Last week, House Speaker Mac McCutcheon (R-Monrovia) said he was taking the unprecedented step of placing legislation to legalize medical marijuana in both the House Health Committee and the House Judicial Committee.

Earlier that week, the State Senate expeditiously passed the medical marijuana bill by a 21-10 margin.

State Rep. Mike Ball (R-Madison), the House sponsor of the legislation, said he was still optimistic the bill would pass during an interview Wednesday on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show. He gave it a better than 50% chance.

“I think it’s more likely to pass than not,” he said, “because I know what the truth is about this. And the more people hear the truth about this — what it is and why we’re doing it, the more people hear that, the better chance we have. I think if it were on the floor, we’d have the votes today.”

“But I also understand the more people learn about it, the harder it is to oppose what we’re doing because I know why we’re doing what we’re doing,” Ball continued. “And I see the potential for how many people who are suffering can be helped because of this bill.”

Ball insisted the pro-medical marijuana advocates would be ready for hearings in both the House Judicial and Health committees.

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.