A medicinal marijuana advocate in Wisconsin is happy patients of chronic disease in Illinois will soon have access to pot for their pain. Gary Storck is co-founder of Is My Medicine Legal Yet? (IMMLY). He says while it’s a move in the right direction for our nation, it doesn’t give him any renewed hope for Wisconsin.
“I think in Wisconsin we’ll see it someday, but the Republicans are solidly against any kind of a pot law, you know, even though the overwhelming majority of Wisconsinites wants medical marijuana to be legalized, and have for more than ten years.”
Illinois is now the 20th state in the nation with a medical marijuana law. As for Wisconsin, Storck says the forward state is going backward. Republicans have a bill (AB-164, SB-150) making its way through a legislative committee that would more severely prosecute those using even small amounts of cannabis.
“There’s a lot of Wisconsinites using medical marijuana today illegally because they really have no other choice and they wanna have a quality of life and some dignity.”
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act on Thursday, but Storck is disappointed that it is too restrictive. He says it was designed more with law enforcement concerns in mind rather than the needs of patients.
The new law allows individuals with chronic diseases to get a special ID card that allows them to buy limited amounts of medical marijuana from state-licensed dispensaries. making Illinois the 20th state in the nation with a medical marijuana program. The law goes into effect on January 1.