Chicago Tribune Editorial Board To Illinois Governor – Expand Medical Marijuana Program

Illinois has one of the most restrictive medical marijuana programs in the country, allowing only those that suffer from a short list of conditions to become patients. Multiple times now the IllinoisMedical Cannabis Advisory Board has endorsed expanding the list of conditions for the program, and both times Illinois Governor, Bruce Rauner, has squashed the proposals. Thats right, doctors want to expand the medical marijuana program, but Illinois top politician isnt allowing it to happen.

That has resulted in strong words coming from theChicago Tribune, via an articlethattheEditorial Boardrecently published:

The advisory board is scrupulous in its vetting. Dr. Leslie Mendoza Temple, a Chicago-area physician who chairs the panel, said her group does a comprehensive review of each proposal and rejects conditions that dont meet their standards. Anxiety, for example, was rejected because its too broad a category. Lyme and MRSA were left out because the scientific research was too vague to draw any conclusions.

The board is frustrated with the governor, for good reason. We dont get everything that we want on this board anyway, several times over, Mendoza Temple said at the most recent meeting.

About 6,200 people in Illinois have been approved to use medical marijuana. Thats well below early estimates. The states dispensaries and growers a new industry for this jobs-starved state are counting on a larger customer base. Expanding the list of uses would give Springfield a fuller track record to evaluate when lawmakers decide whether to extend the legalization of ...