cannabisnews.com: Confiscated Marijuana Described as Medicine





Confiscated Marijuana Described as Medicine
Posted by FoM on March 14, 2000 at 22:54:58 PT
Ailing Mondovi woman now fears criminal charges
Source: JSOnline
Jacki Rickert freely admits she smokes marijuana.The 48-year-old Mondovi woman, who uses a wheelchair because of debilitating illness, said marijuana helps her cope with excruciating pain.Now, she could be facing drug charges after Mondovi police on Tuesday searched her home and confiscated marijuana and drug paraphernalia that Rickert said she needs for medicinal purposes.
The incident began when Rickert called police to report the theft of morphine from her home. When an officer came to her home about 11:30 p.m. Monday, Rickert admitted there was marijuana inside, so the officer got a search warrant and returned at 3 a.m. Tuesday.Police left her home about seven hours later."I was stunned. I don't think I'm a criminal," Rickert said by telephone Tuesday afternoon.Mondovi Police Chief Terry Pittman said Rickert was not arrested but could face drug charges. Reports of the incident will be turned over by the end of the week to the Buffalo County district attorney, who will decide whether charges will be filed.In the meantime, Rickert said, she is devastated by the search of her home and the possibility she could end up in court. She suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder, and reflex sympathetic dystrophy. She has lost much of her muscle and fatty tissue, and her joints dislocate easily, her daughter said."She's terrified," said her daughter, Tammy, 28. "They've gone through her whole house and treated her like a criminal. She's just trying to maintain a certain quality of life. She doesn't sell marijuana; it's her medicine."Rickert said that in the early 1990s, she was allowed to participate in a program in which the federal government issued marijuana cigarettes for medicinal purposes. But the program folded before she received marijuana from the government, she said.Marijuana's active ingredients belong to a chemical family called cannabinoids, which studies and clinical results suggest are useful for control of chronic pain, relief of nausea and vomiting, and stimulation of appetite in people who, like Rickert, have lost weight because of diseases.Rickert is able to live on her own but relies on caregivers for help. Her only income is from monthly disability payments; her medications, which include morphine and muscle relaxants, are paid for through Medicaid.She wonders how she will pay for a lawyer if criminal charges are filed."Let's just say at the end of the month, a lot of times people eat Hamburger Helper. Well, sometimes it's 'Helper Helper,' " she said.Pittman, who did not know how much marijuana was seized, said he is aware that Rickert told officers she smoked the drug to cope with pain. But he pointed out that possession of marijuana is against the law."It's still illegal. This officer had a job to do, and that's what she did," said Pittman, who has been chief for 12 years. "By the person even admitting there was marijuana, police officers had a job to do, and it's going to take somebody higher up than me to legalize it."Mae Nutt, a friend of Rickert's and an outspoken advocate of medicinal use of marijuana, said there are misconceptions about patients who smoke pot to relieve nausea and pain."People think that they're getting high, but that's not true," said Nutt, who lost two sons to cancer.Those who use marijuana for medicinal purposes "are just ordinary plain people like Jacki," Nutt said.Before Rickert began smoking marijuana - she prefers the term cannabis - she weighed 68 pounds. She now weighs 98 pounds and uses marijuana to relieve chronic pain and give her an appetite."When you weigh 68 pounds, your quality of life is pretty rotten. My daughter used to have to carry me around piggyback from room to room," Rickert said."I don't abuse cannabis. I use it as I would any other of my medications. It's just that this one was created by God and not a big moneymaker for big, greedy corporations, so that's where the illegality comes in."By Meg Jonesof the Journal Sentinel StaffLast Updated: March 14, 2000Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on March 15, 2000Related Articles & Web Sites:Cherylheart Foundationhttp://www.cherylheart.org/Drug Policy Forum Of Wisconsinhttp://www.drugsense.org/dpfwi/Medical Marijuana's Unhappy Anniversaryhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5075.shtmlhttp://www.google.com/search?q=cannabisnews+Jacki
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Comment #5 posted by MMM on March 16, 2000 at 00:42:46 PT
Law?
Police have the discretion whether to let someone go or not. She could have been given a warning and left alone, but maybe they needed to fill a quota of some sort -- and an sick, disabled woman will do the trick just as well as a serious hardened criminal pushing hard drugs. Do any of these cops believe in concept of 'having a conscience'? Would they want their sick parents to be arrested if they used pot for the same reasons? 
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on March 15, 2000 at 19:45:33 PT:
US WI: 90-lb. Woman Busted Over Medical Pot
Newshawk: http://www.mapinc.org/dpfwi/Pubdate: Wed, 15 Mar 2000Source: Capital Times, The (WI)Copyright: 2000 The Capital TimesContact: tctvoice madison.com Website: http://www.thecapitaltimes.com/It was late Monday, just before midnight, when the police came. There were two officers, and although they didn't have a search warrant, Jacki Rickert let them in her home in Mondovi, a small Buffalo County town southwest of Eau Claire.The officers spoke to Rickert, and by 3:30 Tuesday morning they had a search warrant, which they executed. They confiscated numerous small pipes and plastic baggies containing a green leafy material. Early Tuesday afternoon, Mondovi Police Chief Terry Pittman said, "Some of it has been tested, and the tests came back positive for marijuana.''CannabisNews MapInc. Archives:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/list/MAP.shtmlClick the link to read the complete article. Article Courtesy Of MapInc.
US WI: 90-lb. Woman Busted Over Medical Pot
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on March 15, 2000 at 11:52:05 PT:
Thinning out the herd
Many people who read this have thought the same thing: How can the police do this? How can the Federal government do this? How can they take a crippled woman and subject her to such indignities and ultimately life-threatening conditions?Ever watch those wildlife programs, where the photograhers follow around behind a pride of lions, or cheetahs or leopards? What's the favorite targets of those big, bad cats? They're powerful enough to kill the biggest animal with a swipe of their paws and a bite on the neck. But they don't go after the 'alpha male' of the herd. Nope, they prefer easier prey; the very young, the crippled, the elderly. The defenseless.Many cops see themselves as hunters. They really do. Watch shows like COPS; they gloat quite openly about their 'catches', proud of vanquishing their (largely pathetic) foes, smiling in the faces of the perps they've caught, taunting them. Because all they deal with, day in and day out, are law breakers, they automatically assume every one is a perp. So when a crippled old lady gets arrested for using weed, they have the stock answer prepared for any who would ask the questions asked here: "They broke the Law!"The problem with that is that laws change;In some parts of the US it used to be against the law for Black people to drink from fountains marked "Whites Only". Just try bringing that one back and enforcing it. In California and other States it is against the law to bust MMJ users. (Of course, that won't keep the cops from trying - until a few well-aimed lawsuits at police departments give them a bloody nose.) The rest of the Union is soon to follow. Ah, yes, very soon they will have to do what they have been loathe to do since they had such an easy time hunting cripples. They'll have to hunt big game. And sometimes that game has very sharp teeth and claws - and a willingness to use them.
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Comment #2 posted by Gary Storck on March 15, 2000 at 10:16:33 PT
Jacki's Ordeal
What kind of people are these police to show up at a severely disabled person's home in the middle of the night and put her through this ordeal? Cannabis is Jacki's medicine, and she would be dead without it. What happened to "to serve and protect"? This is an outrage! Why did the federal government break their conntract to give her cannabis? Jacki led the Journey For Justice in 1997 to try to get legislation passed, but cowardly legislators let the bill die. How can they sleep at night knowing their lack of courage caused this great lady to have to suffer like this?Shame on those who persecute the sick! Some day you may need the medicine. This is just criminal!
Drug policy Forum of Wisconsin
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Comment #1 posted by R.earing on March 15, 2000 at 09:55:44 PT:
Police bravery
Doesn't it take a big strong,heroic person to steal medicine from a disabled 98 lb. woman?He's my hero! Maybe he should get some sort of McCaffery medal of achievement.I know I feel safer knowing that woman is going to go to jail ,where she willl be deprived of any meaningful medical relief,until she dies in agony in a little cinderblock cell.America,land of the FREE and home of the BRAVE!
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