Illinois Gov. Rauner is expected to take action on the state’s Alternatives to Opioids Act before Tuesday’s deadline, according to media reports. The pending bill would allow patients who have been prescribed opioids to instead obtain a temporary identification card authorizing them to treat pain with cannabis under the Illinois medical marijuana program.
The temporary identification cards would be valid for ninety days and could be extended by the patient’s physician. Those receiving temporary cards would not have to comply with provisions of the medical marijuana program requiring fingerprint and background checks for patients.
Bob Morgan, the former chief of the state’s medical marijuana program, said that the bill could potentially help tens of thousands of patients avoid using opiates by expediting the issuance of temporary cards.
“The Act adds an important new tool for physicians in Illinois — allowing a doctor to issue a medical cannabis certification instead of prescribing highly addictive opioids,” Morgan said.
The Alternative to Opioids Act was sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Don Harmon and Democratic state Rep. Kelly Cassidy. The bill was passed by the state Senate in April and approved by the Illinois House of Representatives the following month. After both houses concurred to amendments to the measure in May, the bill was sent to Gov. Rauner on June 29.
Opioid Epidemic ‘Out of Control’
The opioid epidemic continues to take lives in Illinois and across the United States. Opioid overdoses caused nearly 2,000 deaths in Illinois in 2016, according to provisional data from the Illinois Department of Health.
“It certainly does seem to have grown out of control,” Harmon told the Chicago Sun-Times after introducing the bill. “I know a lot of people are dying from heroin and opioid overdoses, and I don’t