There’s something in the air, and it’s not
smoke—politicians, medical marijuana advocates and Pachyderm members are
all talking about what it could mean for the state of Illinois if
medical marijuana is legalized. On March 27, the Metro East Pachyderm Club met at Amore’s Italian restaurant in O’Fallon to discuss the legalization of medical marijuana.
The majority of participants were not in favor of the notion of the law passing, but were quite inquisitive and wanted to know the pros and cons of such a reality.
Pachy member Sue DonCarlos of O’Fallon said she was once against the legalization coming to Illinois, but is now much more receptive to education about the topic.
“I was totally against it at first, but my sister was very sick and in the hospital and told me to educate myself on the subject because she was experiencing relief after her doctor gave her a THC injection to help (with pain),” she said. “It isn’t like the misconception of ‘smoking recreationally’ that most think about. Instead the pill, liquid or injection form of extracted THC can help those with autism, cancer and epilepsy.”
Sue said that when she began learning more about the plant’s history and all the trends and politics involved she was surprised at how complicated it all was.
“There’s long been a connection of marijuana to humanity in many cultures like the Sumerians, the Greeks and the Chinese,” She said.
Bob Lyons said he thinks the whole issue is a nice catch 22.
“As much as I’ve researched, I haven’t found any valid data that talks about like with alcohol—how much you can take at one time, and at what point does one become impaired, how much of it in your system declares you to be impaired?” Lyons said. “With alcohol there is a spectrum like 0.08. If you’re driving a forklift, a car or piloting an airplane, it’s going to be difficult to define impairment with marijuana and there in lies my problem with legalization.”
Ted Deets responded, “With THC, it’s one of the few compounds known to man that will not have an overdosing effect. Your body actually metabolizes the chemical.”
President Mary Gray said her frustration with the idea of people using marijuana legally is very complicated.
“(Like what Bob brought up) how will law enforcement be able to gauge the level of possible intoxication when THS is stored in your fat and alcohol isn’t,” Gray said. “How do we know people aren’t going to abuse it?”
Deets said the law that passed in Illinois is somewhat restrictive in comparison to other states like California, Colorado and Michigan.
Illinois became the 20th state to make the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act official on Jan. 1.
In the Illinois Bar Journal’s April 2014 issue (Vol. 102, No. 4), Conny Moody, assistant deputy director of health promotion at the Illinois Department of Public Health (DPH), said, “...It is a very stringent act; it puts us in the forefront of states that have gone before us in terms of how to properly implement this program, so that it assists the patients it is designed to assist: those with debilitating conditions. Our act does not allow the recreational use of medical cannabis.”
“There are a lot of issues with these laws in other states like taxation, rules for selling versus growing and both, distribution as well as the means of tracking the monies,” Sue DonCarlos said. “What’s getting involved now is the black market.... Another problem is ... it’s an all cash industry. It’s against the law for bank accounts to be involved or associated with the profits, which is ridiculous and dangerous.”
Deets added, “In other places ... they set it up where the middle man is cut out of the equation so the grower’s have to grow, process and distribute all themselves, which is hard and inhibits other businesses from being involved.
“Imagine having to deal with just cash that you can’t put in a bank. You have to resort to a safe deposit box or your own safe. Business owners are having to hire very armed private security guards to keep locations safe from robbery,” Deets said. “This is all due to regulations at the federal level.”
According to DonCarlos, medical marijuana has to be regulated more, unlike in Colorado and California.
“It’s a very interesting topic that’s ultimately going to affect future generations, and I think people need to be more educated on all the facts whether we are for or against it,” She said.
John Gray shared his experiences with the use of marijuana in his youth.
“I’m a child of the late 1960s and early 1970s. I smoked marijuana in my youth and up into the early years of my time in the Army while in Vietnam. There was dope smoked in my barracks on a daily basis.... People were impaired and so messed up... I’ve seen the Army on drugs and off drugs...,” Gray said.
“Flashing forward to the professional Army we have today, you can’t be in an environment like that or in a car driving impaired like that....but, if I’m dying of cancer and I’m hurting and marijuana is going to bring me relief—then I’m going to smoke it (or utilize the pill or liquid form),” he said.
Lyons offered his solution: “We all might as well acknowledge the fact that marijuana is going to end up being legalized and if we don’t want people to die because of the impairment side of it, then someone needs to start studying it more and start defining what is impairment when marijuana is involved and start cracking down on it.”
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