MEDICINAL MARIJUANA USERS MARCH

Prisoners Of The Drug War

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."