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Todd Wagner, a medical marijuana caregiver from Bozeman, Mont., sits with other vendors and shows his display of marijuana buds to medical marijuana patients Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010, during the Medical Marijuana Clinic at Billings Hotel and Convention Center in Billings, Mont. This year, more than 12,000 medical marijuana users are registered in Montana, up from 826 two years ago.
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An Illinois House committee has approved a measure that would allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. What do you think?
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ROCKFORD — Jessica balances the fear that she could be arrested for using medical marijuana against the fear that the cancer in her body won’t let her live to see her 5-year-old daughter grow up.
The Rockford resident — whose last name is being withheld to protect her privacy — has struggled with health problems since her teenage years.
In November 2011, doctors told her she had stage 4 neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer, a rare and less aggressive but still serious cancer.
Last summer, she had surgery to rebuild her digestive system, and she smokes and eats medical cannabis to kill the nausea that frequently surges through her body.
Jessica is 27.
“I want to see my baby grow up,” she said. “It’s hard to think about it ... If something helps my quality of life, then why not use it? I’m not drinking and making my husband and daughter miserable because it’s legal.”
Jessica benefitted from legal access to marijuana when she lived for a short time in California. She’ll travel to Springfield next month to lobby for a bill that would legalize the use of medical marijuana in Illinois.
Bill sponsor Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, has said he thinks the legislation is a few votes shy of approval in the House. Advocates say there’s more momentum for this version than others.
The outlook
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana.
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana.
Dan Riffle, deputy director of government relations for the Washington-basedMarijuana Policy Project, said there are more Democrats in the General Assembly this year, so there’s a need for increased education about legalizing medical marijuana, but also the chance for greater support.
Riffle also said the legislation is stricter this time around, not allowing patients to grow their own medical marijuana, for instance, and there are a finite number of medical conditions that would qualify patients to use it.
“All signs point to this is the year,” Riffle said.
House Bill 1 creates a four-year pilot program that would give people with certain medical conditions — like cancer,multiple sclerosis and HIV/AIDS — access to medical marijuana if their doctors and the Illinois Department of Public Health approve.
Cultivating medical marijuana would be taxed at 7 percent of the sales price per ounce.
Pro/con
Medical marijuana is cheaper and has fewer side effects than the 11 medications Jessica was on at one time to manage her symptoms. She doesn’t smoke around her daughter and keeps the supplies out of sight.
Medical marijuana is cheaper and has fewer side effects than the 11 medications Jessica was on at one time to manage her symptoms. She doesn’t smoke around her daughter and keeps the supplies out of sight.
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