Weed Watch

MEDDLING FEDERAL LAWMAKERS SHARE BLAME IN SENSELESS MEDI-POT DEATH

The mother of a quadriplegic man who died last year while in the
custody of the Washington, D.C., Department of Corrections filed suit
on Sept. 20 against individuals working for the jail and a local
hospital for failing to provide adequate medical care in violation of
federal laws -- including the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and
unusual punishment. Still, medi-pot advocates argue that there's at
least one party -- the U.S. Congress -- notably absent from the
lawsuit, even though federal lawmakers share equal responsibility for
27-year-old Jonathan Magbie's death.

Indeed, if Congress hadn't meddled with the will of D.C. voters by
threatening to withhold money from the city's budget (which is
supported entirely by federal appropriation) as a result of voters'
attempt to enact a medi-pot law, Magbie might still be alive today.

Magbie, paralyzed from the neck down after a car wreck when he was 4
years old, died on Sept. 24, 2004, four days into a 10-day sentence
for simple possession of a single marijuana cigarette; it was his
first criminal offense.

Although it was within D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Retchin's
discretion to sentence Magbie to probation only, she imposed the
10-day sentence in response to Magbie's assertion that he would
probably continue to use marijuana because the herb made him "feel
good," and helped ease painful symptoms of his paralysis and
associated medical conditions, The Washington Post reported last
year. "As long as [smoking marijuana is] against the law," Retchin
reportedly replied, "you're not permitted to do it, Mr. Magbie."
Retchin's 10-day punishment turned into a death sentence for Magbie,
who was incapable of moving without the aid of a motorized,
chin-operated wheelchair and required a tracheotomy tube, pulmonary
pacemaker, and, at night, a ventilator in order to breathe.
Additionally, Magbie was at a high risk for contracting pneumonia and
had a history of osteomyelitis, a kind of bone infection -- among
other medical problems with which his jailers would have to contend
- -- needs that critics say Retchin should have known the District jail
could not meet.

During the four days he was in jail, Magbie's health quickly
deteriorated, and he was transferred multiple times between the
Correctional Treatment Facility (run by the often-criticized private
prison operator Corrections Corporation of America) at the D.C.
Central Detention Facility and the Greater Southeast Community
Hospital. He was having a hard time taking in enough oxygen, he
contracted pneumonia, and was nearly unable to eat, according to the
lawsuit filed last week by his mother, Mary Scott. And since Magbie
had difficulty speaking above a whisper, he was forced to move his
wheelchair around in order to get the attention of his incarcerators.
The movement apparently irritated the jailers, reported the Post. On
Sept. 23, they locked him inside an infirmary cell, without access to
any kind of panic button, and did not check on him until the next
morning, according to the lawsuit.

Magbie died at 6:40pm on Sept. 24. Scott is seeking more than $100
million in damages for the civil rights violations that she alleges
caused her son's death.

While Judge Retchin was cleared of any misconduct for her decision to
send Magbie to jail, medi-pot advocates say federal lawmakers should
not get a similar pass.

Back in 1998, District voters overwhelmingly approved a medi-pot
initiative, with nearly 70% of voters in favor of a measure that
would have protected patients like Magbie from criminal prosecution.
Before the ballots could be counted, however, then-U.S. Rep. Bob
Barr, R-Ga., added an amendment to the district appropriations bill
to strip city funding if officials attempted to "enact or carry out"
any local initiative to legalize or reduce the criminal penalties for
"possession, use, or distribution" of pot (or any other illegal
drug). A federal district judge tossed the so- called Barr Amendment
a year later, ruling it was unconstitutional, but the measure was
reinstated by the federal appeals court in 2002, which to date has
made it impossible for district residents to protect seriously ill
marijuana users like Magbie.

"Because Congress intervened to block the democratic rights of
District voters, Jonathan Magbie went to jail and died for simply
trying to ease his pain," said Aaron Houston, director of government
relations for the D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project. "Magbie's
agonizing death was completely unnecessary."