MONDOVI WOMAN UPSET BY SUPREME COURT RULING ON MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A seriously ill Wisconsin woman is upset by the U.S.
Supreme Court' s ruling against using marijuana for medical purposes.

" It was definitely a huge shock to hear that that many people on the court
of the land that I love so much could just kick patients to the curb, so to
speak, " said Jacki Rickert of Mondovi.

Rickert, executive director of the group, " Is My Medicine Legal Yet?" ,
was arrested last year when Mondovi police raided her home and confiscated
marijuana. The Buffalo County district attorney later declined to press
charges.

She suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and reflexive sympathetic
dystrophy, which keep her in pain and unable to eat.

" I' m just so angry, I' m almost shaking. I feel I' ve had my wheelchair
kicked out from under me, " said Rickert, who weighs about 90 pounds.

The Supreme Court ruled 8-0 Monday that there are no exceptions for sick
patients to the federal law that classifies marijuana as illegal.

The decision reversed a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that
medical necessity can be a legal defense in marijuana cases.

State Rep. Rick Skindrud, R-Mount Horeb, said that, given Monday' s ruling,
now might be the time for Congress to rewrite the U.S. Controlled
Substances Act.

" It' s kind of disgusting the court ruled this way, but I think they had
to, given the way the federal law is written, " he said.

" However, this might prove that the people in Washington should get off
their butts and rewrite the laws."

The court' s ruling is consistent with the policy of the State Medical
Society of Wisconsin, said president-elect Dr. Mark Andrew.

" It doesn' t seem at this point that research has proven that the benefits
(of smoking medical marijuana) outweigh the risks of drug