cannabisnews.com: Medicinal Marijuana Users March Medicinal Marijuana Users March Posted by FoM on September 23, 2000 at 08:03:50 PT By Jo Ann Zuig Source: Houston Chronicle Tiffany Landreth of Dallas worries about becoming a "drug-war prisoner" if arrested for her medical use of marijuana for a chronic back injury from surgery. The 29-year-old woman, riding on an electric scooter, joined about 30 protesters railing against the country's punitive drug policies Friday during a Journey for Justice march through downtown Houston. For the next seven days they will travel to Huntsville and other cities until they end up in Austin next Friday at Gov. George W. Bush's mansion, where more than 100 protesters are expected. Accompanying the group is a flatbed truck carrying a mock jail cell filled with protesters. "I would get the mandatory minimum of five years in prison if I'm ever arrested," said Landreth, who said she buys her marijuana from a physical therapist. The petite, 94-pound woman said the legal synthetic equivalent of marijuana -- pills called Marinol -- have side effects of constipation and nerve problems that her body can't tolerate. "Marijuana numbs the pain and brings my appetite up so I can eat," she said. Other rally participants included several who were HIV-positive like Eddie Smith of Kentucky, who wore his empty medication bottles strung on twine around his neck. "I credit marijuana for saving my life. Marinol is in pill form and when you're nauseous, you can't keep a pill down to do any good," Smith said. "When I smoke a joint, I can take my medicines and I'm able to eat," he said. Ann McCormick said she represents the parents who have lost their children not to drugs, but to prison. Her son, Todd, is now in solitary confinement in California on a marijuana conviction and for testing positive on a drug test while incarcerated. "My son had cancer when he was a kid. He has a spinal fusion, a hip the size of a 9-year-old and liver damage from the chemo," McCormick said. "But the government tells him that he can't take a drug that makes him feel better." The Journey for Justice is the fourth such march in the nation since 1997, said Kay Lee, a 60-year-old who organized the first march. Lee said her quadriplegic friend, Ed Asbury in Ohio, was arrested for growing marijuana plants. He used it for pain management instead of amputating an infected leg, she said. "He said, `I'm so mad. I want to ride my wheelchair to the state capital,' so we did and others joined us," Lee said. Dressed in a black- and white-striped prison outfit for the march in Houston's humid heat, Lee said, "I'm worn out. I want this war to be over. I want to go home and play grandma." Alan Robison, director of the Drug Policy Forum of Texas, said, "The War on Drugs policy is a total failure. It is causing more harm to our society than the drugs ever caused." Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)Author: Jo Ann ZunigaPublished: September 23, 2000Copyright: 2000 Houston ChronicleContact: viewpoints chron.comAddress: Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260Houston, Texas 77210-4260Fax: (713) 220-3575Website: http://www.chron.com/Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.htmlJourney For Justicehttp://www.journeyforjustice.org/Drug Policy Forum of Texashttp://www.dpft.org/Compassionate Moms Homepagehttp://members.home.net/amccormick/Tood McCormick's New Home Pagehttp://www.toddmccormick.org/Marchers Protest Medical Marijuana Ban http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7132.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #1 posted by FoM on September 23, 2000 at 12:37:07 PT: Update On March! US TX: Update of 'Medicinal Marijuana Users March'http://mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1420/a07.htmlNewshawk: Drug Policy Forum of Texas: http://www.dpft.org/Pubdate: Sat, 23 Sep 2000Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)Copyright: 2000 Houston ChronicleContact: viewpoints chron.comAddress: Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260Fax: (713) 220-3575Website: http://www.chron.com/Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.htmlNote: Due to reader interest we are providing this update by Alan Robison about the Journey article which is at:http://mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n1419.a02.htmlI thought for sure I would be the first person to catch Jo Ann Zuniga's article on the J4J, but that rascal Richard Lake must never sleep. Anyhow, what neither Richard nor I could tell from looking at the electronic version was that the Chronicle made a much bigger deal out of this than either of us could have imagined. It's in a big box on page 37 (actually page 5 of the Metropolitan section) together with an excellent vertical photograph, roughly 4.5" X 8", showing Kay Lee and Zeal's son Arlo and some other people I couldn't identify in the jail cell, with Kay holding one of those signs from the Philadelphia shadow convention that says JUST SAY KNOW www.drugpolicy.org The photo is by a guy named John Everett, and the caption below it reads: "With the Harris County Criminal Justice Center looming in the background, Arlo Hartin, 13, left, and Kay Lee, right, ride in a mock jail cell Friday to dramatize their opposition to the incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders." So all in all I would say the story is about 10,000 times better than it seemed from just reading the text of the story proper. The title of the whole box is "Prisoners of the drug war" and then below that the title of the article is "Medicinal marijuana users march." G. Alan Robison, Executive Director, Drug Policy Forum of Texas, Houston, Texas 713-784-3196; FAX 713-784-0283 http://www.dpft.org/MAP posted-by: Richard Lake [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: