KERRY OFFERS HOPE FOR MEDICAL POT OK

Dear Editor:

I'm very grateful to Doug Moe for again sticking up for people like his
friend and myself who need medical cannabis to stay alive, "Medicinal pot,
it's a good thing" (Sept. 25).

I do need, however, to correct an error that unfortunately keeps getting
repeated whenever the story about my approval for federal medical marijuana
is discussed in the press, that I "had to provide (my) physician a safe
weighing at least 700 pounds for storing the marijuana until it was
transferred to (me)."

The truth is the required double-locking safe had already been built into
cement at my physician's office when the building was constructed in 1956
and had passed all approvals.

While George Bush the elder made sure patients like me would not get
federal supplies of medical marijuana and George Bush the younger
flip-flopped on his 1999 campaign promise to let states set their own
policies on it, there is hope in John Kerry. I attended his recent rally at
the Alliant Energy Center and while my wheelchair prevented me from meeting
him, a friend did and he asked Kerry when patients like me would receive
legal access to medical marijuana. Kerry replied, "When I'm president."

It seems more than the laws need changing.

And if you really want to hear from patients themselves how important
medical cannabis is to their health and well-being and how urgent changing
the law is, please come down to the Cardinal Bar Friday from 5 to 8 p.m.

Jacki Rickert

founder & executive director

Is My Medicine Legal YET?

www.immly.org