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MARCHERS PROTEST MEDICAL MARIJUANA BAN

Tiffany Landreth of Dallas doesn't think she should be a "drug war prisoner"
and arrested for her medical use of marijuana for a chronic back injury.

Riding on an electric scooter, Landreth, 29, joined about 30 other
protesters today on a "Journey for Justice" march in downtown Houston.

Landreth, who said she buys her marijuana from a physical therapist, said,
"I would get the mandatory minimum of five years in prison if I'm ever
arrested."

The petite 94-pound woman said the legal synthetic equivalent of marijuana,
pills called Marinol, has 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.

Eddie Smith of Kentucky, who is HIV positive, said he credits marijuana for
saving his life.

"When I smoke a joint, I can take my medicines and am able to eat," he said.

Ann McCormick, whose son Todd is in solitary confinement in California on a
marijuana conviction, said she represents parents who have lost their
children not to drugs but to prison.

"My son had cancer as a kid," she said. "He has a spinal fusion, a hip the
size of a 9-year-old and liver damage from the chemo.

"But the government tells him he can't take a drug that makes him feel
better."