Source: The Waukesha Freeman (WI)
Published 22 October 1999
STATE RESIDENTS JOIN MARIJUANA PROTEST
WASHINGTON (AP) Demonstrators from Wisconsin were among those helping block the door of a
congressman's office in response to his efforts to overturn a District of Columbia
referendum that would authorize medical use of marijuana.
Protesters included Jacki Rickert of Mondovi and Gary Storck of Madison, who were
identified as medicinal users of marijuana.
Rickert and Storck accompanied Cheryl Miller of New Jersey, who was lifted from her
wheelchair Thursday by her husband and placed on a sleeping bag in the doorway in the
office of Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga.
Source: The
Waukesha Freeman
Published: Nov. 10, 1999
MEDICAL MARIJUANA MUST BE ALLOWED
Thank you for your article, "State residents join marijuana protest" on October
22, 1999. As one of the participants and a Waukesha native, I'd like to add some comments.
While the action at Bob Barr's office added an exclamation point to our efforts in D.C.,
we also spent a lot of time meeting with congressional representatives trying to educate
them on the realities of daily life for sick, disabled and dying Americans, and how
medicinal marijuana can have significant and even lifesaving benefits for many patients.
Whenever the issue of medicinal marijuana has been placed before the voters, it has always
carried by large margins. For example, the medicinal marijuana initiative in Washington
D.C. that Rep. Barr has been attacking received 69% of the vote. By comparison, Barr was
elected with only 53% of the vote. Similarly in California in 1996, Prop 215 received more
votes than did President Clinton. And on November 2, 1999, voters in Maine passed a
medicinal marijuana ballot initiative by 62 percent to 38 percent.
There is no justification for keeping this medicine from people who need it, and cowardly
politicians who feel this issue is too controversial need to wake up and do the right
thing, instead of allowing this gross injustice to continue.
Insensitive politicians who would continue to keep medicinal marijuana away from sick
people need to walk a mile in our shoes, and experience what it is like to face serious
illness on a daily basis. When each day involves coping with pain and illness, why should
any medication be unavailable if it can ease suffering?
In a recent letter supporting the recent medical necessity decision by the 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals in California, the California Nurses Association -- representing 30,000
Registered Nurses -- wrote "To deny a patient's use of any drug that allows them
relief from the ravages of illness would be immoral".
Citizens interested in ending this impasse should contact your federal and state
representatives and let them know you support the rights of sick, disabled and dying
citizens for legal access to this medicine today.
Gary Storck
via e-mail |
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