IL: Medical Marijuana Bill--Your help is needed!

[benburch]

February 14, 2006


Dear Friend,


NORML is pleased to announce that Senate Bill 2568, an act to authorize
the medical use of marijuana for qualifying patients, will be heard
tomorrow, Wednesday, February 15, before the Senate Health & Human
Services Committee. If approved, this proposal would allow authorized
patients to possess up to two and one half ounces of cannabis and/or 12
plants for medicinal purposes.

Read the full text here:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=2568&GAID=8&GA=94&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=23485&SessionID=50


Similar legislation was debated by the Illinois Legislature last year and
narrowly defeated.


Please call the members of the Health & Human Services Committee now, and
tell them that you support SB 2568 and protecting the health and safety of
seriously ill Illinois citizens. For your convenience, we have included a
pre-written letter/talking points at the conclusion of this e-mail.

Sorry for the short notice, but your calls and emails really do matter
when it comes to making public policy. Please contact your state senator
today or tomorrow morning regarding this important bill.

Thanks and regards,

-Allen St. Pierre
Executive Director
NORML
Washington, DC
[e-mail]


* Senator Carol Ronen (D) -- Chair
7th District
Springfield Office:
218 B Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
[phone]



* Senator Susan Garrett (D) – Vice Chair
29th District
Springfield Office:
129 Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
[phone]



* Senator M. Maggie Crotty (D)
19th District
Springfield Office:
311 Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
[phone]



* Senator Mattie Hunter (D)
3rd District
Springfield Office:
611C Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
[phone]



* Senator Iris Y. Martinez (D)
20th District
Springfield Office:
127 Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
[phone]



Senator Kwame Raoul (D)
13th District
Springfield Office:
M121 Capitol Bldg.
Springfield, IL 62706
[phone]



Senator Jeffrey M. Schoenberg (D)
9th District
Springfield Office:
218 A Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
[phone]



Senator Dale A. Righter (R)
55th District
Springfield Office:
M103C Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
[phone]



Senator Carole Pankau (R)
23rd District
Springfield Office:
105K Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
[phone]



Senator Christine Radogno (R)
41st District
Springfield Office:
105A Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
[phone]



Senator Dave Syverson (R)
34th District
Springfield Office:
103C Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
[phone]




Dear Sen. ___________,


I’m writing today to urge your support for Senate Bill 2568, which would
enact statewide legal protections shielding state-authorized patients who
use marijuana therapeutically from criminal prosecution. At the same
time, this proposal will not alter or interfere with existing state laws
discouraging the non-medical, recreational use of marijuana.


The use of marijuana as medicine is a public health issue; it should not
be part of the war on drugs. According to a recent national survey of
U.S. physicians conducted for the American Society of Addiction Medicine,
nearly half of all doctors with opinions support legalizing marijuana as a
medicine. Moreover, some 80 state and national health care
organizations, including the American Nurses Association, American Public
Health Association and The New England Journal of Medicine, support
immediate, legal patient access to medical cannabis.


Locally, the Illinois State Nurses Association, “Support the right of
patients to have safe access to therapeutic cannabis under appropriate
prescriber supervision; ... support legislation to remove
criminal penalties including arrest and imprisonment for bonafide patients
and prescribers of therapeutic cannabis."


Currently, eleven states -- Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine,
Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington -- have
enacted laws protecting medical marijuana patients from state prosecution.
These laws are operating primarily as lawmakers intended and have not led
to widespread abuses among adolescents or adult recreational users.


Patients in these eleven states enjoy legal protections to use medicinal
marijuana under a doctor’s supervision; seriously ill Illinois citizens
deserve this same protection.


Sincerely,
Your Name