Report on Illinois Medical Marijuana Hearings

decrimwatch was actually at the hearings yesterday and has a report.

Not all the committee members attended the hearing, but those who showed up clearly “got it.” The legislators offered sympathy and respect to the patients who testified, while challenging brainless assertions by the state’s apparently dwindling faction of drug warriors.

There were only a few prohibitionists on hand to speak, and they were relics, typified by Peter Bensinger, former head of the Drug Enforcement Administration from 1976-1981. After reciting a good portion of his lengthy resume, Bensinger got down to business and said… well, it was kind of hard to pull a central point out of the jumble of scary statistics and self-righteous platitudes.