LOCAL WOMAN ARRESTED IN CONGRESSMAN'S OFFICE

Ann Arbor marijuana activist says she smoked joint while waiting to discuss
its benefits

An Ann Arbor woman, who has waged a number of court battles over her use of
marijuana to ease the effects of multiple sclerosis, faces trial Monday for
smoking a marijuana cigarette in a congressman's Capitol office.

Renee Emry Wolfe, 38, who is pregnant with her fourth child, said she was
arrested last Sept. 15 by Capitol police after she lit up a marijuana
cigarette in the outer offices of U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum, a Florida
Republican.

Wolfe said she spent several hours in jail before being released on her own
recognizance.

Wolfe, diagnosed in 1979 with multiple sclerosis, said she was attempting to
see McCollum to discuss pending legislation that opposed the use of
marijuana for medicinal purposes. Wolfe said she became nervous and upset,
so she lit up a marijuana cigarette to help calm her. "I started having a
(spasm) and that's the best way for me to prevent those attacks from
happening to me," Wolfe said Saturday from her home in Ann Arbor's
Pittsfield Village.