cannabisnews.com: Starving for Medical Marijuana 





Starving for Medical Marijuana 
Posted by CN Staff on May 18, 2002 at 05:18:11 PT
By Amy Linn, Special to The Chronicle
Source: San Francisco Chronicle 
Missoula, Mont. -- She wears the look of someone pinned beneath a boulder, a woman exhausted by pain and frustration. So why would 45-year-old Robin Prosser, a devoted single parent of a teenage girl, go on a hunger strike -- today in its 29th day -- when the outcome could be fatal? The answer is pot. A desperate need for medical marijuana. Prosser, a talented pianist, has spent the past 17 years battling an immunosuppressive disorder and other conditions that she says cause chronic pain, heart trouble, muscle spasms, nausea and daily migraines. 
In search of relief, Prosser has tried nearly every prescribed potion and pill, including morphine and other painkillers (she is violently allergic to them), anti- nausea medications (ditto) and a long list of therapies (nothing works). Finally, she tried marijuana. "It made the pain go away," she says, squinting against the incongruously cheerful sun slicing into the living room of her meticulous home on a street of similar houses. "The pain is never completely gone," Prosser corrects herself. "But with marijuana, the pain is manageable." With daily pot use, Prosser says she can compose music, write fiction, take care of her 17-year-old daughter and live a fairly normal life. Without it, "I'm sunk." And so Prosser, a very small voice in a very large state, has taken up a fight that has intensified across the nation, from the Bay Area and Washington, D.C., to Alaska, Hawaii and Maine. On one side are patients, doctors and voters who consider cannabis to be a beneficial and necessary medication for cancer pain, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, nausea and AIDS-related weight loss, among other medically recognized uses. On the other side is the Bush administration, federal law and the U.S. Supreme Court. The latter ruled last May that federal drug prohibitions prevail over the wishes of individual states and citizens: Smoking marijuana is a federal crime, period. In California, where voters approved an initiative in 1996 that allows marijuana use for seriously ill residents, the fallout has been particularly ugly. Since September, Drug Enforcement Administration agents have raided, shut down or confiscated plants and patient records at medical marijuana operations in Ventura County, El Dorado County and West Hollywood. In February, the DEA raided the Harm Reduction Center on Sixth Street in San Francisco and arrested three people on drug charges that could bring them each 40 years in prison. Even in Montana, Prosser felt the aftershocks. "The federal government is really trying to close down all the pot clubs, which is all the more reason to do this now," she says. On April 20, she stopped eating. "There's no alternative. It was either this, or cut and run -- move to Amsterdam or Canada or some other country with legalized medical marijuana," Prosser says. But her daughter -- who supports her mother and calls her actions "courageous" -- wants to finish high school in Missoula. That means Prosser would have to move alone. "I don't want to leave my daughter," she says. "But I'd do that before I'd die on her and not make it to her high school graduation." A Missoula neurologist familiar with her case, Dr. Ethan Russo, agrees that Prosser would benefit from having pot by prescription. "I believe that using cannabis is helpful to her condition," he says. What's unfortunate, he adds, is that someone in Prosser's situation would feel the need to take such drastic measures. "In other countries, unlike the situation here, the medical use of clinical cannabis has been recognized as a right of the people," says Russo, editor of the Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics. "But our government is still taking the position that this is a dangerous drug that has no medical use. And it basically is a pervasive lie." To Prosser's surprise, the lie doesn't hold as much sway in Montana as one would expect. Big Sky country might be known for yee-hawing cowboys and gun- toting right-wingers, but almost all the locals she has heard from have expressed their support -- albeit their private support. No public rallies have been staged in her behalf; no local television stations have given her any coverage. (She has been deluged, meanwhile, with e-fanmail from abroad, and a Web site -- http://www.cannabisnow.org -- chronicles her hunger strike). So what will she do if no one pays attention? What will make her eat again? "Some action from George Bush," she says. Protection from local authorities would help, too. In the past, she was well enough to make the long drive to Seattle to buy from a cannabis club there, but she says she no longer has the strength. Prosser wants assurances that she can grow marijuana, strictly for her own use, in the privacy of her home without fear of prosecution. "I cannot do that," says Missoula County Sheriff Doug Chase. It would be up to the courts to sort out whether Prosser deserves an exemption or some special treatment, he says. "It sounds kind of inhumane and callous. But I'm certainly not in a position to say that I'm not going to enforce the law." Missoula Police Chief Bob Weaver is more blunt: "She'll be busted if she grows pot and we learn about it. The courts can look at mitigating circumstances." Prosser says she doesn't want to be a criminal. That's her point. "I don't want to break the law. But I don't want to be forced to live and be sick." She has joined political groups pushing for marijuana legalization; she's gone to rallies, written to legislators and joined a class-action lawsuit, all to no avail. "It's a pretty monolithic group that's opposed to marijuana," says a worried-sounding Lawrence Hirsch, the Philadelphia attorney who represented Prosser and 164 others in the medical marijuana class-action litigation, which ultimately failed. Her current choice of action is a long shot at best. It is unlikely that the White House will call. But although she has been briefly hospitalized (for an electrolyte imbalance) and has lost 33 pounds ("I had some to spare," she jokes), Prosser says she will not back down. "If I had another choice, some other medication to take, I'd take it in a heartbeat," Prosser says. "I want to do this for all the hundreds of other people in the country who are ill and dying and are in the same boat, waiting for the laws to change. And I'm selfish, too. I want this for me and my daughter. If I could just have this one thing." Prosser accepts an invitation to sit at her gleaming grand piano in the corner. Her hands race across the octaves, then she settles into a lush melody that suddenly becomes recognizable: it's the first few bars of "Misty." "Look at me," the words go, although she doesn't sing them. "I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree." Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Amy Linn, Special to The ChroniclePublished: Saturday, May 18, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Hearst Communications Inc. - Page A - 3 Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/Related Articles & Web Sites:Cannabis Nowhttp://www.cannabisnow.org/Cannabinoids in Pain Managementhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/drr.htm Dying for a Smoke http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12786.shtmlGrowing Desperate http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12681.shtmlMissoula Woman Launches a Hunger Strike http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12650.shtml 
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on May 20, 2002 at 19:15:12 PT
Here's the complete article
http://freedomtoexhale.com/rp.htm
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Comment #12 posted by plantsheal on May 20, 2002 at 15:57:02 PT:
Phone congress day ???
hi,webDiva from Robin's site here...i just received her latest journal entry (haven't posted it on the site yet) & i fear the strike is taking it's physical toll. i want to do more -- but what??? is it possible to organize a day where we all place a phone call to our congress people. i'll get it started on the site...will you who are following this story participate? we need to be a bit more pro-active on her behalf. i know many have been sending emails to the press. if we can really focus our efforts & now target congress maybe that will stir something up....any comments?
CannabisNow.org
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Comment #11 posted by Jose Melendez on May 18, 2002 at 19:22:57 PT:
Hunger striker released.
After 73 days of strict hunger strike, Swiss activist Bernard Rappaz was released from prison on January 25, by an order of the provincial high court. From:http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2427.htmlAfter 73 days of strict hunger strike, Swiss activist Bernard Rappaz was released from prison on January 25, by an order of the provincial high court. 
Rappaz was arrested November 14, 2001, and charged with trafficking and possession of 10 tons of hash and cannabis products See: http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2328.htm The 48-year old Rappaz has been slowly recuperating from the effects of his lengthy fast, but friends say he is still strong and will recover.
Arrest Prohibition
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Comment #10 posted by gloovins on May 18, 2002 at 14:40:19 PT
You aren't hopeless Robin.
The US Government is.
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Comment #9 posted by paul peterson on May 18, 2002 at 13:48:18 PT:
San Francisco Chronicle-home town newspaper
Well its about time some real newspaper did something to help someone with something like Robin Prosser is trying to accomplish-It only took 29 days right? Why, another 11 days and we coulda rained out the whole world's parade (that great flood a few eons ago, that is). Why, another 11 days and she woulda tied that greatest hunger striker in the history of the world (Christ, that is) whilst he was out in the desert, that is, probably outside of Reno or somewhere like it.So finally, somebody's email to the editor got somebody to put this in the "legitimate" print media. And they even spelled Russo right, go figure! Now where do we go from here? We've got the New New York City mayor talkin about tokin, while those New New York Troopers go and kill a guy outa bed, and they don't even say in the media if they found any pot on the guy, eh? We've got the Nevada Supreme Court sayin they need something tangible to issue an arrest warrant. We've got some bad right wingers in Amsterdam that got so pissed at a rising gay politician that they kill him, and then try to call him a right winger and all-Now the guy that took over the government is talkin about takin away those cannabis clubs (I'm thinkin they had to get rid of the flamboyant leader so that guy didn't get the reigns of power). We've got Canada trying to back down on giving some real patients real pot, just because it makes the DEA shit look like DEA shit, because the DEA wouldn't give'em real DEA shit pot seeds and all, go figure! The DEA guys give out their DEA shit weed, specifically so all the studies that they purposely use DEA shit weed for, don't prove squat about pot other than DEA shit weed doesn't work any better than the DRUG COMPANY shit for anything. So now the guy that did a bang up job of growing 185 varieties of quality bud can't get any applause, since if there is only one hand clapping, you can't even hear the wind blow or something.And just this week, in Illinois (Springfield, that is, home of the Simpsons) an attorney general attorney blew a 9 am court call, and failed to argue in time for taking a drug case defendant to jail on a "search and seizure" case, and I'm thinking that marks a real change in the wind-Usually they would just roll over backwards to let the state have more time to do whatever-now the state paid attorney might even get disciplined-and how can the court find for the state if the state "waived" oral argument? That means the court will get some press for maybe letting a WOD off for a change (sorta like that Nevada court did, eh?). This is, of course, the same supreme court that failed to even look at my allegations of FRAUD, PERJURY, MAIL FRAUD, done by the local lawyer police (merely, of course, because the lawyer police work for the same supremes?). Now the attorney general attorney, that is, will be disciplined by the same lawyer police (and believe me, they are not nice people, they aren't). The same lawyer police that are looking at the attorney general for failing to investigate my claims against the same lawyer police (I know, I know, this is sounding too convoluted, isn't it?). Well, it gets better. The Department of Justice (feds) are working with the FBI right now to take a local Muslim "charity" connection guy to task for committing what they call "PERJURY" by something the guy said in a court "declaration". And I went to them and told them they gotta take the lawyer police to task for doing exactly the same thing in a "declaration" they filed against me when they got the supreme court to take my life away, just because I told them all about these fraud thingies (that the supremes didn't want to see, remember).So I went and told the federal district court about these things, and who knows? Maybe someone will look at it, or listen, or do something about these other people that didn't do what they were supposed to do about these other people, and stuff like that. And maybe this all means that some of these people are getting tired of the same old same old, and maybe there are even people in Illinois (THE LAND OF LINCOLN) that wanna hear more about those FIRST AMENDMENT FREEDOMS OF SPEECH AND STUFF (just like in DC, where a federal judge told the feds they gotta let the people have a referendum for medical marijuana after all).And please recall, that just a few short months ago, you could go on line once a month and get all the news in this sleepy little one horse town, and now you gotta go on at least daily to see all the stories from all the places that ground fires are burning on these issues, right?And hey-even George W. Bush is having to answer for why nobody told the airlines about that threat to use a few good planes for missiles and all (picky-picky, or good press-you decide). What I'm saying is, this whole story s just getting hotter and hotter, and better and better-Now we've got Bill Maher & Terry Hillinan both talking about RELIGIOUS RIGHTS TO USE CANNABIS! Something noone was even thinking about just a few months ago-I'm thinkin they are awaiting for the Hawaii case that is overdue-a judge there has to decide if the state has a "compelling" (enough) reason to restrict religious freedom (the language from the constitution out yonder), where on one hand the same constitution gives islanders the right to smoke in the privacy of the home, and on the other hand the right to use smoke for medicinal purposes-how can the state find a "compelling" interest in between those two polar rights? (there is good case law on this with peyote, too-where a state grants an "individual exemption", they can't discriminate against a religious principle, etc.).So George Bush, where are you hiding now? Why won't you try, in the name of your god, to save Robin Prosser's life, eh? Is your god your oil or drug company stock profits? So where is John Ashcroft hiding now? Is he sitting in his Justice Department office praying to his god? Is his god the god of power and control at all costs? Is he just sulking about how a federal judge wouldn't let him force some cancer ridden patients close to death to leave this world of pain? Is he the god of pain? Does he want Robin Prosser to live or die? Will he force her to live, in pain? Or will he do the humane thing, and try to help her live with a reduction in pain? Is he just jealous that the DEA can't grow good weed? Why doesn't George Bush, call John Ashcroft, to call Asa Hutchinson, to call those Canada guys, that have that good weed, you recall, the weed that is better than the DEA shit, and have them send some to Robin Prosser, so she can maybe feel like eating again, to keep her strength up, so maybe her daughter will not be an orphane (yet). And one more thing-did any of you guys get involved in that little power play in Amsterdam that claimed the life of a charismatic policitian, that might have steered their policy a little bit less to the right wing, (even though the press mongers here called that guy a right winger-he was in favor of 1) gay marriages and rights, 2) euthenasia (the right to die-like in Oregon), 3) continued pot sales (and I'm not talking about that DEA shit) & 4) reduction of immigration (especially those Muslims from Moracco, I hear)? I'm done now, thanks for listening George.  PAUL PETERSON  
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Comment #8 posted by Imprint on May 18, 2002 at 12:48:03 PT
WOD
She has gone 29 days so far! This woman may die and the government is cold and unfeeling. It's a sad thing indeed. This is a war and she is a hero. 
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Comment #7 posted by Gary Storck on May 18, 2002 at 09:10:08 PT
class action
Interesting to see Larry Hirsch's class action suit get mentioned in this article. As one of the original 165 plaintiffs myself, it is very sad to see a fellow plaintiff having to go through a hunger strike to get the medicine she needs.We have already lost a number of plaintiffs, Joe Hart, Kiyoshi, Pres Bob Kundert, to name three. We had high hopes for the suit. At first it loooked like Judge Katz was going to do the right thing and order the government to provide plaintiffs with medicine.Then came his flip-flop.Hope this works our for Robin, but these are tough days for patients in America who need cannabis.
Is My Medicine Legal YET?
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Comment #6 posted by Patrick on May 18, 2002 at 07:10:43 PT
Wake-up George!
"So what will she do if no one pays attention? What will make her eat again? "Some action from George Bush," she says."I agree with this author, I am not so sure George Bush will call her either. You are absolutely right el toonces that we need a PR upgrade.This story is turning out like another one of those heavy heavy stories. The last one this heavy was Tom Crosslin days before he was shot. We all remember how much publicity there was for that story. But we need a whole lotta things and especially a quick end to this idiotic Prohibition crap. I'm convinced that two thirds of this country would vote to not lock Prosser up. But, Missoula Police Chief Bob Weaver says… "She'll be busted if she grows pot and we learn about it. The courts can look at mitigating circumstances."We need to find a way to protect people from getting arrested for growing a plant for personal consumption? We need to repel the Schedule One Lie. We need to wake up the sleeping giant, the two thirds of Americans that KNOWS WE SHOULD NOT ARREST PEOPLE FOR CANNABIS! Arresting people for growing their own medicine is the real crime. We should be making a citizen's arrest of any federal, state or local official that arrests someone for growing cannabis. Anyone attempting to arrest or prosecute this woman for this offense will also be placed under citizen arrest. The whole gang of us here could meet at this sheriff office with a citizen issued warrant for his arrest. Out numbered by citizens he would have to surrender his weapon or start shooting unarmed citizens who simply wish to place him in custody for the inhumane treatment of Prosser. He locks her up. We lock him up. As Bill Maher said in San Francisco use The Equal Protection Act in the same way that Bush used it to get elected. If enough of us formed a citizen sheriff dream team of cannabis enforcement officers, we could issue citizen arrest warrants for the arrest of the arresters for violating individual life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Especially, in the states that have medical cannabis laws on the books. And simply let the courts look at the mitigating circumstances while the citizen's tax-payed law enforcement official sits in jail also.
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Comment #5 posted by BGreen on May 18, 2002 at 06:11:57 PT
I just don't want Robin to suffer
I do my best to be Christ-like, as a Christian is supposed to. I try to refrain from wishing harm to my enemies, and I'd do anything to protect the people I care about.
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Comment #4 posted by el_toonces on May 18, 2002 at 06:00:22 PT:
Publicity?
I assuming, BG, the 'point' is good PR and Robin does make, I think, a good rep for us. I can only assume her attorneys and other advisers have made her aware of the common law doctrine of medical necessity, which, as far as my limited research reveals, should apply in Montana.And you know what? If Robin's sacraficies are to help correct public opnion, I can only applaud her, because too many of us have given up on this kind of thing, and we need a "PR upgrade" as Maher said in San Fran! 
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Comment #3 posted by BGreen on May 18, 2002 at 05:54:11 PT
Correction
It should read:It will save them the manpower needed to put us though the penal system.
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Comment #2 posted by BGreen on May 18, 2002 at 05:51:43 PT
I admire her conviction, but I don't see the point
The gov't wishes we all would starve ourselves to death. It's save them the manpower needed to put us though the penal system.Hurting ourselves isn't good. We need strength for the fight.
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Comment #1 posted by el_toonces on May 18, 2002 at 05:34:41 PT:
Convservative press?
A lot of folks in the conversative circles think medical cannabis is a joke. I wish we could get a piece like this into a publication read by more people on the right side of the spectrum, say the WSJ or NYT, esp. now that they are accurately printing Dr. Russo's name:)Any ideas?
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