State also loosens medical cannabis rules
Possessing small amounts of marijuana is no longer a crime in Illinois, thanks to a new law which took effect in July.
State lawmakers also recently loosened the rules governing the Illinois medical marijuana program. The two developments mean Illinois is following the national trend of rethinking a long demonized plant.
On July 29, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law Senate Bill 2228, which makes possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana a civil offense punishable by a fine between $100 and $200. Previously, possession of 2.5 grams or less was a Class C misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days behind bars and a fine of up to $1,500.
Dan Linn is executive director of the Illinois chapter of NORML, which advocates reforming laws on marijuana. Linn calls the new law “a big step in the right direction,” noting that it took a lot of negotiation and compromise to get through the Illinois General Assembly. Marijuana is sometimes characterized as a gateway to harder drugs and crime, so state policymakers have been cautious about easing restrictions. The governor previously vetoed a more ambitious bill, for example. Linn says Illinois’ incremental steps are a way of cautiously dipping a toe in the water to look for potential problems.
“Illinois is finally joining the rest of the country in a lot of ways,” he said. “But we’re definitely not leading the way.
Decriminalization isn’t quite the same thing as legalization. Possessing any amount of marijuana is still illegal in Illinois for anyone who isn’t part of the medical cannabis program. The consequences just aren’t as harsh now. Possessing large amounts of marijuana can still result in jail time, although the limits were increased under the new law.
It’s already illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana, and the new law establishes thresholds for bodily concentrations of THC, the active chemical in marijuana, at which a person will legally be considered under the influence of drugs. The law also requires police to warn drivers about the possible consequences of refusing or failing a drug test during a traffic stop.
The new law comes as the state’s rules for medical cannabis are expanding to include more potential patients. In the past two months, two separate court cases established that Illinois must add post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to the list of approved medical conditions under the medical cannabis program. Several other lawsuits are pending on separate conditions.
Shortly after the PTSD decision, Rauner signed into law a bill which added PTSD and terminal illness to the approved list of medical conditions. Among other provisions, that law extends the medical cannabis program from 2018 to 2020 and makes it easier for new medical conditions to be added to the list.
Chris Stone, CEO of HCI Alternatives, a licensed medical marijuana dispensary in Springfield, says the medical marijuana industry in Illinois is viable, despite early concerns among industry observers. Stone is confident that he and others will earn back the substantial investments required to join the industry, although he concedes it may take a while. The recent changes to state law only show that attitudes toward medical marijuana are changing, he says.
“As people get more educated about the pain management benefits of medical marijuana over opiates and other prescription drugs,” Stone said, “it’s only going to steer the program forward.”
Stone points to the experience of the second patient to ever walk through the doors of his dispensary. It was a woman with multiple sclerosis, who couldn’t drive and was in such pain that Stone had to fill out her intake form for her. Less than two weeks after first using medical marijuana, the woman returned, sharing that she had been able to visit her parents by herself for the first time in 15 years.
“She comes up to me almost crying, saying, ‘Thank you so much for opening up this store,’ ” Stone said. “Her story still gives me chills. … These are the great stories we have with cannabis.”
Contact Patrick Yeagle at [email protected].
