BLOOMINGTON - Legalizing marijuana use for chronic pain relief would be a compassionate move and its time has come, supporters said. But opponents argue that allowing marijuana - even for medical reasons - would open the door to all sorts of abuse. | Patient: Compassionate care favors medicinal marijuana

Thirteen states allow marijuana use for medical reasons. Illinois legislators are considering a bill that has more support this year than when it was defeated in the Illinois Senate in 2007.

Senate Bill 1381 says when a person is diagnosed with a debilitating medical condition, the patient - with his or her physician's permission - would be allowed to have up to seven marijuana plants and two ounces of cannabis for medical reasons.

Advocates - such as the Marijuana Policy Project, a nationwide group - argue that marijuana may provide pain relief from cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases because it reduces inflammation and relaxes people, and may help control spasticity associated with spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease, and agitation associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Marijuana also may reduce nausea from chemotherapy because the primary active ingredient in marijuana has a calming effect on the stomach, and may discourage loss of appetite in HIV/AIDS and cancer patients

because marijuana encourages people to eat, supporters said.

Opening Pandora's Box?

Detractors argue that the risks of legalizing marijuana use outweigh the benefits.

"Are we going to open a Pandora's box?" asked state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington.

Brady opposes the legislation because - though well-intentioned - the law would be difficult to enforce. If marijuana became legal for medical reasons but remained illegal for non-medical reasons, how would police enforce the law?

"People would abuse it," Brady contended. "Some people would get the drug legally and use it for illegal means or would take it from someone using it for medical reasons."

State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, also opposes the bill, saying "Illinois is not equipped to monitor medical marijuana."

Dr. Ramsin Benyamin, medical director of Millennium Pain Center in Bloomington, treats chronic pain patients for whom conservative treatments have not worked. Most of his patients have chronic back pain. Some of his patients are on opioid medicines delivered by pill, patch or pumps implanted into a patient's body. For most patients, those medicines provide some relief, Benyamin said.

"As far as the benefit (of medical marijuana), there is no good scientific evidence to prove a major advantage of marijuana over currently prescribed and legally used pain medicines," Benyamin said.

Any benefit would be outweighed by the risk of the marijuana being abused, he said. In addition, many patients would smoke the marijuana after the medical community has been successful in getting people to quit smoking cigarettes.

"My opinion is the risk outweighs the possible benefit," Benyamin said.

Dr. Robert Sawicki, medical director of OSF Home Care Services, said 95 percent of symptoms for patients seeking pain relief are managed with available therapies, such as medicines, implantable pumps and surgeries.

"In the studies I have read, the evidence in favor of medical marijuana is not very compelling," Sawicki said. "If it would be no better or worse than what is already out there, why bring it to market?"

But Gregg Brown, a Bloomington environmental activist who favors legalization of medical marijuana, pointed to an Illinois Nurses Association position paper that says cannabis has been used throughout the world for medicinal purposes for centuries and may be used safely under doctor supervision. The paper further argues that marijuana use does not lead to morphine, cocaine or heroin addiction and that there is a growing body of scientific evidence supporting cannabis use.

Seth Satorius, an Illinois State University student and secretary of the ISU chapter of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, said the U.S. government has not allowed clinical trials of marijuana and that's why there isn't more scientific evidence. But small scale research indicates relief of symptoms from AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis.

Legalizing marijuana for medical reasons won't encourage people to smoke cigarettes, Brown said. Medical marijuana also may be breathed using a vaporizer or baked into cookies or brownies and eaten, he said.

As for the risk-of-abuse argument, advocates said that exists with any medicine.

"With states that have approved it (medical marijuana), the social order is not falling apart," Satorius said.

A survey by the Marijuana Policy Project showed 68 percent of Illinoisans support allowing seriously and terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana if their doctors recommend it.

"The public is right on this," Brown said.