Act today! The Illinois General Assembly will return to the Capitol next week. “Medical” marijuana closer to passage.
The Illinois General Assembly adjourned on May 7th without voting on the “Medical” Marijuana bill. Lobbyists for the Marijuana Policy Project have been working the bill in the Illinois House over the past year and say they are within two or three votes of passing this dangerous bill.
Take ACTION: Contact your state representative an email or a fax to tell him or her that you do not want marijuana legalized for any reason nor sold in your neighborhood for any purpose. This is your chance to speak up before it’s too late!
The Illinois House will come back next week for two days to vote on a budget, but we are told that there may be a vote on SB 1381 as well. After they adjourn at the end of May, they will not come back until the end of November. This bill passed the Senate last year by a vote of 30-28-1.
Read more: Cannabis toxicity and adverse biological activity by Medicinal Chemist Dr. Ronald Bartzatt M.L.T. (ASCP), B.S., M.S., Ph.D.
Background
IFI lobbyist Ralph Rivera explains lobbying techniques in Springfield and the consequences for Illinois families, if this bill passes:
Advocates of SB 1381 wheel around patients at the Illinois Capitol to gain sympathy for them and SB 1381. However, SB 1381 says “visiting qualifying patients” who have a “registry identification card, or its equivalent, that is issued under the laws of another state….” can also use marijuana in Illinois.
So, although the sponsors admit California and other states have phony “patients”, they can still come to Illinois by the tens of thousands and smoke marijuana on our streets in front of our children and police and no one can stop them!
SB 1381 allows a person, his caregiver or a dispensary, to grow 6 marijuana plants with 3 mature plants at any one time. Consider this: in 90-days, 3 mature plants can produce 1,764 joints. What patient can smoke 20 joints a day?! “Patients” who have testified in Illinois House committees over the years have said they need to smoke 4-8 joints a day to “relieve pain”. That would leave leftovers for mischief and illegal purposes. It would be impossible for law enforcement to monitor this.
SB 1381 says a “patient” cannot drive a car or boat or fly a plane, but says “However, a registered qualifying patient shall not be considered to be under the influence of cannabis solely because of the presence of metabolites or components of cannabis that appear in insufficient concentration to cause impairment.” So, if SB 1381 passes, they could drive a car or boat or fly a plance if they smoked or ingested marijuana as long as it is “in insufficient concentration to cause impairment.” How would this be monitored? This caveat also applies to employees.
Property owners cannot refuse to lease an apartment or house to a “patient” or caregiver and the owner of a commercial property cannot refuse to lease to a marijuana dispensary on the basis the tenants will be growing marijuana on the property and the site may attract ciminal behavior.
What message does this send to our children in Illinois when people can smoke marijuana on the streets of our towns and get away with it?
Please contact your representative today, and ask him/her to vote “NO” on SB 1381. In addition to e-mailing your representative, we encourage you to call your representative to tell him/her that you oppose SB 1381, and to ask for his or her “NO” vote on this dangerous bill. Then, be sure to ask all of your friends and family in Illinois to reach out to their representatives.
Please don’t forget to follow up on your email by calling your representative, and by sharing this alert with friends, family, and neighbors who also oppose this dangerous legislation.
Thank you for supporting the Illinois Family Institute and all that you have done to oppose this legislation.
