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The Human Services Committee of the Illinois House of Representatives voted down medical marijuana bill HB0407 by a vote of 7 to 4 Feb. 17.
The committee faced pressure from the White House to reject the bill. Federal drug czar John Walters spent a full hour testifying against the measure, according to a release from the Marijuana Policy Project ( MPP ) .
Patient Irvin Rosenfield, who still receives medical marijuana from the U.S. government through a program that closed to new patients in 1992, was held by police after the hearing. Rosenfield, who suffers from a painful condition known as multiple congenital cartilaginous exostosis, brought the tin of 300 marijuana cigarettes he receives monthly to the hearing. Police detained him while verifying that he had federal permission to have the drug.
Bill sponsor Rep. Larry McKeon, D-Chicago, remarked that the effort to have the bill voted down was "an outrageous misuse of tax dollars, and I am distressed that my fellow Democrats couldn't muster the courage to resist this White House interference."
The bill was supported by several organizations, including the Illinois Nurses Association and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Television talk show host Montel Williams, who uses medical marijuana for his multiple sclerosis, advocated HB0407's passage in a Feb. 14 Chicago Tribune column.
Source: Windy City Times (Chicago, IL)
Copyright: 2005 Windy City Media Group
Contact: editor@windycitymediagroup.com
Website: Gay Lesbian Bisexual Trans News - windycitytimes - Windy City Media Group
The committee faced pressure from the White House to reject the bill. Federal drug czar John Walters spent a full hour testifying against the measure, according to a release from the Marijuana Policy Project ( MPP ) .
Patient Irvin Rosenfield, who still receives medical marijuana from the U.S. government through a program that closed to new patients in 1992, was held by police after the hearing. Rosenfield, who suffers from a painful condition known as multiple congenital cartilaginous exostosis, brought the tin of 300 marijuana cigarettes he receives monthly to the hearing. Police detained him while verifying that he had federal permission to have the drug.
Bill sponsor Rep. Larry McKeon, D-Chicago, remarked that the effort to have the bill voted down was "an outrageous misuse of tax dollars, and I am distressed that my fellow Democrats couldn't muster the courage to resist this White House interference."
The bill was supported by several organizations, including the Illinois Nurses Association and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Television talk show host Montel Williams, who uses medical marijuana for his multiple sclerosis, advocated HB0407's passage in a Feb. 14 Chicago Tribune column.
Source: Windy City Times (Chicago, IL)
Copyright: 2005 Windy City Media Group
Contact: editor@windycitymediagroup.com
Website: Gay Lesbian Bisexual Trans News - windycitytimes - Windy City Media Group
