The bill that got passed was not our bill. it was theirs. They allowed the 'compromise' to only have 1 grow facility per state police district. They compromised on outlawing homegrowing. They compromised on background checks not only for the businesses (which makes sense) but also for the patients. Disqualifying all felons from being eligible for a card. This was to avoid diversion from dispensaries to black market - but wait - they already addressed that by saying patients could only get a set amount every two weeks anyway! And the patient had to designate one dispensary to buy from. Everything about this bill prior to it being voted on - was known that it was going to cause major challenges. Had they kept the option of homegrow of limited amount (our bill had 6 flowering plants at a time limit) then patients would have been at least able to legally get medicine. But no. Law enforcement didn't like that. So it got gutted.

I do realize it takes time - but people have been trying for 15 yrs to get a bill passed (we have to go through legislature) and the bill that finally did pass is a stinking pile of shit. They even compromised on the adding of new conditions. The bill sets up a commission to study new conditions. However, the recommendation is not binding and the Director of Public Health has to give final approval. We just saw the results of that when the commission recommended 11 new conditions be added and the Dir of Pub Health simply said 'no.' IL is a blue state. We had majorities of democrats in our state house. We could have got a better bill and we were close in years past. The bill we got SUCKS. Plain and simple. And it didn't have to be this bad.