Once upon a time in 1976, somebody actually dared to mention how marijuana might have medicinal properties, which shouldn’t be ignored. Then, Robert Randall, an avid medical marijuana advocate and the founder of Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics, challenged the court with the argument that he is in dire need of marijuana or else he would go blind. His glaucoma was getting out of hand. Amazingly, he won the case and made a precedent that would be a shining example for not only years but decades to come.
Implement Regulations Properly
As is usually the case with revolutionary claims, it took only about 35 years for this claim to have any weight and meaning in the general public realm and Illinois is about to vote on allowing the use of marijuana for medicinal use. Illinois is not doing anything radical since medical marijuana is allowed in almost half of the U.S. California started in 1996 and has had its fair share of problems since then. Washington State and Colorado are some of the more recent examples where regulations have been implemented to a point but some glitches are still being worked out. The upside for Illinois is that it wasn’t among the first to legalize medical marijuana so it had time to learn from other states that were bold enough to do so. Plus, by now, most of Americans believe that weed has medicinal value and that it should become an integral part of the U.S. health system.
Marijuana Heals
All the way back in 1999, the federal Institute of Medicine has concluded that marijuana indeed should be considered as cure since it helps alleviate pain, nausea and can severely increase your appetite. Even the American Medical Association is trying to convince the federal government to do more extensive research of the drug. However, the federal government is acting like a spoiled brat refusing to take action based on very reasonable arguments. And Illinois officials are not far from where the federal government stands on the issue. Up until now, they refused to consider medical marijuana as an option despite many patient testimonials. But, it’s not really an issue of what people need and when they need it – it’s more of a federal issue where the government has more authority than the actual people who chose it.
Bill Restrictions
We could go on forever on how California handled its legalization and dispensaries but you already know that. In light of all the glitches and problems other states have had so far, Illinois is doing all it can to restrict the medical marijuana bill as much as possible, so it won’t lead to legalization for recreational purposes in the near future. Therefore, in order to obtain some sweet budage via a medical prescription, you will be required to have an ongoing patient-doctor relationship, a specific condition, undergo a background check and acquire an ID. The quantity of weed a patient would be allowed to posses will also be much less than, for instance, Golden State.
Update: Illinois approved the medical marijuana bill. Senate is next. Stay tuned!
I thought that I could share some information I came across while researching Medical Marijuana:
Medical Marijuana dates back to the 1840’s, as early as 1850. Marijuana was listed in the United States dispensary. Commercial cannabis preparations were available in drugstores (McCarthy 333). In 1972, The United States congress placed marijuana in schedule class 1 of the controlled substances act because they considered it to have no medical use (procon). Since then 17 of 50 states and DC have legalized the use of medical marijuana. Proponents of medical marijuana argue that it can be a safe and effective treatment for the following symptoms: cancer, aids, multiple sclerosis, pain, glaucoma, epilepsy, and other conditions.