* This is good news…

Illinois Deputy House Majority Leader Lou Lang (D-Skokie) today announced an agreement with Governor Bruce Rauner over a Medical Marijuana pilot project expansion.

Lang issued the following statement on Senate Bill 10:

“Governor Rauner and House Minority Leader Jim Durkin deserve credit for their willingness and commitment to reform and extend Illinois’ medical marijuana program. I want to thank them for their cooperation to find a bi-partisan legislative compromise on improving a program designed to ease the pain and suffering of seriously ill individuals, including children.”

The chief provisions of the legislation are:

1. Pilot Program extended to July 1, 2020.

2. Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) and terminal illness added as qualifying medical conditions.

3. Patient and caregiver cards valid for three years, instead of one.

4. Upon renewal of patient and caregiver cards, no fingerprinting is required.

5. Doctors will no longer have to RECOMMEND cannabis, but will simply certify that there is a bona fide Doctor-Patient relationship and that the patient has a qualifying condition.

6. Minors who are patients may have two caregivers.

7. The Medical Cannabis Advisory Board will be reconstituted, and a new procedure created for accepting patient petitions for the addition of new conditions to the program.