Representative Lang started working to pass a new medical marijuana bill in 2009, but it wasn’t until this spring that he could convince enough of his colleagues to sign on. Even then many legislators voiced concern that more kids would become drug abusers as a result of the law.“There’s an emotional reaction to cannabis—it’s identified with so many things people are afraid of, and once those things get on the books it’s hard to change them,” says the Reverend Al Sharp, acting executive director of the Community Renewal Society, who lobbied on behalf of Lang’s bill. “What’s become abundantly clear—it can’t be denied—is that cannabis helps a significant number of people who are really hurting. I saw that shift in the last three years.”
So who’s going to be allowed to use marijuana now?
Only people who have a “debilitating medical condition”—but not just any debilitating medical condition. It has to be one of 40 maladies specified in the law, including cancer, glaucoma, HIV or AIDS, MS, Parkinson’s, Crohn’s, lupus, and traumatic brain injuries.
Wait—that list doesn’t include athlete’s foot. Don’t tell me I’m going to have to suffer through with Tinactin alone.
I’m afraid you’ll have to itch it out without medical cannabis. There is a way to add a new debilitating medical condition: you can petition the Illinois Department of Public Health, which then has six months to make a decision. But the law doesn’t spell out how—state officials still have to map out many of the standards and regulations.
Significantly, chronic or severe pain is not included among the qualifying ailments, though it is in most other states with medical marijuana programs. And it often accounts for the biggest share of participating patients—93 percent of them in Colorado, according to a recent story in the Wall Street Journal. Of course, last fall Colorado voters did away with the headache of screening patients by voting to legalize recreational marijuana use.
California hasn’t gone to full legalization yet, though you wouldn’t know that from a trip to Venice Beach. Under state law, doctors there are allowed to write cannabis prescriptions for serious conditions and “any other illness for which marijuana provides relief”—which has come to include constipation, nightmares, and impotence.
Who exactly is not allowed to use medical marijuana in Illinois?
Well, for starters, everyone who doesn’t have a “debilitating medical condition.”
But that’s not all. Cannabis remains prohibited for everyone younger than 18, regardless of his or her health—a concession made to pick up more political support.
The law also excludes anyone who’s been convicted of a violent crime or felony drug offense—including, potentially, someone going through chemo who was caught with a supply before the new law was in place.