File Witness Slip to Oppose Marijuana “Home Grows”
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Two years after legalizing “recreational” marijuana, some foolish lawmakers are sprinting ahead with legislation to allow for Illinoisans 21 and older to grow up to 5 marijuana plants in their home. The bill number is HB 4799 and is sponsored by Carol Ammons (D-Urbana), Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), Kambium Buckner (D-Chicago) and Aaron Ortiz (D-Chicago).
There is ample evidence to demonstrate that home grows are a recipe for disaster. The state of Colorado, which legalized pot in 2012, is a prime example of bad marijuana policy. We often use Colorado as our reference point because they have the best data in the nation when it comes to drugs, thanks to the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
Colorado allows marijuana to be grown in homes. As a result, foreign drug cartels have cashed in and the black-market is thriving. And with that, comes more crime.
In many cases, high-end homes in the suburbs are purchased for cash. They are gutted and millions of dollars worth of marijuana plants are grown. It’s untaxed and unregulated. Because the black-market is thriving in Colorado, it’s also easier and cheaper for students to obtain the drug. (Click here to access their latest report.)
Home grows have become the new “gray market” in Colorado because it’s virtually impossible to regulate what people do in their homes.
Marijuana-related calls to the Illinois Poison Control Center have increased since legalization. Do we want more accidental poisonings?
2019 – 487 calls
2020 – 743 calls
2021 – 855 calls
HB 4799 is scheduled for a hearing in the Executive Committee on Wednesday, February 16th.
Take ACTION:ClickHERE to file a witness slip in opposition to HB 4799.
-Fill out your name, address, email and phone number. Leave everything else blank or put self.
-Highlight “Opponent” and “Record of Appearance Only.”
-Check Terms of Agreement and click Create Slip.
MORE ACTION:ClickHERE to email your state representative to urge him/her to oppose HB 4799.
The true impact of “recreational” marijuana on our communities is just starting to be learned, so why are we rushing ahead to expand this experiment? The negative consequences of legalizing recreational marijuana will be felt for generations.
Thank you!
Your willingness to fill out witness slips are making a huge difference!
State Lawmakers to Remove Basic Protection for Patients
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Illinois State Senators Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) and Robert Martwick (D-Chicago) are sponsoring a bill, SB 109, that will change the “Practitioner’s Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment” (POLST) form by removing the requirement that a witness sign the form. Since the POLST form states the patient’s wishes regarding life-sustaining treatment, having a witness sign this form reduces the chances that a patient is manipulated into literally signing their life away.
Important Details:
POLST stands for “Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment” but has less to do with “life-sustaining” and more to do with life-ending. Remember that words and changing definitions are often used deceptively to fool people.
Currently, the POLST form has to be “witnessed by one individual 18 years of age or older, who attests that the individual, other person, guardian, agent or surrogate (1) has had an opportunity to read the form; and (2) has signed the form or acknowledged his or her signature or mark on the form in the witness’s presence.” SB 109 removes that.
SB 109 also indicates, “If the patient’s wishes are unknown and remain unknown after reasonable efforts to discern them, the decision shall be made on the basis of the patient’s best interests as determined by the surrogate decision maker.”
POLST was created in 1991 at the Center for Ethics in Health Care at Oregon Health & Science University. Oregon permits physician-assisted suicide. Key backers of POLST forms include foundations like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that have funded “right to die” organizations. That alone should indicate the real intentions behind POLST.
Reasons for Requirement of Witness:
Patient could be manipulated into literally signing their life away.
Eliminating the important witness requirement leaves vulnerable patients’ health decisions in the hands of the medical person in charge.
This proposal has passed the Illinois Senate by a vote of 43 – 15 on April 21st, and is now being considered by the Illinois House. Two Republicans joined Democrats in voting for this proposal: State Representatives John Curran (R-Lemont) and Donald DeWitte (R-West Dundee).
Take ACTION:Click HERE to send a message to your state representative to ask him/her to vote against SB 109. Be polite, but request that they “Help Protect Patients Needing Life-Sustaining Treatment and vote no on SB 109.”
More ACTION:We have a short window to submit witness slips. It takes less than five minutes. State lawmakers use these witness slips as a measure of public opinion. Help stop this bill by taking these steps (must be over 13):
Fill in your information. Put “Self” in three fields:
Firm/Business
Title
Persons, groups firms represented in this appearance
Under Position, click OPPONENT
Under Testimony, click “Record Of Appearance Only”
Click “I Agree to the ILGA Terms of Agreement”
Click button Create(Slip)
SB 109 is sponsored in the Illinois House by State Representative Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) and Carol Ammons (D-Urbana).
Become a monthly supporter of IFI. Click HERE for more information.
Progressives Seek to Rush Human Slaughter Bill Through House
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With a cringe-worthy, faux-earnest expression, State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) explained at Thursday’s press conference to promote her radical abortion bill the meaning of the necklace she prominently wore—a necklace adorned with a coat hanger:
My necklace is a little gold wire hanger…. It’s a reminder of what can happen in a post-Roe world.
Her little gold coat hanger symbolizes the illegal abortions she fears will kill women if they are prohibited from legally offing their offspring. So, let’s examine the issue of pre-Roe, voluntarily sought illegal abortions that occasionally resulted in maternal deaths—as distinct from abortions that almost always result in the deaths of human “fetuses,” none of whom had a say in their mother’s choice to have them killed.
As cited in an article on the website Abort73, the CDC reported that,
In 1972 (the year before abortion was federally legalized), a total of 24 women died from causes known to be associated with legal abortions, and 39 died as a result of known illegal abortions.
Here’s more interesting information from the pro-human slaughter, gangrenous Guttmacher Institute:
In 1930, abortion was listed as the official cause of death for almost 2,700 women…. The death toll had declined to just under 1,700 by 1940, and to just over 300 by 1950 (most likely because of the introduction of antibiotics in the 1940s, which permitted more effective treatment of the infections that frequently developed after illegal abortion). By 1965, the number of deaths due to illegal abortion had fallen to just under 200.
Compare those numbers of tragic accidental deaths to the intentional slaughter of 61,000,000 humans in the womb in the United States since 1973 or the 368,000 humans killed in the womb so far in 2019—including 5,520 killings after 21 weeks gestation. I wonder if Cassidy and her accomplices in promoting feticide will shout that stat.
If killing humans in the womb isn’t obscene enough, Springfield regressives decided to add insult to death and dismemberment by having a black woman, State Representative Carol Ammons (D-Champaign) introduce their press conference.
It was obscene—not to mention tone deaf—to have Ammons lead the feticidal charge because as most know, Planned Parenthood (PP)—like its racist, eugenicist founder Margaret Sanger—has set its sights on black babies. A study conducted by the Life Issues Institute “found that 79 percent of abortion-offering Planned Parenthood facilities are within walking distance of black or Hispanic neighborhoods. Sixty-two percent are near black neighborhoods.” While blacks constituted about 13.3 percent of the population in 2014, 36 percent of all abortions were performed on black women.
The difference between Sanger’s goal to rid the world of blacks and Planned Parenthood’s decision to target the babies of women of color is that PP is motivated by greed rather than racism.
Yeah, that’s sooo much better.
At the press conference, Cassidy, the morally vacuous lesbian, “wife” of Candace Gingrich, and sponsor of every culturally destructive legislation to come down and go up the crumbling pike from Springfield said this:
As opponents of reproductive freedom have stepped up their attacks on our access to reproductive health care, it has become very, very clear that Illinois must respond in kind with equal energy behind defending reproductive freedom…. We had a pledge from the speaker that we will be able to move the bill forward, so I am uh looking forward to advancing this bill and getting it over to the Senate.
Slapping the words “freedom” (or “choice”) on to an issue with nary a mention of the nature of the acts being freely chosen is dishonest and opaque. All decent people know that freedom is not absolute, that not all choices are moral, and that not all choices should be legal.
In the service of sorting truth from the evil Cassidy’s murky euphemistic language is designed to cloak, I will translate her dishonest, opaque words into plain English:
Opponents of the legal right of mothers to hire people to kill their offspring in the womb are having some success and, therefore, Illinois regressives must attack them and their efforts. Regressives must intensify their efforts to defend a legal right to feticide and de facto infanticide. Regressives got a pledge from the thoroughly corrupt Mike Madigan, who rules Madiganistan with a blood-stained fist, to speedily advance this bill by any unethical means possible, preventing due deliberation and preventing those who defend life a chance to marshal their forces against it.
It should be very, very clear that Cassidy and her morally contemptible cronies are mustering their energy to, among other things,
Legalize the womb-killing of viable, full-term babies for any or no reason
Compel the public to subsidize human slaughter
Compel health care providers to facilitate this moral outrage even when doing so violates their consciences and their religious beliefs
Rob parents of the right to be involved in the life-changing and health-risking decisions of their daughters to have their offspring killed
I wonder what morally regressive Springfield swampsters would say to Nik Hoot whose limbs were ripped off during a botched abortion—you know, when he was a “fetus,” as opposed to a human person. (It’s so weird that the once-bodily-whole human person Nik has a damaged body so like the damaged body of the fetus Nik. I wonder how that happened?)
Maybe pro-life advocates everywhere should wear necklaces from which dangle tiny severed limbs and crushed skulls forged in gold to represent their intrinsic and infinite value—value that regressives in Springfield are too blind to see.
Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to your state senator, state representative and to Gov. Pritzker. Urge them to stop targeting innocent pre-born children and vulnerable women in Illinois. Ask them to vote against the grotesquely misnamed “Reproductive Health Act.”
Then call their offices. Click HERE to find their contact information. Your state senator and state rep. are the last two on the page. Please call today!
On Wednesday evening, the Illinois House of Representatives voted 72 to 45 to ratify SJRCA 4, a completely unnecessary proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to eradicate sex as a legitimate characteristic on which to base reasonable distinctions.
Click HERE to see how your state representative voted on this legislation, or look at the graphic below.
For more than two hours, state lawmakers debated this issue. The fact that this legislation says nothing about women didn’t dissuade 15 legislators from rising to the microphone to express their support. These advocates included the sponsor, Lou Lang (D-Skokie), Ann Williams (D-Chicago), David Harris (R-Arlington Heights), Steve Andersson (R-Geneva), Stephanie Kifowit (D-Aurora), Laura Fine (D-Glenview), Christine Winger (R-Bloomingdale), Sue Scherer (D-Decatur), Emmanuel Welch (D-Chicago), Carol Ammons (D-Chicago), Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), Christian Mitchell (D-Chicago), Dan Brady (R-Bloomington), and Juliana Stratton (D-Chicago).
It is interesting to note that both State Representatives Christine Winger and Dan Brady prefaced their remarks by claiming to be pro-life, even though it is well known that Planned Parenthood is a strong proponent of this legislation precisely because it will expand abortion “rights” throughout the nation and dismantle vital abortion restrictions—including parental notification (or consent) laws.
On the pro-life/pro-family side, eight state lawmakers rose to speak against the ERA, including Pete Breen (R-Lombard), Allen Skillicorn (R-Crystal Lake), Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton), Mary Flowers (D-Chicago), Tom Morrison (R-Palatine), Terry Bryant (R-Mt. Vernon), and Rita Mayfield (D-Waukegan).
Proponents of the ERA claim that they need one more state to ratify this constitutional amendment for complete victory, even though the deadline for passage expired decades ago and even though five states have voted to rescind their ratification over the years it has been pending. If one more state votes for its passage, the issue will certainly wind up in the courts.
In addition to proponents of the legalized slaughter of human beings in the womb, there is another constituency that is celebrating tonight: people who masquerade as the sex they are not.
Thanks for nothing to the 72 feckless state representatives who demonstrated again why Illinois is such a sorry state.
The official roll call of this vote:
Marijuana Decriminalization Puts Children and Families at Greater Risk
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This bill will put more impaired drivers on the road,
more impaired employees in the workplace
and more children at risk.
Before the regular session ended on May 31st, State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) and State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) were able to pass legislation to decriminalize marijuana. The bill passed in both the Illinois House and Senate. Any day this dubious bill (SB 2228) will be sent to Governor Bruce Rauner, who will then have 60 days to sign it into law or veto it.
SB 2288 reduces criminal penalties from possession of 10 grams or less of marijuana to a civil law violation of $100 to $200. There are no limits to the number of civil law violations a person can receive, plus their record will be expunged every January 1st and July 1st.
What these lawmakers have done is removed a deterrent to drug use and addiction. They are moving full steam ahead toward full legalization. “Medical” marijuana and incremental decriminalization are the first necessary steps.
“The key to it is medical access, because once you have hundreds of thousands of people using marijuana under medical supervision the whole scam is going to be bought. Once there’s medical access…then we will get full legalization.” Richard Cowan, former director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana.
Take ACTION:Click HERE to send an email or fax to Governor Rauner. Please urge him to veto SB 2228. Also, please call his Springfield office at (217) 782-0244. A tally report is given to the governor at the end of each day. There is a huge liability issue at stake that the governor should be concerned about. Who will assume responsibility for the increase in road fatalities, psychotic incidents, youth addictions, not to mention employer liability?
Too many lawmakers have been erroneously led to believe that our prisons and judicial system are overrun with “petty” marijuana offenses. This is NOT the truth. Please read a former Will County and Cook County Assistant State Attorneyas he exposes this myth in an article he wrote exclusively for Illinois Family Institute: Cannabis Myths Exposed
This legislation was co-sponsored by State Representatives Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), Carol Ammons (D-Champaign), Sonya Harper (D-Chicago), Michael Zalewski (D-Riverside), Ed Sullivan (R-Mundelein), Christian Mitchell (D-Chicago), Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria), and Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago).
In the Illinois Senate, this legislation was co-sponsored by State Senators Michael Noland (D-Elgin) , Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago), Jason Barickman (R-Pontiac), Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights), Don Harmon (D-Chicago), Pam Althoff (R-Crystal Lake), Karen McConnaughay (R-West Dundee), Linda Holmes (D-Aurora), Napoleon Harris (D-Harvey), Emil Jones III (D-Chicago), Patricia Van Pelt (D-Chicago), Donne Trotter (D-Chicago), and Iris Martinez (D-Chicago).
Background
Contrary to one of the reasons lawmakers give for decriminalization, prisons are NOT overcrowded with marijuana users. Click Here and Here and Here.
Marijuana is NOT Harmless. Cannabis Use is classified as a Disorder in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).
The American Society of Addiction Medicine recognizes “there are several potential medical and public health consequences of marijuana use that require further research.”
Fatal car crashes involving marijuana double after states legalize the drug.States that have relaxed their laws are seeing a 24.4% increase in car fatalities.
Psychotic incidents increase with marijuana use. Click Here and Here and Here and Here and Here.
