— Siding with patients who say cannabis is the only drug that can safely ease their chronic pain, the Senate sent Gov. Pat Quinn a measure Friday that would make Illinois the 19th state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes.

The issue sparked an emotional debate between opponents who argued that lawmakers should in no way endorse a product classified as a controlled substance by the federal government and supporters who touted the strict nature of the proposal and declared it was not intended to allow the recreational use of pot.

"This bill will advance the common good of society," said sponsoring Sen. Bill Haine, D-Alton. "People who are suffering and in desperate need of relief should not be relegated to narcotics, opiates that are highly physically addictive and have horrific side effects."

The measure was sent to the governor on a 35-21 vote. Quinn has said he was "open minded" to the proposal after meeting with a veteran who used marijuana to ease pain related to war wounds. On Friday, his office said that he will "carefully review" the legislation when it reaches his desk.

The Democratic governor must weigh not only the merits of the bill but also the politics, given his re-election campaign next year. To a large extent, Quinn has positioned himself as a liberal, signing off on a major income tax increase, approving civil unions and abolishing the death penalty while in office.

Critics of the marijuana legislation argued that while the intentions may be good, the bill would encourage use of a gateway drug that could lead users to harder substances, destroying families along the way.

"For every touching story we have heard about the benefits to those in pain, I remind you today that there are a thousand times more parents who will never be relieved from the pain of losing a child due to addiction which in many cases started with the very illegal, FDA-unapproved, addiction-forming drug that you are asking us to now make a normal part of our communities," said Republican Sen. Kyle McCarter of downstate Lebanon, who indicated after the debate that his 21-year-old daughter died of an accidental overdose of laced heroin.

Under the proposal, a four-year trial program would be created to allow doctors to prescribe patients no more than 2.5 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. To qualify, patients must have one of 42 serious or chronic conditions listed in the bill — including cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and HIV — and an established relationship with a doctor.

They would undergo fingerprinting and a criminal background check and would be issued a registration ID card. Marijuana use would be banned in public, in vehicles, around minors and near school grounds. Property owners would have the ability to ban marijuana use on their grounds.

Patients could not legally grow marijuana, and would have to buy it from one of 60 dispensing centers across Illinois. The state would license 22 growers, one for every state police district.

Opponents said they did not trust the state to properly regulate marijuana production, pointing to Illinois' inability to solve problems such as a budget crisis fueled by inaction on pension reform. They also questioned the legitimacy of using marijuana for medical reasons, saying there are other options for pain management that have been approved by federal regulators.

"All of this rhetoric that I keep hearing all day is ridiculous," said Sen. Mattie Hunter, a Chicago Democrat who is a certified alcohol and drug counselor. "You all know full well the effects marijuana has on the body. All they did was put 'medical' in front of marijuana. It's still a drug."

Supporters countered that marijuana is more "benign" than many of the pharmaceuticals doctors currently prescribe, including the highly addictive oxycodone.

"I think that is a much more dangerous drug than the medical marijuana we're talking about, the medical marijuana that will help the 35-year-old mother with MS be able to walk her child to the end of the block to be able to catch her bus rather than be confined to her bed because of spasticity," said Sen. Linda Holmes, an Aurora Democrat who has multiple sclerosis.

The Illinois State Police remained neutral on the bill, and an agency spokeswoman said officers will "enforce whatever law is in place."

But the measure drew strong opposition from the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the Illinois Sheriffs' Association, which sent a letter to the governor and lawmakers warning the proposal would not stop medical marijuana cardholders from driving while under the influence. They suggested blood and urine testing be included in the legislation to allow police to determine whether cardholders had marijuana in their system while driving.

Haine argued the law has safeguards to prevent that, including designating on a driver's license whether they use medical marijuana. He said the law allows field sobriety tests to be admitted in court, which he argued is a better indicator of impairment than biological tests that detect marijuana in a person's system for up to 30 days after it was ingested.

Though some states have approved marijuana for medical and recreational use, possessing even small amounts remains illegal under federal law. But Haine said he's confident his measure is strict enough to prevent federal agents from descending on Illinois as they have in places like California where medical marijuana was "sloppily" instituted.

"This bill is filled with walls to keep this limited," said Haine, a former Madison County state's attorney.

mcgarcia@tribune.com

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