STATE MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW REMAINS ELUSIVE

I was sorry to read of the passing of former Wisconsin Gov. Lee
Sherman Dreyfus. Gov. Dreyfus signed Wisconsin's first medical
marijuana bill into law April 19, 1982. As a glaucoma patient
fighting each day to save my precious eyesight, I had already been
using cannabis for 10 years at that time, and had lobbied for the bill.

The Therapeutic Cannabis Research Act passed both houses easily, the
Assembly 77-19 and the Senate 32-1. Similar legislation was passed in
more than two-thirds of U.S. states. Unfortunately, these bills were
written with the expectation that the federal government would supply
the program's medical marijuana. With federal authorities unwilling
to supply marijuana to sick and dying U.S. citizens, the law became symbolic.

While Dreyfus remained a supporter of medical marijuana in his later
years, even writing about it, many of the Republican legislators who
followed him in state government have failed to honor his
compassionate vision by blocking medical marijuana legislation each
time it is introduced. This session, the Jacki Rickert Medical
Marijuana Act is awaiting action in the Assembly's Health and
Healthcare Reform committee. So far, committee Chairwoman Rep. Leah
Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, a nurse, has stated the bill will not receive a
hearing. If the bill does not receive a hearing soon, it will die in
committee like previous attempts dating more than a decade.

Polling has established popular support for medical marijuana exceeds
80 percent in Wisconsin. As an advocate for medical cannabis, I
constantly receive calls from patients and family members who
indicate there is a crisis in pain management in our state. I know
the good folks who call me and tell me about their pain represent
only the tip of the iceberg.

Memo to the GOP leadership: The sick and dying are not your enemy. I
get calls from Republicans, too. Serious illness knows no party affiliation.

Let's get this done, this session, in honor of the memory of a man
ahead of his time, Gov. Lee Sherman Dreyfus, who did his best to try
to help patients and families with nowhere to turn, as well as the
thousands and thousands of Wisconsinites who died in pain and those
still suffering and waiting for state lawmakers to finally do the right thing.

Please make passage of AB 550, the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana
Act, a true priority when the Legislature reconvenes Jan. 15.