Time for (ILLINOIS) Legislature to pass medical marijuana bill

Time for (ILLINOIS) Legislature to pass medical marijuana bill

February 25, 2006

BY DR. CHRISTOPHER FICHTNER. COPYRIGHT BY THE CHICAGO SUN TIMES

On Feb. 15, the Illinois Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted to pass the Illinois Medical Cannabis Act. As a physician and former director of mental health with the Illinois Department of Human Services, I commend the committee for its leadership and urge the full Senate and House to pass this sensible, humane -- and popular -- legislation as quickly as possible.

The bill, introduced by Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago) and co-sponsored by Senators Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) and Iris Martinez (D-Chicago), would allow medically ill patients to obtain marijuana -- cannabis -- for medicinal use with the recommendation of their doctor. Illinois led this effort in 1978 when it became the second state to pass a Cannabis Control Act permitting limited medical use. That law was never fully implemented, and administrative rules to guide implementation are lacking.

Medicinal use of cannabis has a history dating back thousands of years. Today patients use it for a variety of serious and debilitating medical conditions: to stimulate appetite in cancer and AIDS; to relieve nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy; to alleviate the chronic pain and muscle spasticity of multiple sclerosis; to reduce intraocular pressure in glaucoma, and for many other medical conditions, including some involving anxiety and mood disturbances. There is no reason to subject such patients to criminal prosecution for cannabis use if their doctor believes it will help them.

California passed the first effective medical cannabis law in 1996, and 11 states have similar statutes. Despite the federal ban on possession of marijuana, states are within their rights to stop arresting people who use cannabis medicinally. Because federal authorities make only 1 percent of all U.S. marijuana arrests, state medical cannabis laws effectively provide 99 percent protection for bona fide patients. Rhode Island passed the most recent medical cannabis law in January, and 10 states are considering similar bills.

Experience in other states shows that fears raised by medical cannabis opponents are unfounded. Opponents argue that medical cannabis laws send the wrong message to young people, potentially contributing to teen use. But nationwide, adolescent marijuana use has decreased since 1996, when California passed its law. And a recent study by Dr. Mitch Earleywine at State University of New York in Albany showed that trends in teenage marijuana use have been slightly more favorable in the medical cannabis states than nationwide.

Illinois adults and teens know that compassionate treatment of sick people and health care that respects consumer choice and the doctor-patient relationship are not ''the wrong message.'' They recognize that criminalizing patients for their health-care choices is wrong.

Last year, White House officials descended upon Illinois with a misinformation campaign and intimidation tactics to block the Illinois Medical Cannabis Act. Fortunately, 1,000 Illinois physicians have expressed support for patient access to cannabis on a medicinal basis under a physician's care. But federal authorities chant a mantra of ''no medical value and harmfulness'' that ignores patient experience and the findings of their own reviews.

In 1999, a White House-commissioned Institute of Medicine report declared that, ''Nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety . . . all can be mitigated by marijuana.'' And in 2002, a Canadian Senate committee concluded that ''there are clear . . . indications of the therapeutic benefits of marijuana."

Other countries' experts have reached similar conclusions, but U.S. federal policy defies both science and common sense in favor of ideology. Patient reports attest to the therapeutic value of cannabis, and rigorous scientific studies emerging from other countries are confirming age-old clinical observations. If there are too few controlled experimental studies to gain federal medicinal approval in the United States, it is not because cannabis has no medical value but because federal leadership has consistently blocked studies of marijuana as medicine. Federally approved studies are limited to those that search for ill effects from marijuana.

Until federal law comes into the 21st century, states will have to take the lead in protecting patients. By encouraging our legislators to support patient access to cannabis on a physician's recommendation, the people of Illinois can stand with those in other states who have chosen not to criminalize patients. Illinois law enforcement need not do the dirty work of a politicized federal bureaucracy afflicted with ''reefer madness.''

With a newly released statewide poll showing that Illinois voters back medical marijuana legislation more than 2-1, our legislators are empowered to do the right thing. They are empowered to send the right message.


Dr. Christopher G. Fichtner is associate professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Chicago and medical adviser for IDEAL Reform, a nonprofit organization supporting patient access to medicinal cannabis under a physician's care.