The Legislative session has started and lawmakers will be returning to Springfield on a regular basis until the end of May. We are pleased to announce three medical cannabis lobbying days when we can have a table setup for lawmakers to meet with patients and medical cannabis supporters. February 18, March 16 and April 20, 2010 are the days and hopefully we can get a decent amount of patients, doctors, and advocates at the Capitol supporting Senate Bill 1381. It is crucial that our supporters are respectful and are there to educate and build relationships with the lawmakers not to hold a protest or become disruptive. If you can attend one of these days please let us know that you will be joining us so that we can keep you up to date with the details, and if you cannot attend please be sure to call your State Representative on those days at 217-782-2000 telling them to "Vote Yes on Senate Bill 1381."

Also we are looking for dedicated people to join our volunteer team and help build our organization and expand the effort to end cannabis prohibition in Illinois. We are looking for an Assistant Director, an Outreach Coordinator, and a Volunteer Coordinator. If you are interested in any of these positions please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Descriptions are as follows:

By Burt Constable | Daily Herald Columnist
Published: 1/7/2010 12:01 AM

Activists in Illinois have been fighting for years, even decades, to add marijuana to the arsenal of drugs available to help sick people. Considering that optimism for medical marijuana has been high every year since Richard Nixon was president, supporters need short-term memory loss just to give them the strength to continue banging their heads against the wall.

"It's like the 'Groundhog Day' movie," says Dan Linn, the 27-year-old Lake County native who serves as executive director of the Illinois chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML). "Every legislative session the bill gets introduced and doesn't do anything."

There is an easy explanation for that.

We frist brought you this story in May of 2009 Illinois Sheriff Arrested when this cop was just a thief. Stealing drug dealers marijuana, and guns. Now him, and his family have been arrested for murder for hire. Damn marijuana has never harmed anyone, but the prohibition of marijuana has made criminals out of other wise law abiding citizens.

Raymond and Krista Martin (Cody Martin, Inset)

MURPHYSBORO, Ill. (AP) — Federal charges that the longtime sheriff of Gallatin County in southern Illinois sold marijuana while in uniform seemed odd enough to county board chairman Randy Drone. But new allegations the sheriff plotted from jail to have someone killed made the case even stranger.

“Is it greed? Ignorance? I don’t know,” Drone said Tuesday before Sheriff Raymond Martin’s first court appearance with his wife and 20-year-old son, who also are charged in the murder-for-hire scheme. “Arrogance — maybe that’s it. Thinking he’s so above the law he could actually get away with this.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Some Republican candidates for Illinois governor would consider allowing marijuana use for medical purposes, but others are sticking by long-held opposition that it would start the state on a slide toward pot legalization.

Smoking or eating the illegal drug eases pain and nausea in people suffering from a variety of ills without the sometimes harsh side effects of existing medicine, the state Senate agrees. It voted to approve using it under a doctor's care last spring, but the House failed to go along.