Quadriplegic campaigns for drug

Disabled man to travel to Columbus in motorized wheelchair to urge
legalization of medical marijuana

OREGON: A quadriplegic who smokes marijuana to ease his aches and
pains has spent the last few weeks preparing for his wheelchair trip to
Columbus.

Tomorrow, Dan Asbury, dressed in an oldtime black and white striped prison
uniform, will begin his five day, 130 mile ``Journey for Justice.''

It's all part of his campaign to legalize the medical use of marijuana in
Ohio.

``We have the right to use marijuana for medicinal purposes. It's the only
thing that works for me,'' Asbury said. ``We're not hurting no one.
Marijuana helps people who are in pain. But the state wants to make us
criminals.''

Asbury, 41, will take off from his home in Oregon, a Toledo suburb, and be
joined by more than a dozen supporters, who will follow his motorized
wheelchair in a van. Other supporters who are also in wheelchairs will
travel with him.

They have to take back roads to Columbus, said Kay Lee, a spokeswoman for
Americans for Compassionate Use, a Cincinnati based club that gives
marijuana to people suffering from diseases.

The wheelchair can travel only about 5 mph, she said. They will spend their
nights in Fremont, Tiffin, Upper Sandusky and Marion before their trip ends
Friday on the steps of the Statehouse, where they will hold a news conference.

``There are so many people suffering. What we are saying is that they have
a right to this medicine,'' Lee said.

Lawmakers in March repealed a state law that allowed people to defend in
court their possession of marijuana if they had permission from a doctor to
use it.

The purpose of Asbury's trip is to show legislators that people support
medicinal use of marijuana. He said it has helped him and many other people
who are disabled or suffer from serious diseases.

Asbury, who broke his neck in a fall from a fence in 1980, is paralyzed
from the chest down but can move his arms. He said he has muscle spasms in
his legs, stomach and arms, sometimes with sharp pain. He said he has taken
prescription drugs such as Valium, but they made him nauseated and left him
tired.

He had smoked marijuana for 12 years when police raided his home in
September 1995.

Asbury was convicted in March 1996 of one count of trafficking in marijuana.

Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Ruth Ann Franks suspended a two year prison
term and put Asbury on probation for that length of time, on the condition
he stop smoking marijuana.

Asbury has said he has lied to his probation officer about quitting. He
said he still smokes marijuana.