More Relief on the Way with State’s Medical Cannabis Program

SPRINGFIELD – Adult use of marijuana isn’t the only critical development on the issue out of the Statehouse this year. Medical cannabis users and others in search of relief will now get more help.

Lawmakers voted this past weekend to send Gov. J.B. Pritzker Senate Bill 2023, which both extends permanently the Medical Cannabis Pilot Program and adds several conditions to the qualification list for medical cannabis relief: autism, chronic pain, IBS and Crohn’s, migraines, anorexia and a few others.

Rep. Bob Morgan, former MCPP director and now state representative from Deerfield, told lawmakers he had twice been disappointed before that these changes to the program had not been made, but he was not giving up.

“I pledged to those patients when I worked in state government that I would continue to fight to protect this program, and this is my solution, and my pledge and my promise being fulfilled,” Morgan said.

Others echoed the life-changing benefits of medical cannabis. “I have come full circle on this issue,” House Minority Leader Jim Durkin told the House chamber after meeting with constituents who had seen their lives turned around from using medical cannabis. “I am convinced that this program is worthwhile.”

The Medical Cannabis Alliance of Illinois, representing the state’s cultivation centers and dispensaries, praised lawmakers for their work on adult use and this medical cannabis program expansion legislation. Larry O’Hern, MCAI’s board chairman, noted in a news release that they will “create new jobs and economic opportunities, provide needed social justice and help many people where other treatments fall short.”

“The program has helped thousands of Illinoisans get the relief they desperately need, and we can change other lives for the better with this legislation in place,” added Pamela Althoff, MCAI’s executive director.

Watch here the House floor debate on Senate Bill 2320:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1mw_WPUMhw&feature=youtu.be