SHE MAKES CASE FOR MEDICAL POT

During the weekend I asked Jacki Rickert if she was smoking
marijuana.

"I don't think I should answer that," she said.

Which just shows you how cruel and stupid life can
be.

Last week was the one-year anniversary of one of the most disgraceful
busts in the war on drugs.

You may remember the story. Rickert lives in Mondovi, southwest of Eau
Claire. She is 49 years old and weighs about 90 pounds. She is in a
wheelchair as a result of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and reflexive
sympathetic dystrophy, bone and muscle illnesses that keep her in
constant pain and often unable to eat.

In 1990, Rickert was approved to receive medical marijuana under a
federal program. She had a pretty good case. With the marijuana, she
could muster a bit of appetite. The drug also eased her pain slightly.
It still didn't give her a great quality of life, but it helped. Even
the government bureaucracy could see that.

Unfortunately, the program that greenlighted Rickert's medical
marijuana was being looked at by George Bush the elder's
administration. And before all the paperwork was done on Rickert's
case, the Bush administration canceled the medical marijuana program.
If you weren't already officially in - and Rickert, though approved,
was not - you couldn't get the pot legally.

Rickert got marijuana when she could, illegally. At one point her
weight dropped to 76 pounds. Then one year ago, on March 13, Mondovi
police officers raided Rickert's home, stayed 10 hours and confiscated
some baggies containing marijuana. In April, the Buffalo County
district attorney decided against pressing charges. Rickert, though,
can't talk about whether she still smokes marijuana, lest her door get
kicked in again.

Still, that's about the only thing Rickert won't talk about. She was
always a medical marijuana advocate - in 1997, in her wheelchair, she
led a march from Mondovi to Madison - and since the raid on her home,
her activity has only increased. That's not to infer her health is
improving - it isn't. "I take it day to day," she said Sunday.
"Sometimes hour by hour. I'm hanging on." She was saddened earlier
this month by the death of her dog of 17 years, who had suffered a
stroke the night of the raid.

But her will - not to mention her fury over the inanity of not
allowing marijuana for medical purposes - keeps her going. Rickert has
started a Web site - www.immly.org (Is My Medicine Legal Yet) - which
tracks rallies and the status of legislation. Later this month Rickert
will head for Washington, where on March 28 the U.S, Supreme Court
will hear a California medical marijuana case. That state's 1996
Proposition 215 allowed pot for reasons of "medical necessity" while
the government contends that interferes with enforcement of the
Controlled Substances Act. Santa Clara Professor Gerald Uelmen, of
O.J. Simpson fame, will argue for the medical marijuana advocates.

There is some reason for hope here in Wisconsin, where state Reps.
Frank Boyle and Mark Pocan are working on a medical marijuana bill in
the Assembly. "Something should be drafted by April," Pocan said
Monday. Pocan said he has heard from many constituents on the issue.
Any number of polls show that people think that medical marijuana for
truly ill people is humane and should be available. Pocan and Boyle
will need Republican help for it to pass, and Rick Skindrud has made
noise in the past about supporting a medical marijuana bill. They are
still looking for someone with enough guts to take the lead in the
state Senate.

"I'm hoping that Gov. Scott McCallum would be willing to sit down and
talk with us," Jacki Rickert said Sunday.

I wouldn't count on it. But if he did, he'd find Rickert pretty
convincing. Ten years ago, the government told her she could have
medical marijuana. She 's still waiting.

_____________________________________________________________________

The following links to articles and webpages are supplied by MAP, and are
not a part of the above news item:

News articles about Jacki from the MAP archives:

US: The Year In Pot
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n175/a01.html

US NJ: Activists Demand Legal Marijuana
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1595/a05.html

US WI: Column: Abuse? Police Raid Vexes User Of Medical
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n601/a05.html

US WI Column: DA Drops Medical Marijuana Case
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n531/a06.html

US WI: Mondovi Woman, 48, Won't Face Drug Charges
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n506/a08.html

US WI: 90-lb. Woman Busted Over Medical Pot
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n366/a02.html

US WI: Confiscated Marijuana Described As Medicine
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n364/a11.html

US WI: State Residents Join Marijuana Protest
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1275/a06.html

US DC: State Medical Pot Advocates Involved In DC Protest
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1165/a08.html

US: Wire: Medical Marijuana Use Advocates Stage Protest
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1146/a01.html

US WI: Wisconsin Marchers Wheel Into Madison
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98/n002/a09.html

Patients Favoring Medicinal Marijuana Begin Wheelchair ''March''
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97/n419/a05.html

Editorial: Let's Separate Health, Politics
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97/n419/a03.html

Woman Seeking To Use Marijuana Gets Support For Madison
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97/n400/a06.html

Painful Journey
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97/n318/a03.html

Woman Plans Wheelchair Ride To Say She Needs Marijuana For Her
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97/n294/a02.html

Webpages:

Is My Medicine Legal Yet?
http://www.immly.org/

Journey for Justice II Wisconsin - Mondovi to Madison
http://www.gnv.fdt.net/~jrdawson/justice2.htm