cannabisnews.com: Faces at Rally Reveal Tragic Truth of Patients





Faces at Rally Reveal Tragic Truth of Patients
Posted by CN Staff on September 22, 2002 at 09:22:41 PT
By Diana Griego Erwin -- Bee Staff Writer
Source: Sacramento Bee
Tess Williams of Elk Grove wept when she saw her sister holding a sign in the crowd of protesters standing outside Santa Cruz's City Hall last week. "It just is so unlike her," Williams said. Her sister, a soccer mom, PTA secretary "and always the more quiet and elegant of us two," isn't the sign-waving type. Or, wasn't."I hid behind this tall, bearded fellow ... hoping she wouldn't see me crying," Williams said. "I wanted to be there for her. The last thing I wanted to do was wimp out."
Yet the best-laid plans often fail us; life refuses to be as neat as that.So it's been for Williams' sister, who lives with her husband and two children in the Bay Area. She also uses medicinal marijuana to manage the pain as she dies of cancer. It wasn't supposed to be this way.Six months ago, Williams took her sister to their favorite San Francisco restaurant for lunch to celebrate what seemed to be the latter woman's successful battle with cancer. Two weeks later, the extended family was crushed to learn the cancer was back -- and had spread."All she wants now is to live the last of her life with dignity and to spend it with friends and family, especially her kids," Williams said. "If that means using marijuana to manage the pain, so be it."Her desire for dignity is what brought Williams and her sister out to Tuesday's rally, which was called to protest federal drug agents' stepped-up crackdown on medicinal-marijuana clubs and patients certified to use the otherwise illegal drug under a doctor's care for documented medical purposes.Voters made medical marijuana legal in California in 1996, but its use remains illegal under federal law, sparking ugly rifts between officials in California and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.Which is why Williams' sister doesn't want to be named in this column. Life in her household is crazy enough."You know, if it was just me, I'd stand up for this, but I'm just too, too tired," the 36-year-old woman said. "This whole thing has been confusing and awful enough for my children without me getting arrested, too."Tuesday's rally made the national news, but with that stereotypical "only in California" twist outsiders have a tough time resisting.Complete Title: Faces at Rally Reveal Tragic Truth of Medical Marijuana PatientsSnipped: Complete Article: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/california/story/4505226p-5524925c.htmlSource: Sacramento Bee (CA)Author: Diana Griego Erwin -- Bee Staff WriterPublished:  Sunday, September 22, 2002Copyright: 2002 The Sacramento BeeContact: opinion sacbee.comWebsite: http://www.sacbee.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/Americans For Safe Accesshttp://www.safeaccessnow.org/Pictures From WAMM Protesthttp://freedomtoexhale.com/eventpics.htmThe Thrashing of a Dying Dinosaur's Tail http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14202.shtmlWhy I'm Fighting Federal Drug Laws From City Hall http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14195.shtmlMedicinal Pot Issue is About The Sick, Dyinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14193.shtmlSanta Cruz Defies U.S. On Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14153.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by malleus on September 23, 2002 at 07:28:24 PT
But an ugly truth surfaces, too
One we have to look at: Because they can't cry about everything, she and her sister sometimes laugh about the irony of the situation. Two years ago, the dying woman was the PTA official who organized the local Red Ribbon Week anti-drug campaign in her children's school."I guess you never know where life might take you," Williams said. Yes, she was all for people being locked up for cannabis psossession...until she faces the threat, herself. I have sympathy for the dying, but the fact remains, until people are faced with the awful consequences of their acquiescing to tyranny because they thought it only affected "those people" and not themselves, we will continue to have cannabis prohibition. And Nazi-esque Stormtroopers pointing guns at sick people. Like this lady.
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Comment #3 posted by BGreen on September 22, 2002 at 13:10:44 PT
They know, Dark Star
They say the patients should be pitied because they're being used by legalizers who just want to get stoned out of their minds.We keep thinking these so-called Christians have the compassion of Christ, but evil is their true god and it's exemplified daily in their actions.
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Comment #2 posted by Dark Star on September 22, 2002 at 11:33:52 PT
Humanization/Dehumanization
Read the whole article. Make Bush, Ashcroft, Walters,Hutchinson and everyone that works for them read it. Ask them how they can be such heartless ignorant bastards persecuting good and innocent people for their choice of medicine.
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on September 22, 2002 at 09:33:44 PT
the rest of the story
As in: Ha-ha. There's those California potheads again, pretending to be sick so they can toke up. What's wrong with 'em? A stubbed toe?But Tuesday's rally wasn't about drug use. It was about quality of life and end-of-life issues. That, and the dying.Williams wishes all the naysayers and disbelievers had shown up. "Their hearts and minds would have been changed." They would have seen that no one there was faking a terminal illness or debilitating condition just to score a little marijuana for weekend parties."We're talking sick, sick people," she said. "People who are pale and emaciated."At one point during the rally, Williams stood next to a man who looked like a skeleton wearing a Hawaiian shirt. When she commented about something a speaker said, he turned to her, looked in her eyes and smiled."Something about him reminded me of my sister," she said. "And then I realized it was the eyes. His eyes looked so, so tired. There's just so little light there. . . . How uncompassionate are people that they would accuse these terminally ill people of being fakers; that government agents would raid their homes and handcuff them?"Because they can't cry about everything, she and her sister sometimes laugh about the irony of the situation. Two years ago, the dying woman was the PTA official who organized the local Red Ribbon Week anti-drug campaign in her children's school."I guess you never know where life might take you," Williams said. What a great sister this woman is. I'd like to tell her that there really aren't any "Naysayers" in California. 80% of other Americans support medical MJ. The Bush cabal that's taken over our government are the only ones unclear on the concept here.
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