Updated: Ill. medical marijuana debate still smoking
UPDATE: We’ve just gotten a call from Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington D.C., responding to this morning’s news conference.
Mirken said teen use of marijuana in the states where it is legalized for medical use has gone down, not up, as marijuana opponents claimed. He also called the idea that legializing the drug would expand drug cartel influence “just bizarre.”
Both sides have been ratcheting up the rhetoric as this debate continues. Mirken called Andrea Barthwell’s positions on the prescription drug Marinol ”laughably false.”
Mirken said Marinol does not contain all the therapeutic benefits of smoking marijuana, as some claim.
“If the pill worked for everybody, there would be no medical marijuana movement,” Mirken said.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes would increase child marijuana use and expand the influence of international drug cartels, an anti-marijuana coalition said Thursday.
The group rallied against a proposal by state Sen. William Haine, D-Alton, expected to go before the full Senate next week that would authorize marijuana use to ease pain and nausea among the severely ill.
Haine’s bill would allow ill patients to grow up to three marijuana plants in their homes if their doctor approves.
But opponents of the idea, which included various Illinois law enforcement groups, say the bill is narly impossible to enforce and that even three plants would produce more marijuana than patients need.
They say this makes it more likely the drug will end up on the streets, especially in the hands of Illinois’ youth.
“The health and welfare of our children and the safety of our communities are the ultimate victims when the marijuana legalization lobby has its way,” said Andrea Barthwell, CEO of the Human Resource Development Institute.
Opponents have become even more vocal since the Marijuana Policy Project launched an ad campaign earlier this month touting the proposal.
Eric Smith, president of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, said drug cartel members posing as medical marijuana growers “are difficult, if not impossible, to detect in states with medical marijuana laws.”
“As a consequence, they can easily expand their influence and extend their reach into other communities,” Smith said.
Barthwell, a physician, said the prescription medicine Marinol, which harnesses the active ingredient in marijuana for relieving pain and easing nausea, is sufficient for those who want the benefits of marijuana.
Marijuana advocates, though, have said the Marinol pill is not as effective for some patients as smoking a joint.
Expect this debate to continue to sizzle here in Illinois. You can read Haine’s bill here.
It’s about time we end this senseless ban on medical marijuana. If it eases the pain of those with severe diseases then let them light up. Why should we care if it helps make the life of someone more enjoyable. All drugs are bad if abused does that mean we should illegalize all pain medications.
Maybe we should stop wasting millions of tax dollars fighting marijuana use all together. Possibly use the tax revenues to get us out of the financial crisis we are in. Just a thought.
Let’s see. We have an article on the medical marijuana bill in Illinois and it contains statements from “an anti-marijuana coalition”, “various Illinois law enforcement groups”, the HRDI (anti-marijuana group whose CEO is the former drug czar from the Bush administration) and the president of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. It contains zero input from anyone on the other side of the issue.
The story begins with what may as well be the story’s thesis statement, a token “refer madness” absurdity and continues to read through as if it were written as government anti-weed propaganda.
More inaccuracy, more ignorance. We will never move forward.
Further reading “Dr.” Andrea Barthwell. Another in a long line of people in a position of power who misuse their position to spread inaccuracies and flat out lies about marijuana, especially medical. blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2005/02/13/andreaBarthwellCaughtRedha.html
The quote about legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes expanding the influence of international drug cartels is guaranteed BS. The facts show otherwise. Al Capone and other mafias came to power during prohibition of liquor and lost power when liquor was legalized. This prohibition period in the US lasted 13 years.
The results with the legalization of marijuana would actually help to destroy most drug cartels, something the billions spent on the war on drugs has been unable to do. Prices will come down and international drug cartels will have trouble competing. My only request is that the marijuana be the natural substance and no extra chemical additives would be allowed, unlike with cigarettes where cigarette companies may purposely add extra amounts of nicotine. Just because something would be legal doesn’t mean that one has to use it or buy it.
People, Including kids, are going to smoke pot whether it comes from the Mexican Cartels or it comes from some cancer patient with an extra bag down the street. Now what could be stopped is all the violence associated with the purchasing, growing, distributing and smoking of the drug. If everyone was allowed to grow a plant or two at a time in home for personal use then how would that allow the Mexican cartels to gain control? They would not even have a market left to deal to…Everyone who wants to smoke it can and those who don’t wont have to worry about the dangers of having drug dealers on their streets selling pot. This wont work with all the other drugs…Meth, Coke, Herion, crack and such dangerous drugs like that, but the fact this country wastes billions of dollars to combat a plant anyone can grow makes me think someone is just wanting to keep their pockets lined with anti-drug money. If all the (strictly pot possesion)criminals were released then all those FOR PROFIT prisons housing them would not need so much Government funding, it would save us tons of tax money to put towards education and jobs and it would make keeping the truely harmfull drugs I mentioned above much easier for the law enforcement officials to concentrate on…Anti marijuana law is a scam and i wish everyone would wake up. I smoked in High School. Stopped smoking when I served in the Army Calvery Scouts (19D). Smoked again when i was discharged. Then stopped again for my current job. None of this affected me the way people would like to say, i didn’t rob people to get high, i didn’t become a bad person, I didn’t become lazy and unemployed and i didn’t do anything but get realaxed, play video games and watch funny movies when i got off work. It was a personal choice to use it just like beer and tobacco are to many. After all is that not what we are all about PERSONAL FREEDOMS?
If you were in pain or suffering would you want every available method to take the suffering away?
I suffer from anxiety and from time to time have been on several precription medications that either made me a zombie and unable to function, or have increaded the anxiety.
I drank for several years and lost everything.
I have been sober for a few years and have become a voulenteer at the local church, take care of my family, and I occasionally take a toke for the anxiety, always with the looming threat of prosecution.
A very one sided article, it does seem like an anti-cannabis piece!
This country is so hippocritical. So, it’s ok to sell alcohol and cigarettes, but illegal to grow yourself a few marijuana plants, which is a plant that grows naturally? Unbelievable. Politicians should stop placing their Puritan values on everyone else and just legalize it. I still say the system makes more money by keeping it illegal. The judges, lawyers, treatment centers, etc all benefit from people getting busted from it. I’ve even heard that Anheuser Busch is one of the biggest contributor, to lobbiests, who lobby to keep it illegal. Why? Because it’s competition to alcohol! Seriously people, wake up…and quit being such hippocrites.
I am so tired of some of these idiots on the anti-legalization side. I have never smoked pot in my life, or used any other illegal drug. I don’t smoke, I quit drinking years ago, and I don’t even take caffeine. That said, I’m furious that these clueless law enforcement types think they’re helping me by using MY tax money to lock up college kids who smoke a few joints over the weekend.
How exactly will this expand the influence of the cartels? If you’re growing your own, you don’t NEED the cartels anymore. I think they should have an IQ test before you can become a police officer, it seems just as important as the drug and firearm tests.
Why to do we continue to waste tax payers money on this issue. Someone can walk into Schnucks and buy a bottle of vodka to take away the pain but can’t get a prescription from a doctor for a little pot!!!
I say legalize it completely and tax it like they do alcohol and cigarettes. The fact that it is illegal does not stop anyone from getting it if they want it.
Heck while we are at it legalize crack, herion and any other illegal drug I bet the murder rate in this country would go down quick.