HEY DUDE, MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN ILLINOIS?

Once again legislators in Illinois are discussing whether to legalize marijuana for medical purposes.  According to State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), the sponsor of the bill, he thinks he has the votes for passage in the House.  “It will be the best, most restrictive, mostly regulated law in the country,” Lang said.  The law would allow people with debilitating medical conditions to smoke marijuana but would limit possession to less than 2.5 ounces, prohibit driving for six hours after smoking the drug, would only be sold in state-licensed highly regulated  not-for-profit dispensaries (limiting the outlets to 59—one per senate district) and the program would expire in three years.  Think of the new levels of bureaucracy that will have to be created to administer and enforce the law.  Insane!

Having penalties, including potential prison time, is not going to discourage anyone from trying to sell medical prescription marijuana on the street anymore than current laws prevent drug activity. The smoking of marijuana should either be totally legal or totally illegal.  Just because Illinois would have the most regulated law in the nation, is not enough reason for a legislator to vote Yes.

Alcohol is legal and the only medical benefits are that a glass of wine is good for your heart and can raise your good (HDL) cholesterol levels.  Marijuana has been shown to diminish nausea from chemotherapy, lessen symptoms of multiple sclerosis, lessen pain of people suffering form HIV/AIDS and other medical aliments.  So if alcohol is lawful, why not marijuana?

I have made my position clear that I hate alcohol, so why do I seem to be supporting the legalization of medical marijuana when I find the drug so repulsive? Simply because it would lead to making marijuana legal for everyone and government could tax the use. Because the bureaucracy and associate costs the passage of the bill would create, I am pro legalization of all marijuana, not just for medical use.  If it is legal for everyone, the government would profit.  If it is legal just for medial applications then it costs the government money to regulate.

One can either get high or not.  If marijuana is legal, it should be legal for everyone over the age of 21; there should not be restrictions on who can use the drug.

And because of fear of the slippery slope that medical usage would lead to wide-spread legalization, Illinois legislators won’t be able to vote, “Yes.“  If people realized the profit for government with legalization, they would be in favor of it.  But nobody is thinking about the money; only about the smoke.