Skip to main content

TV Ad Campaign Boosts Medical Marijuana Bill

Submitted by dguard on

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
APRIL 21, 2009

TV Ad Campaign Boosts Medical Marijuana Bill
With Senate Vote Nearing, Spots With Real Patients to Air in Chicago, Peoria, and Decatur/Springfield/Champaign

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS -- With a Senate floor vote on medical marijuana legislation expected by the end of the month, supporters are taking to the airwaves with a pair of TV spots in which real Illinois medical marijuana patients tell their stories. The spots, introduced at a Statehouse press conference today, have begun airing in the Chicago, Peoria, and Decatur/Springfield/Champaign media markets.

     The ads, featuring Lucie Macfarlane of Joliet and Lisa Lange Van Camp of Lindenhurst, can be viewed at www.mpp.org/ads.

     "I used to be on so many narcotics that I had lost my desire to live," said Macfarlane, who suffers from neurofibromatosis, a painful disease that causes tumors to grow on nerve tissue. "Marijuana literally helped save my life by allowing me to cut back on the highly addictive painkillers that I had been prescribed for over a decade. I'm now totally off Oxycontin and am only taking Norco and marijuana for my pain. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share my story with other Illinoisans, some of whom may be in need of this law more than I am."

     "Nobody should ever have to live in fear of arrest for treating their illness," said Lisa Lange Van Camp, a Lindenhurst resident who lives with severe osteoarthritis, complicated by a rare condition, Dercum's disease. To date, Lisa has had both knees replaced, had one spinal fusion and currently needs five more spinal levels fused. "I should have the right to make my own treatment decisions regarding medical cannabis, based on my physician's recommendation, and to do so with dignity.  I hope our lawmakers hear this message loud and clear and pass the medical marijuana bill without delay."

     "Seriously ill patients like Lisa and Lucie should not have to fear being arrested for using a medicine that can, and has, helped them," said Sen. William Haine (D-Alton), a four-term former state's attorney and sponsor of the medical marijuana bill. "It is our hope that my colleagues in the Senate will recognize that there are many patients out there who could benefit from this legislation and pass this sensible, compassionate bill now. We have changed the bill significantly to meet the concerns of law enforcement. It's time for the state of Illinois to meet the concerns of her citizens who are suffering and might be helped by the restricted use of marijuana."

     Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), sponsor of the House version of the medical marijuana bill, said he hopes the new ads remind people how important the legislation is for real, suffering Illinois citizens.

     "These ads are a forceful reminder about what this bill is really about -- providing for the health and comfort of seriously ill patients who seek relief from a proven safe, effective treatment," Lang said.

     With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

####

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.