IL Lawmakers set up task force to help legalize recreational marijuana

[Sava]

State and local lawmakers will call on the Illinois General Assembly Monday to create a task force to help legalize marijuana for recreational use.

Lawmakers want the task force to research, develop and propose legislation to legalize and regulate marijuana.

They also see it as a source of revenue and want to impose taxes on the industry.

Many believe making marijuana legal will free up police resources and ultimately save the state money.

http://wgntv.com/2014/04/28/lawmakers-want-task-force-to-weed-out-plan-for-legalizing-recreational-use/

There is a video there. Sorry, no embed link.


but

[Felch]

[-Jrabbit]

Illinois famously passed medical marijuana last year, and the law went into effect January 1st. We are still waiting for the first gram to be distributed.

Draft rules for patients and their caregivers were published in late January and are supposed to be finalized by the end of this month. Rules for dispensaries and cultivation centers are still being drafted. The state does not expect to even accept their first application until September, so those anxious patients will just have to be, um, patient.

Illinois' law is considered very restrictive.

The proposed rules specify that a bona fide physician-patient relationship must go beyond a simple recommendation for medical cannabis or a consultation for that purpose. They list records that must be maintained by doctors and they allow the department to inspect cultivation centers.

Jim Champion, an Illinois veteran from Somonauk who has multiple sclerosis, plans to apply for a medical marijuana card. He said he's concerned about a part of the proposal that seems to prevent people from legally holding a medical marijuana card while also having a firearm owners ID card or concealed carry permit. He owns a gun given to him by his father and doesn't want to give it up.

"I kind of feel like they're stomping on my constitutional rights," Champion said.

The law bars anyone convicted of a drug felony from getting a medical marijuana card. But the suggested regulations give the department some leeway to approve a card if the patient's conviction involved obtaining marijuana for medical purposes that would be legal under the new law.

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/healt...#ixzz30FPlTJZ7

So yeah, it's probably a whole lot easier and far less of a bureaucratic nightmare to just legalize it.

[Thoth]

it's probably a whole lot easier and far less of a bureaucratic nightmare to just legalize it.

Yep.

It's long past time for prohibition to end.

[Sava]

So yeah, it's probably a whole lot easier and far less of a bureaucratic nightmare to just legalize it.

IL law WRT medical marijuana was very restrictive. To become a grower or dispensary, I think there was a minimum of $2.5 million dollars in fees.

I mean...

$2.5 million

It's like they only want Pablo Escobar to be a part of this.

Legalization