Illinois: Medical Marijuana patients like Lucie Macfarlane look forward to November

This year's bill still alive

The medical marijuana bill — SB 2865 — has been granted a "third reading" extension until January 13, 2009. This means that the bill is alive and well and could be brought up for a vote virtually anytime.

While a vote on SB 2865 is most likely to occur sometime after the General Assembly returns to Springfield on November 12 for a scheduled veto session, it could come earlier.

Many thanks to our members

You have been an integral part of forwarding medical marijuana legislation in Illinois, helping facilitate a floor vote in the Senate last year.

Because of your support, dozens of patients like Lucie Macfarlane have come forward and opened up about how medical marijuana has benefited them.

One patient's plea for compassion

Lucie has asked us to share the following with you:

After being on a never-ending cycle of dangerous narcotics for over 10 years, I'm now using medical cannabis to control my pain. Since discovering the benefits of cannabis, I've completely discontinued my use of Norco, a highly addictive narcotic painkiller. I'm also way down on my methadone intake and am starting to wean myself off Valium. The simple truth is cannabis works better and is less dangerous then any narcotic I've been on. This revelation is bittersweet, however, as the fear of overdosing, dying in my sleep, or having my liver and kidneys damaged has now been replaced with the fear of having my door kicked down and being hauled off to jail for using a plant that has been scientifically proven to help patients like me.

Three ways you can help today

1) Please take a minute to share Lucie's video and flyer with your legislators, local officials, friends, family, and co-workers.

2) An effective way to open up the discussion about medical marijuana is to utilize the airwaves. Please download and share MPP's brand new public service announcements with Illinois radio stations near you. Here's a complete list of Illinois radio stations to help you distribute our PSAs.

3) Download our medical marijuana brochures and hand them out. These are great materials to leave with your legislator, local leader, physician, or law enforcement official who might need a little educating on the subject.

MPP's medical marijuana brochure provides an overview of the case for medical marijuana access.	MPP's brochure for medical marijuana patients and those who care about them explains how patients and their loved ones can help.	MPP's membership brochure provides an overview of the need for marijuana policy reform, as well as MPP's work and accomplishments.

Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project and all of our allies. If you are a patient or medical professional who would like to become more involved, please send a short e-mail to Nathan@mpp.org describing why you support medical marijuana and where you are located in the state.