Illinois won't ban medical marijuana patients from owning guns

The new rules released in Illinois for public comments hope to make medical marijuana readily available to those who need it at the same time outlining the possible limits of medical marijuana.

The state of Illinois began a 4-year pilot program, effective January 1st this year. But, nothing can happen until the rules to govern it are passed. It will be at least another 90 days before lawmakers decide to keep the rules or change them based on public feedback.

The draft of these medical marijuana rules is currently going through a 45-day public comment period.

Melaney Arnold from the Illinois Department of Public Health said: "The act is some of the strictest language there is for medical cannabis. We did want to make sure we had those strict rules in there to prevent abuse and fraud, but also make it accessible for people."

"Our ultimate goal is to make sure that we're implementing the new law as intended," said Arnold. "It's to help relieve some of the pain and suffering from people with the 40 identified disabling conditions that are listed in the act. So we're here for the people of Illinois."

According to one of the new rules, the fee for obtaining a medical cannabis license has been reduced from $150 to $100 for regular patients and down to $50 for veterans and disabled people. A provision of the original law that people with medical cannabis licenses can not own a firearm has been dropped.

"We would have an open platform to be able to talk to the doctors to say hey, you know, this person is acting out of sorts while they're under the influence of this prescribed medication, so therefore, we believe that they should not have access to a firearm," said Belcher.