cannabisnews.com: Lawmakers Lobbied To Back Marijuana Plan 





Lawmakers Lobbied To Back Marijuana Plan 
Posted by CN Staff on March 02, 2004 at 23:56:03 PT
By Scott Miller 
Source: Pantagraph
Springfield -- For 20 years, state Rep. Larry McKeon, D-Chicago, has battled HIV and the nausea and pain stemming from its treatments. For 18 years, Ronald Shaw of Chicago has fought AIDS.Both say marijuana is a cure for the pain. On Tuesday they asked state lawmakers to support legislation that would allow the terminally ill to grow six marijuana plants and legally carry up to 1 ounce of marijuana.
A House committee heard testimony on the proposal, but members agreed the issue needs more study. Similar legislation is pending in the Senate, but its fate is unclear."All I'm asking is that you don't make me a criminal in order to keep myself eating and at a weight that I can maintain and allow me to keep taking the AIDS drugs that are keeping me alive," Shaw told reporters at a Statehouse press conference.Federal drug administrators and police agencies actively oppose the legislation, however."While there are no proven benefits to marijuana use, there are many short- and long-term risks associated with marijuana use," said Dr. Andrea Barthwell of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. "Even if smoking marijuana makes people feel better, that's not enough to call it a medicine."In addition, Barthwell said several drugs already do the job, including Marinol, a drug using some chemicals from marijuana while blocking some of the side effects.McKeon, the legislation's sponsor, and Shaw both said such medicine doesn't work for everyone and may cause more problems."I take about 14 pills in the morning, three or four in the afternoon and another half dozen in the evening," McKeon said, "and after a while you get sick and tired, of being sick and tired, of being sick and tired, taking all of these medications that cause nausea, diarrhea, headache and other problems."In addition, Dr. Edward Lack, a Chicago physician with pancreatic cancer who favors medical use of marijuana, said all treatments have side affects. He said he gets marijuana through a college student."When you're worried about side effects, every anti-cancer drug kills the kidney, kills the lung, kills the liver," Lack said. "What are we talking about? These are people that are suffering and dying."Greg Sullivan, executive director of the Illinois Sheriff's Association, said he fears such a law would be unenforceable and would increase the flow of the illegal drug."Let me give you a scenario if I could," he said. "I'm an 18-year-old who's been adjudicated, a juvenile delinquent. I can now be a caregiver, grow six plants and carry an ounce of marijuana with me. It is an enforcement nightmare."McKeon disagreed.Strict supervision, strict limits on what's available and registration with the Department of Human Services will help law enforcement prevent abuse of the program, he said. "This is not about expanding the availability of drugs on the street," McKeon said.Still, the proposal could not trump federal law, but supporters say local police carry out 99 percent of drug arrests, and the federal police only deal with much larger busts.State Rep. Patti Bellock, R-Hinsdale, is against the proposal."It is not up to the electorate or the General Assembly to decide what is medicine," she said. "That should be left to the professionals."Nine states already have medical marijuana laws: California, Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Colorado.The legislation is House Bill 4868 and Senate Bill 2440.Source: Pantagraph, The (IL)Author: Scott Miller Published: Wednesday, March 3, 2004 Copyright: 2004 The PantagraphWebsite: http://www.pantagraph.com/Contact: newsroom pantagraph.com Related Articles & Web Site:IDEAL Reformhttp://www.idealreform.org/Statehouse Panel To Hear Medical Marijuana Plan http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18426.shtmlMarijuana By Prescription Only http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18412.shtmlMarijuana is Not Medicinehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18366.shtml 
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Comment #7 posted by Max Flowers on March 03, 2004 at 11:18:53 PT
Evil
EVIL - That's the only word for people who willfully stand in the way of stopping the suffering of others simply because they have a bad attitude and mistaken beliefs about the medicine needed by those suffering. It's sick and it's sociopathic, I don't care HOW much they believe they are "saving the children" or whatever garbage they believe... the job of protecting children from cultural influences (and that includes cannabis use) falls to parents, not legislators. One of our main problems here is that parents have become so frickin' apathetic that they want lawmakers to do all their parenting for them.
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Comment #6 posted by dongenero on March 03, 2004 at 09:32:30 PT:
great comments folks
You are making great points people. Send your comments in to the papers that are publishing these quotes. I think most of the articles on this Illinois issue are allowing the Barthwells of the world to look like the hysterical propaganda pushers that they are. I suggest we all further that by writing our reasonable and thoughtful comments to the newspapers. Mine has been sent to Pantagraph as well as the Sun-times.
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Comment #5 posted by JHarshaw on March 03, 2004 at 08:39:21 PT
Feeling better
"Even if smoking marijuana makes people feel better, that's not enough to call it a medicine."Isn't that what pain killers do, make people feel better?Just a thought,
Peace and pot.
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Comment #4 posted by goneposthole on March 03, 2004 at 07:43:07 PT
'crude plant'
I guess Ms. Barthwell has a prejudice against a plant.Cannabis makes people feel better, therefore, you can't use it.Makes perfect sense.'Vie kant have zie masses gluck (umlaut over the 'u'), zey musst suffer zie pain. How kanz vie have compassion if vie kant make zem suffer?'Dummkopfs!
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on March 03, 2004 at 06:01:26 PT:
Apologies for the mis-spellings
I get so angry when I hear or read about ignorant people professing such blind faith in equally blind people like "Dr." Barthwell. I am reminded of the (early) Bruce Springsteen admonition at the beginning of his remake of the anti-war classic "War! What is it good for?" that blind faith in your leaders can get you killed. A shame ol' Bruce allowed the wool to be pulled over his eyes almost 20 years later by his support of these *latest* illegal wars, when he had opposed other* illegal wars in Central America when he made that recording. He should have taken his own advice.
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on March 03, 2004 at 05:04:20 PT:
"The professionals...the professioanls..."
*State Rep. Patti Bellock, R-Hinsdale, is against the proposal."It is not up to the electorate or the General Assembly to decide what is medicine," she said. "That should be left to the professionals."*Ah, yes, the 'professionals'. Like the 'professionals' who killed my Mother with their malpractice? Who didn't seem to notice until much too late that the max doses of Prednisone they gave her for her Crohn's Disease for *bloody* YEARS was having *all* the classic side effects that are easly researched in any medical manual? 'Professionals' like "Dr." Barthwell, who tells nauseous cancer patients and HIV sufferers who vomit *everything* they stuff down the pie hole back up that all they have to do is take Marinol? Does Marinol have some sort of super-secret protection against involuntary emesis? Is it like the Catholic Church used to profess about 'indulgences', that if you bought a Marinol pill it was magically blessed by Uncle waving his hands over it and would happily stay in your stomach when everything else winds up in the sink, the toilet, or on the floor?"Dr." Barthwell is in serious need of an education in the mechanics of chemo or HIV/AIDS treatments if she believes that her precious pill can circumvent the God-awful nausea that those so afflicted suffer from. God, where do these people *come from*, Proxima Centauri? Sure ain't Earth...
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Comment #1 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on March 03, 2004 at 04:47:52 PT
Illinois house legislation on back burner
Pubdate: Wed, 03 Mar 2004
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Contact: letters suntimes.com
Copyright: 2004 The Sun-Times Co.
Website: http://www.suntimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Author: Leslie Griffy, Sun-Times Springfield BureauMARIJUANA BILL SET ASIDE BEFORE IT GETS A HEARINGSPRINGFIELD -- A House panel Tuesday shelved legislation allowing some terminally ill patients access to marijuana amid concerns about street availability of illegal drugs.The House Health Care Availability and Access Committee sent the politically sensitive election-year bill to a subcommittee -- equivalent to a legislative wasteland -- before hearing testimony.But the bill's sponsor Rep. Larry McKeon (D-Chicago) said he hopes to keep the measure alive."I am not giving up on this," McKeon said, adding some legislators saw the measure as a crime issue rather than a bill about health care.Opponents, including members of the Bush administration's drug control center and state religious organizations, say the bill would be impossible to enforce and would increase drug abuse."One of the serious side effects here is one that is on society as a whole, which would make this crude plant available to children, increasing addiction," said Andrea Barthwell, who works on drug control policy for the Bush administration.Supporters and detractors delivered emotional testimony after the committee's decision. Ronald Shaw, a Lincoln Park resident who is HIV positive, said the measure would keep him from breaking the law by allowing his doctor to approve a permit for him to possess an ounce of the drug. Current law allows doctors to prescribe marijuana, but there's no provision for legal possession by patients.Shaw, 38, said medical marijuana is not a gateway drug or a child's game for those who need it. "I am not looking for a cheap high. I am looking for a way to eat and I am looking for the most effective way to curb my nausea," he said.Barthwell touted the availability of Marinol, an FDA-approved pill that uses the active ingredient in marijuana -- THC -- to stop nausea.But in order to keep food -- and his medicine -- down, Shaw says he has to smoke marijuana."I've had to take the pill four, five, six times in one morning, because I've thrown it up and I've thrown it up again," Shaw said.-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-That's the House bill, there is also a senate one. Why does Andrea Barthwell get an audience with these people?? And how does she think children could possibly have easier access to marijuana, when she's responsible for enforcing the current set-up in which children SELL marijuana?!?
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