Recently, Governor Bruce Rauner rejected the recommendations of the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board to expand by eight the number of conditions under which Illinois residents can access medical marijuana.
Currently, the list of 39 conditions that qualify includes muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, glaucoma, Parkinson’s disease and 33 others. Among those rejected by the governor in this latest round of recommendations are osteoarthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, autism, and post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Chronic pain, a symptom of many conditions helped by medical marijuana, is debilitating and saps the very life out of millions of people. It impacts their jobs, their relationships, their productivity and their mental health. We should be focused on ways to expand access to medical marijuana, not limit it.
Make no mistake: Pharmaceutical companies have a financial incentive to keep people hooked on their products. Witness the recent Chicago Tribune story on former Chicago Bear Jim McMahon, which outlined how medical marijuana helped him kick a years-long addiction to prescription pain killers. The growing and devastating epidemic of prescription drug abuse shows our current approach isn’t working.
Positively impacting the lives of those who suffer should be one of our goals as a society, and promoting the expansion of medical marijuana will bring much-needed assistance to those who face these incapacitating health challenges. Like other societal conventions that have been destigmatized, it’s time to bring medical marijuana into the light and cultivate the relief it could bring to thousands of Illinois residents.
I’m Wester Wuori, and that’s my Perspective.
