Illinois Officially Legalizes Medical Marijuana As Governor Signs Bill

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Marijuana.com

Over two months after Illinois’ Senate voted yes on medical marijuana, Governor Pat Quinn has finally signed off, making Illinois “officially” the United States’ 20th medical marijuana state. If you count Washington, D.C., that makes 21, and the country edges closer to the perhaps mythical “Tipping Point” (at least with BHO in office).

Here’s the full scoop, courtesy of our friends at MPP:

Illinois has now joined 19 other states that have effective medical marijuana laws benefitting seriously ill patients. On Thursday, August 1, Gov. Pat Quinn signed “The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act,” which will provide much-needed relief to patients in the state.

The bill’s primary sponsor in the general assembly, Rep. Lou Lang, told the Chicago Tribune, “Our goal from the beginning was to provide a better quality of life for some very sick people in Illinois.” He indicated that with the governor’s signature, “it’ll be a signal to many people that the state of Illinois still has a good deal of compassion, a good deal of concern for those of us, under a doctor’s care, who wish to try a new type of therapy … to simply feel better.”

Illinois’ medical marijuana law will become effective on January 1, 2014, and the Department of Public Health will have four months from that date to implement rules for the state program. You can learn more about the law here.

Good times indeed for Illinois’ patients in need! On the flip side, MPP brings deserved attention to the scary, scary fact that Illinois still arrests tens of thousands of citizens a year for marijuana misdemeanors, as a  ”study by the ACLU found that there were nearly 50,000 marijuana possession arrests in Illinois in 2010.”

In other words, we’ve still got a long way to go before we catch Uruguay.

Read More HERE