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Painful journey

Woman aims to gain support for marijuana as medicine

By Chuck Rupnow LeaderTelegram staff

[Caption for front page top lead story color photo:] Friend Kay Lee helps
Jacki Rickert get out of her Mondovi home. Rickert plans to roll her
wheelchair from Mondovi to Madison in September to publicize her effort to
get marijuana medication. The "Journey for Justice' is expected to
culminate Sept. 18 with the introduction of a bill calling for legalization
of marijuana medication.

MONDOVI Jacki Rickert is willing to go that extra mile to get rite
marijuana medication she thinks she's entitled to.

Actually, she's going about 210.

Rickert, 47, plans to roll her wheelchair from Mondovi to Madison in
midSeptember to bring attention to her plight.

Rickert, stricken with two rare illnesses that cause her tremendous pain
and restrict her movement, was one of a select few approved for a federal
program allowing her to use government grown, freezedried marijuana
cigarettes, for medical purposes.

The marijuana decreases the pain and allows her to perform functions she
was usable to do with synthetic drugs.

Rickert was one of 43 people approved for the project. Fifteen people
actually started the program while the other 28, including Rickert, were
thwarted, according to government reports. Rickert was approved for the
program in December 1990 and is still battling to get the drug she believes
will increase her quality of life.

"I'm going to try to make this trip to Madison to bring awareness to the
people and hopefully bring justice to those of us who need this drug
Rickert said. "It's definitely going to be hard, but it's something I have
to do."

Rickert suffers front EhlersDanlos Syndrome and Reflexive Sympathetic
Dystrophy. Rickert has sever muscle spasms and has difficulty keeping food
and medications down. She also suffers from loosejointedness, as part of
the illness.

"We've learned how to put bones back in place by ourselves," said Rickert,
referring to her and assistants who help with her care. "It can take hours
to get dislocations back in place, but with marijuana, it takes maybe 20
minutes."

Rickert, who weights about 90 pounds, said she is looking for help in her
"Journey For Justice." Anyone willing to help with her wheelchair, drive
support vehicles, give donations, "or do anything to help our cause," will
be appreciated, Rickert said.

"I said a long time ago I was not going to give up on trying to get the
medication I'm entitled to have," Rickert said. "There is a lot of good
people being hurt by bad laws, we and we want to bring attention to this
bad law."

The 15year federal program was dropped in 1991 in part because of an
overwhelming number of applications from AIDS victims, who thought
marijuana might alleviate the nausea associated with chemotherapy
treatments. The Public Health Service received up to 35 applications a day.

Marijuana, or its active ingredient, Marinol, is believed by some to
benefit people with glaucoma and AIDS.

"That's fine if it helps them too," Rickert said in a LeaderTelegram
interview in 1992. "But I have been approved, and I need it. I just don't
understand why, with my physician's approval, I'm not allowed to have
something I've been approved for."

The doctors for many of the people who had tentative approval from the Food
and Drug Administration to receive the marijuana cigarettes have opted to
give their patients Marinol in a synthetic form, or some other drug,
instead of the cigarettes.

Rickert, who's tried scores of synthetic drugs, is concerned about results.
"I know marijuana has worked for me, that's it. I don't care what studies
tell me; I know what works!'

Rickert plans to begin her trip on Wednesday, Sept. 11, and finish
Wednesday, Sept. 18th, at the state Capitol in Madison.

"We want the public to see we're not dangerous or hardened criminals, but
instead people who are in pain, who are entitled to relief," said Kay Lee,
of Ohio, who is assisting Rickert in her effort. "People need to be able to
put a face to the pain, and that's what this trip is about."

Lee has been involved in a number of nationwide efforts to help legalize
marijuana for medicinal purposes.

"I am a patient too, but I have never seen it work as clearly as it does
for Jackie," Lee said.

The "Journey" is expected to be highlighted by the introduction of a
legislative bill to legalize medical marijuana.

"There is a very compelling and convincing argument to legalize marijuana
prescribed by doctors," said Rep. Frank Boyle, DPhillips, who plans to
sponsor the bill. "Good grief, we legalize morphine and heroin derivatives
by medical prescription, and certainly marijuana is a lot less offensive as
far as addiction when compared with those and others.

Boyle said his bill would allow doctors to prescribe marijuana and
pharmacies to fill the prescriptions. "I see no. drawbacks at all to this
bill," Boyle said. "I don't know if it will ever overcome the stigma of
being a controlled substance, but the most addictive product among us and
greatest killer, tobacco, is sold openly, and people are dying from it
daily. Does that make sense?"

Boyle said his bill is almost ready for unveiling, but has decided to wait
until Rickert and others make their pilgrimage to Madison in September.

Rickert is hoping many people will join her march to Madison.

Federal officials say marijuana alters behavior, including judgment, memory
and learning. When smoked, it produces, pathological changes in lung tissue
and function.

A Public Health Service report, referring to the experimental marijuana use
program, said scientists "have concluded that existing evidence does not
support recommending smoked marijuana as a treatment of choice for any of
the medical conditions of patients who have applied under this program."

Rickert weighted about 115 pounds and was extremely active. Since
afflicted, her weight had dropped to near 70 and her bones "are like that
of a 90yearold." She has pins in both solders because of the
loosejointedness.

A friend suggested Rickert try a marijuana cigarette at a hospital after
attendants were having difficulty injecting a needle into her while
preparing her for surgery. She had dislocated a shoulder while walking
across a room.

"After I smoked it, it was like, boom, everything went fine and I was ready
for surgery," she said. "I don't know why it works, but it does."

She says she uses it on a limited basis.

Anyone interested in helping Rickert in the "Journey for Justice" may call
(715) 9264950.

Rupnow can be reached at 8339208, Ext. 305, or (800) 2367077.

[The above last two paragraphs were in italics]