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| Medical Maruijuana All but Dead in IL |
(IRN)-As Tom Petty put it in song, it was the last dance with Mary Jane.
The Illinois House Thursday shot down a medical marijuana proposal, which sponsoring State Rep. Lou Lang touted as being stricter than similar programs already in place in fifteen states and the District of Columbia.
In November, former TV talk show host Montel Williams appeared at the Capitol to support the legislation. Williams says he uses marijuana to ease the pain of Multiple Sclerosis. The bill did not have enough votes then, and Lang reserved the right to call it again. It failed again.
The proposal would have allowed doctors to prescribe marijuana in some situations. Patients would have been allowed to keep a certain amount of pot on hand, and the bill would have set up a licensing program for marijuana dispensaries.
State Representative Patti Bellock argued on the House floor that marijuana is an illegal drug, plain and simple. She would not accept Lang’s argument that it could also be medicine. "I think that it's an issue that is trying to be mainstreamed in America as a medicine, not a drug, and I think that's a dangerous thing," said Bellock. "If people want to address the issue of legalizing marijuana in the United States or in Illinois, we should address it head on."
After the vote, Lang said he knew of at least 30 people on the floor who told him privately they were in favor of the legislation, but who did not have the intestinal fortitude to vote on it.
"This is about people's quality of life. And for people to turn their back on that I think is unfortunate, it's sad, and a little depressing," Lang said.
Lang says Thursday's loss isn't the end of his fight to pass medicinal marijuana legislation in Illinois; he says he'll keep trying.
(Source: Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 01 07 11 by Newsroom |
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