marijuanamagazine.com

The Medical Marijuana Magazine

HOME ///// FEEDBACK/////LINKS/////FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Note: all emphasis is added.

Wife of Songwriter, Stroke Victim, Hoyt Axton Pleads Guilty to Giving Him Medical Marijuana

From the Los Angeles Times

September 4, 1997

Hamilton, Mont.--Deborah Hawkins, who last week married Hoyt Axton, said she rationed marijuana to the singer-songwriter after he quit smoking tobacco on his doctor's orders.

"I'd give him a small amount in the evenings... I'm guilty of that and I'm sorry," Hawkins said Wednesday as she pleaded guilty to possessing dangerous drugs and drug paraphernalia. Judge Jeffrey Langton gave her a one-year deferred sentence and fined her $1,000.

Axton faces identical charges. The two were charged last February after police found more than a pound of marijuana and paraphernalia at Axton's home near Victor.

Among Axton's many songs are "Joy To The World," a No. 1 hit for the rock group Three Dog Night, and "The Pusher" by Steppenwolf. He also wrote the lyrics "No, no, no, I don't smoke it no more" in the "No Song" performed by Ringo Starr.

Axton, who is recovering from a stroke two years ago and uses a wheelchair, is working on a new album.

Defense attorney Milt Datsopoulos said Hawkins observed that marijuana relieved some of Axton's pain, anxiety and stress he suffered after a stroke. A doctor told him he risked a second stroke if he continued to use tobacco, so he turned to marijuana, Hawkins said.

Comment by The Medical Marijuana Magazine

Note the basic elements of this story:

1. Axton used marijuana to help stop smoking tobacco on his doctor's orders. Of course, his doctor could not prescribe marijuana for him. Jesse Helms, the Senator from Nicotine, wants to make it a felony for a doctor even to suggest the possible medical use of cannabis.

2. It alleviated the pain, anxiety and stress caused by his stroke, but Axton's being in a wheelchair was not enough to elicit compassion from the prosecutor.

3. His wife has to say that she is "sorry" that she alleviated her husband's suffering.

4. Perhaps the most important element: This story was not reported in any major newspaper other than the Los Angeles Times, so almost no one knows about. Stealth terrorism. This way the American people can go on thinking that this "couldn't happen here."

HOME ///// FEEDBACK/////LINKS/////FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS