PROTESTORS SCOLD LASSA FOR LAST YEAR'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA VOTE

Twenty supporters of medical marijuana picketed outside the Madison
Club Tuesday night to protest a fundraiser for a state senator who
voted against a bill to legalize the practice.

Sen. Julie Lassa, D-Milladore, voted against the Jacki Rickert
Medical Marijuana Act after hearing testimony from over 100 patients
and medical organizations in 2009.

The bill would have exempted Wisconsin citizens dependent on
marijuana as a medicine from federal and state laws regarding
marijuana possession, said Gary Storck, spokesperson for the Madison
division of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

"She had a huge opportunity to expand Wisconsin health care for
virtually nothing," Storck said. "I don't know if it was cowardice or
fear or what."

Lassa and other legislators voted against the bill after expert and
patient testimony in multiple committee hearings and floor discussions.

Several medical associations lobbied against the bill, including
members of the Wisconsin Medical Society who testified before the
Legislature that marijuana is not medicinal.

"The WMS does not support smoking as a delivery device for THC, other
cannabinoids or any compound to be 'therapeutic,'" said Dr. Michael
Miller in a statement to a Senate health committee.

Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical
marijuana, and a voter referendum in California this November would
legalize the sale of the drug for recreational use.

Although Storck said the showing at the protest was positive, the
issue of medical marijuana may not be an influential issue in the
upcoming elections.

Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign,
said medicinal marijuana is not a big issue in the November
elections. Lassa is running against Republican candidate Sean Duffy
to fill the seat of retiring U.S. Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., in November.

"I don't think it's going to be a big issue unless the candidates are
smoking it," McCabe said. "The economy and jobs are the dominant issues."

NORML claims Lassa's vote was in direct opposition to the feelings of
her constituents, a point they wish to make known before voters hit
the polls in November.

Following an open records review, Storck said of 293 pages of
documents, the only constituent opposition to the medical marijuana
bill was from the Marshfield Clinic and Waushara County Sheriff David Peterson.

Some protesters, such as Jordan Cotter, blame the bill's failure
solely on Lassa.

"This is where Julie Lassa is, and she is the reason the marijuana
bill didn't get passed last year," said Cotter.

Cotter, like many of the protesters, have a personal connection to
the issue of medical marijuana.

Cotter said he began taking medicinal marijuana after a car accident
that ejected him out of the vehicle and broke his neck, leaving him
in extreme pain. Doctors at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee said he
would never walk again, Cotter said.

"They prescribed me pain killers, but I don't like the effects of
those and I'd rather smoke some weed," Cotter said. "It's better for
the body and the soul."

Lassa could not be reached for comment.