Reports from Illinois indicate that there is a possibility that the state could allow medical marijuana. Only one vote more is required to get this bill through the state legislature.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/12/illinois-house-could-lega_n_534107.html
Illinois is one House vote away from becoming the 15th state to legalize medical marijuana.
But Rep. Lou Lang, the sponsor of the measure that would enact legalization, is playing it safe. With a subject as sensitive as medical marijuana, he realizes that timing is everything.
"Many members will vote for this," Lang told the Chicago Reader, "but they'll only do it once. They'll go out on a limb once."
A new report from WBBM shows how tantalizingly close the state truly is to passing the bill. It squeaked out of the Illinois Senate almost a year ago; now, Lang says, more than 90 of the 118 members of the House of Representatives have told him they support the bill. And "he has been promised a vote by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) if he can muster the needed votes," the report reads.
The trouble for Lang is that private statements of support may not translate into votes. Nearly 40 of the representatives who support the bill in private say they fear the political fallout of casting an "aye" vote for it in the harsh light of day.
And the clock is ticking on passage of the bill. On January 12, 2011, a new General Assembly will be sworn in. If by that time the bill hasn't passed the House, the Senate's vote won't matter any more; it will be back to square one.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/12/illinois-house-could-lega_n_534107.html