Since 1972, the fight to remove cannabis from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the tightest restricted category reserved for drugs that currently have "no accepted medical use" has been a dragged out game of "is it or isn't it". People who argue that cannabis does not meet the Controlled Substances Act's strict criteria [for placement in Schedule I] have kept on fighting against the government and "naysayers" to get it legalized, causing the long awaited decision. The government has maintained that cannabis is dangerous enough to merit Schedule I status. By law the government is required to permit medical use or to remove it from federal control altogether! I hope for the sake of people who have already been using it as a means for medication, that it becomes less of an issue.
In a lot of states medical marijuana is still waiting to be legalized, but is already decriminalized or legal in several other states. Legalized/decriminalized, Pending legislation.* Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida & Washington DC. 75% of Washington, DC voters want to decriminalize marijuana possession. In the winter 2012, the first medical marijuana dispensary was OK’d 3 miles from the FBI building, after almost 14 years that 70% of voters passed a measure to allow it. a new program is expected to allow a total of six cultivation centers within the district, each able to grow 95 plants each at a time. For the 3 year regulatory process the program was waylaid by a
 |
| Copyright © 2013 Medical Marijuana* |
- In Springfield, IL The Illinois House voted 61/57 on Wednesday to pass HB1, the “Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act,” which creates a framework to protect physicians and certain qualified medical marijuana patients from arrest and prosecution. [hightimes.com]
- HB1 was introduced in January by State Rep. Lou Lang and is the latest attempt by the legislature to pass a medical marijuana bill. A similar legislation passed the Senate in 2009, but it was defeated in the House.
- Illinois allows patients with a “debilitating medical condition” to obtain approval from a physician to use medical marijuana, entitling qualified patients to possess 2.5 ounces for a two week period.
- Tax the sale of medical marijuana at 7%
- Cost of obtaining marijuana from a “dispensing organization” could potentially be prohibitively expensive for thousands of patients.
- Voters managed to win an amendment exempting qualified patients from the state’s zero-tolerance DUID law. A right afforded to most patients covered by state medical marijuana laws in the U.S.
- Concerns the bill will continue to criminalize patients growing their own "medicine".
UPDATE: