'BARBIE' STAYS DOLLED-UP FOR MEDICAL POT

FORT PIERCE -- She slid into the skin-tight miniskirt with furry
fluorescent pink trim and paced on glittering gold heels in front of
St. Lucie County Courthouse this week, approaching clerks, lawyers and
deputies. Tough crowd, but Medical Marijuana Barbie got what she came
for.

"I get 'em with the Barbie and keep 'em when they hear about the
Ph.D.," said Tracy Blevins, 30, a former pharmacology major at the
University of Texas, where she received her doctorate.

The Houston native came to Fort Pierce on Monday proffering petitions
to put a medical marijuana initiative on the Florida ballot in 2002.
Election buzz drew her down to West Palm Beach where she was mobbed by
cameras.

"Comedy Central even chased us," recalled Kevin Applin, 37, a member
of the Cannabis Action Network who lives in Melbourne.

Applin shadowed Blevins since she arrived to address what he calls the
state's "zero tolerance" policy.

Blevins worries about being taken as seriously as Applin and other
plainclothes protesters. She is, after all, parading with the midriff
slogan "Medical Marijuana" inscribed in black marker. But she rejects
claims from those who may benefit from the initiative that she is
trivializing their cause.

"I have a legitimate research interest," she explained, one that
justifies efforts "to destigmatize medicinal marijuana in a positive,
non-threatening way."

When she joined a coalition advocating ballot initiatives in Florida,
Missouri and Texas after the Million Marijuana March on Washington
D.C. in May 1999, Blevins was Jeannie from TV's I Dream of Jeannie.
There followed several characters including Glitter Girl before she
dyed her long blond hair pink and became Barbie. Barbie will tour
Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Tampa in coming weeks.

"I don't go anywhere -- I don't go to the store without my costume.
And people -- you see -- people always come up to me," Blevins said.

She garnered 150 signatures locally. The Florida total stands at 10
percent of her goal: 450,000 endorsements of a plan that would license
patients to use marijuana.

"It's difficult because people don't want to go against the law," said
Eliette Doyle, a nurse with the Department of Health who signed the
petition.

"But they do it for other drugs," said nurse Eileen Freedman of
government licensing, "I don't see why it's taken so long."

To view or sign the petition, visit www.medicalrights.org