal marijuana within town borders. [continues 448 words]
Julie Falco was active in lobbying Illinois to legalize medical marijuana, a drug she credits with "saving my life" since she started eating pot brownies to treat to multiple sclerosis 10 years ago. Yet now that the state has enacted a medicinal cannabis law and just this month began distributing applications for would-be patients, the Chicago woman is still deciding whether to go through that process or simply continue to use the drug outside of the new legal channel. She's particularly concerned about having to submit her fingerprints to the state - Illinois is the only state that requires that of medical marijuana applicants - along with documentation of her Social Security disability insurance, proof of age and residency and a recent photo. [continues 883 words]
CHICAGO -- As Illinois' new medical marijuana program gets underway, potential patients, growers and retailers have questions. State officials plan to hold three town hall meetings across Illinois to provide answers, particularly about the application process, which starts next month. Multiple sclerosis patient Marla Levi of Buffalo Grove plans to apply for the required ID card so she can buy marijuana legally from a state-approved dispensary. She's found that the drug helps relieve the rigidity in her legs, she said. She wants to attend one of the meetings to get more information. [continues 220 words]
Seriously ill people seeking to use medical marijuana in Illinois can start filling out the application to belong to the program. Illinois officials on Friday posted the nine-page patient application online. Patients whose last names begin with the letters A through L can submit their applications from Sept. 2 to Oct. 31. Then patients whose last names begin with the letters M through Z can send in their information Nov. 1 through the end of the year, according to the application. [continues 335 words]
You'd think licensed dispensaries for medical marijuana were all-ages opium dens from the wariness bordering on paranoia with which state and local officials are grudgingly preparing for them to open. A year ago Friday, Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law a four-year pilot program allowing patients suffering from specific maladies to obtain, with a doctor's OK, therapeutic doses of marijuana. The marijuana will be sold at dispensaries accessible only to patients. The state law required the dispensaries to be located at least 1,000 feet away from a "public or private preschool or elementary or secondary school or day care center, day care home, group day care home ... part day child care facility ... (or) area zoned for residential use." [continues 607 words]
You would think that medical marijuana was contagious to hear Chicago aldermen talk about an appropriate zoning district for the location of medicinal pot dispensaries (News, July 30). Instead of thinking so hard about where medical marijuana should not be dispensed, aldermen should swallow hard, forget the foolish historic prohibition of the substance they formerly indulged in exchange for the reward of constituent votes cut from the fabric of fear and instead allow medical marijuana to be sold anywhere that other medicines can be sold. [continues 75 words]
New Zoning Rules Allow Dispensaries All Through City, Not Just Fringes Chicago medical marijuana dispensaries are likely coming to busy shopping areas, despite the city's initial attempt to hide them away at the edges of the city. That means a medical marijuana dispensary could potentially open next door to a tony restaurant on Randolph Street or in River North near touristy fast food joints, according to new zoning regulations approved Tuesday by the Chicago City Council's Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards. [continues 582 words]
It may well be that health care providers in Springfield are mum on medical marijuana because of the potential liability associated with it. Just last week a Florida jury awarded Cynthia Robinson, whose husband died of lung cancer, $23.6 billion in punitive damages from R.J. Reynolds. Paving the way for the verdict was the state's Supreme Court's ruling making it easier to prove that Big Tobacco knowingly sold dangerous products and hid the hazards of cigarette smoking. The Court said that smokers and their families needed only to prove addiction and illnesses or death. [continues 89 words]
Children and adults who suffer from epilepsy could soon find relief in medical marijuana under a bill signed Sunday by Gov. Pat Quinn. During a ceremony at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the Democratic governor signed the law, which adds seizures to the list of conditions that can be treated with medical-grade cannabis. Quinn called it a "lifesaving law" and said medical marijuana could offer those suffering from seizures a "positive experience when it comes to daily living." "I think it's very important that we move forward and extend the opportunity for this important life-saving law to go to all those who need it," Quinn added. [continues 191 words]
A dangerous neighborhood. The threat of arrest - or worse. An unreliable product, sold by criminals. For seriously ill patients who rely on medical marijuana to ease their pain, paying for their treatment can be a "risky operation," according to multiple sclerosis patient Julie Falco. But if officials at Swedish Covenant Hospital get their way, medical marijuana users like Falco could one day purchase their cannabis at a hospital dispensary - just like a patient buying a dosed antibiotic or a powerful pain reliever at the hospital's pharmacy. [continues 501 words]
There's a medical marijuana law on the books in Illinois, but patients can't yet use the drug here legally. That's going to change soon. On Tuesday, lawmakers who make up the obscure but powerful Joint Committee on Administrative Rules are meeting in Chicago to discuss the rules that would implement the Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program. If the committee has no objections, the rules can officially be put to use, and the process to begin registering patients, dispensers and growers can begin. [continues 557 words]
Lawmakers are expected to finalize rules for medical marijuana in Illinois today, allowing people to start applying to be legal users as soon as September, officials said. Interested patients should start talking to their doctors now about qualifying for the drug, Illinois Department of Revenue spokeswoman Sue Hofer said. If the industry develops in Illinois as expected, patients likely would be able to buy their first ounces of legal "weed" by the spring of next year. The rules governing how medical marijuana can be grown, sold and used were proposed this spring by the state agencies involved in overseeing agriculture, financial and professional regulations, health and revenue. [continues 330 words]
It's Cautious On Use Of The Drug For Kids Unless As A Last Resort, And Proposes More Research CHICAGO - With virtually no hard proof that medical marijuana benefits sick children, and evidence that it might harm developing brains, the drug should only be used for severely ill kids who have no other treatment option, the nation's most influential pediatricians group says in a new policy. Some parents insist that medical marijuana has cured their kids' seizures or led to other improvements, but the American Academy of Pediatrics' new policy says rigorous research is needed to verify those claims. [continues 525 words]
