Illinois’ new governor touts legal marijuana, but will he remove roadblocks to expand medical pot?

with pro-marijuana J.B. Pritzker now in the Illinois governor’s mansion, all eyes are on his plan to legalize cannabis for recreational use. But even if approved by lawmakers, that could take more than a year to implement, and many voices are raising the call to take things slowly.

In the meantime, advocates say there’s a simple way the governor could greatly increase access to marijuana for those who want it for medical reasons.

At least eight lawsuits are pending to expand the conditions for which medical marijuana would be allowed under the state’s existing program. Chief among them is intractable pain, which the courts have already ordered to be added as a qualifying malady. But that ruling was appealed by the administration of Pritzker’s Republican predecessor, Bruce Rauner.

If Pritzker and new Attorney General Kwame Raoul drop the appeal, the court order would take effect within 30 days. The Illinois Department of Public Health, which resisted adding some new qualifying conditions during Rauner’s term in office, could also now choose on its own to expand access to medical cannabis. Neither Pritzker nor Raoul, who are both Democrats, have yet said what they’ll do with the pending lawsuits.

Critics have opposed any broad expansion of the program, because they want to avoid easy availability for anyone claiming an ache or pain.

Since 2015, the state has been allowing sales of marijuana to patients who qualify with any of about 40 specified serious medical conditions, such as cancer and multiple sclerosis, though legal medical cannabis remains a pilot program.

One of the pending lawsuits seeking to expand that list was filed by Chicago-area resident Ann Mednick, who said she suffers from osteoarthritis causing intractable pain, meaning it’s resistant to treatment.

It was her lawsuit that resulted in the court order to add intractable pain as a qualifying condition, with the judge citing clinical studies that found marijuana effective treatment for chronic pain with relatively few side effects.

Mednick said she has no problem getting a prescription for tramadol, a highly addictive narcotic, but hates the side effects. When she asked two of her doctors for medical marijuana, they told her their employers wouldn’t allow them to certify patients because marijuana remains prohibited under federal law.

“They’ve scared the bejesus out of the doctors,” said Mednick, adding she’s just wants to make it easier to accomplish daily activities.

One medical marijuana expansion Rauner did embrace was a new state law allowing it as a replacement for patients who could otherwise get an opioid painkiller prescription. But proponents say simply adding new conditions would be more convenient for affected patients, because some don’t qualify for narcotic painkillers, and those that do must have their prescription renewed every 90 days, instead of the yearlong certificate for general medical cannabis use.

Rheumatoid arthritis already qualifies for medical marijuana, but not common osteoarthritis, nor pain in general, which is the most popular qualifying condition in many other states. An online petition asking Rauner to drop his opposition to chronic pain attracted 4,600 signatures.

Mednick’s attorney, Mike Goldberg, said he doesn’t know what the new administration will do, but with the financial backing of the medical marijuana industry, he plans to proceed with the cases if necessary.

“The industry is definitely interested in putting these cases back on track to force the new administration to address whether to expand the program,” he said.

Ross Morreale, co-founder of medical marijuana company Ataraxia and chairman of the Medical Cannabis Alliance of Illinois, said dropping the opposition to the lawsuits would be the “fastest and easiest” way to improve access.

The Illinois health department could also approve any of at least eight conditions that were recommended by the now-dissolved state medical cannabis advisory board, including neuropathy, osteoarthritis and chronic pain from trauma.

“To have these added … would help tens of thousands of Illinois residents gain access to medical cannabis, and would in turn increase the 2019 tax revenue to the state by four to five times,” Morreale said.

The Medical Cannabis Advisory Board was disbanded in 2017 as part of a deal with Rauner’s administration that added terminal illness and post-traumatic stress syndrome as qualifying conditions. PTSD has since become the No. 1 reason people use medical marijuana in Illinois.

Tim McAnarney, a lobbyist for Healthy and Productive Illinois, which opposes marijuana legalization, said his group does not oppose decriminalization or medical marijuana themselves but doesn’t support any widespread expansion.

“We don’t want to become California, where you stub your toe and get (medical marijuana),” he said. “At some point you have to draw a line. Is it really for medical (reasons), or just to try to inch closer to complete legalization?”

Even if recreational marijuana is approved, the medical program will remain important because it will likely be taxed at a much lower rate, and it may provide additional legal protections for those who use it.

On the campaign trail, Pritzker often voiced his support for making sure that medical marijuana is accessible to the people who need it, and he wants to preserve the program despite the advent of recreational marijuana, spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said.

“J.B. is committed to working with lawmakers to ensure medical cannabis regulations meet the medical needs of Illinoisans,” she said, “and looks forward to working with the General Assembly to continue making the program accessible to those who need it.”

A spokesperson for Raoul declined comment, but the state’s new attorney general has voiced support for medical marijuana access. His office generally is tasked with representing the wishes of its client, in this case, the department of health, which falls under the governor’s purview.

In addition to adding conditions, another way the new governor could expand medical marijuana, advocates say, is by awarding or rebidding five dispensary licenses that were never issued. As the industry is poised to balloon in size, there is much more interest in those licenses now.

“It could very well happen,” said attorney Bob Bauerschmidt, who has represented the patients filing lawsuits as well as dispensaries. “I’d be shocked if the governor denies medical marijuana when he’s talking about approving recreational.”