ILLNESS LED TO MARIJUANA PRESCRIPTION

Lake Country School District - Lake Country School Board Clerk Andrea
Shrednick was upset when she found out someone had anonymously passed
information to the Lake Country Reporter alleging that she had smoked
marijuana for medical purposes when she lived in California.

Two articles, from December 1997 and February 1998 in the Daily News
of Los Angeles, quoted Shrednick, then 47, in connection with a
temporary moratorium on medical marijuana clubs, including the Ventura
County Medical Cannabis Center.

Because of the newness of legalization of medicinal marijuana,
municipalities were trying to come up with guidelines for such clubs.
The fear was that the moratorium might force medical users of
marijuana to find illegal ways to obtain the drug.

In one article, Shrednick was quoted about possibly having to go to
two of her children, then 17 and 21, to help her buy marijuana on the
streets, after the clinic closed and she feared not being able to
obtain the prescribe drug legally. Shrednick, however, said now that
she never followed through with that plan.

The center, later relocated to comply with zoning codes, dispensed
medicinal marijuana to patients with prescriptions from their doctors
to treat a wide variety of ailments, from glaucoma to multiple sclerosis.

"I have a connective tissue disease. Medicinal marijuana was the
recommended treatment from a medical doctor," Shrednick said. She
purchased medicinal marijuana from the clinic before the moratorium.

"In 1998, I was being treated for a disease, and that was the legal
medical protocol. I am currently on a different medical treatment,"
Shrednick said.

In November 1996, 56 percent of California voters approved Proposition
215, legalizing the medicinal use of marijuana.

Shrednick was diagnosed with the progressive connective tissue disease
in 1994 or 1995 and over the next few years, her doctor tried several
courses of treatment, many of which had severe side effects.

Already with a doctorate degree in psychology, Shrednick had moved to
Wisconsin to pursue a master's degree in bioethics at the Medical
College, but was only in the state briefly when illness took her back
to her home in California to be with family.

Eventually, her doctor recommended medicinal marijuana as a course of
treatment.

"Medicinal marijuana wasn't the first thing my doctor suggested. It
was the last resort," Shrednick said.

Shrednick was given a legal prescription and photo identification to
have her prescription filled.

"At that time, I had a prescription from my doctor to get a legal
medication," Shrednick said. "It was absolutely, positively legal."

She estimates she used medicinal marijuana for less than a year and
only in California where it was legal. Shrednick moved on to a
different course of treatment before moving back to Wisconsin.

"I have absolutely no criminal background. I'm a law-abiding citizen,"
Shrednick said.

A search of the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access Web site showed no
record for Shrednick in the Wisconsin court system.

Unable to work because of the pain in her hands and feet caused by the
disease, Shrednick retired.

"Anyone who knows me has never seen me wear high-heeled shoes. I hire
people to do work around my house because I can't use my hands,"
Shrednick said. "Anyone who knows me knows that I've been sick. I
didn't go into details. I didn't think it was anyone's business."

Knowing that many parents of elementary age students don't have the
luxury of being able to devote time to their children's school,
Shrednick ran for and won a seat on the Lake Country School Board in
2003.

"My kids are grown; I had the time," Shrednick said. Her three
children live in California, and Shrednick is a widow.

Shrednick felt that giving time to the school would be a way to give
back to the community and to feel useful and purposeful.

"Getting involved in school, I thought that was a win-win-win
situation," Shrednick said. "The kids benefited; that was my first
concern. I contributed to my community. I was so grateful I found a
place to be home, a place to feel safe, a place to feel purposeful - a
place to contribute to, and I tried my best to do that."

Not up for election until 2006, Shrednick was surprised someone had
sent one of the old articles to the newspaper revealing that she had
smoked medicinal marijuana.

"It's not that I'm embarrassed. I have done nothing wrong," Shrednick
said, adding that if someone had asked her, she would have explained
the situation.

"I'm just sad that I have to reveal something about my life that I
don't like focusing on," Shrednick said, referring to her illness.

She said that at the time, 1997 and 1998, medicinal marijuana had
fewer and less severe side effects than the other medications and
treatments she had taken.

"I guess this, (publicity) is a side effect of a medicine I used;
social stigma, or a perceived social stigma," she said.

Shrednick described medicinal marijuana as a very powerful medicine
that should be used under the proper circumstances and the proper
supervision.

"I think it should be available medicinally, under supervision, but I
don't think it should be legalized as a recreational outlet,"
Shrednick said.