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Woman plans wheelchair ride to say she needs marijuana for her

Associated Press

MONDOVI, Wis. (AP) A 47yearold, wheelchairbound woman with a
debilitating illness said she plans a 210mile trek to Madison to call
attention to her need for marijuana.

Jacki Rickert said she will roll her wheelchair from Mondovi to the state
capital in midSeptember.

She says a federal program allowing her to use governmentgrown marijuana
cigarettes for medical purposes was cut in 1991. Ms. Rickert never received
the treatments she said help ease her pain considerably.

"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," she
said. "It's definitely going to be hard, but it's something I have to do.

"I said a long time ago I was not going to give up on trying to get the
medication I'm entitled to have."

Ms. Rickert, who weighs 90 pounds, suffers from EhlersDanlos Syndrome and
reflexive sympathetic dystrophy, two diseases that cause loose joints which
severely restrict movement. Other symptoms include muscle spasms.

She first smoked pot while preparing for surgery to repair a dislocated
shoulder, a common occurrence due to her disease, she said.

"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."

Her trip, Sept. 1118, is meant to coincide with the introduction of a bill
calling for the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes in
Wisconsin.

"There is a very compelling and convincing argument to legalize marijuana
prescribed by doctors," Rep. Frank Boyle, DSuperior, 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," he said. "Does
that make sense?"

Kay Lee will be helping Ms. Rickert get to 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," Ms. Lee said.
"People need to be able to put a face to the pain, and that's what this
trip is about."

© Copyright 1997 Associated Press. All rights reserved.