GROUP WANTS LAWS CHANGED TO ALLOW MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

Cindy Wimer's eyes filled with tears as she remembered the suffering and
pain her best friend had to endure after being paralyzed.

Her friend died about a year ago and his pain sparked Wimer to found the
Mountaineers for Medical Cannabis, a group dedicated to legalizing
marijuana for medicinal uses. "I had to watch him suffer," 47-year-old
Wimer said from her Wood County home. "The government needs to help these
people."

Wimer founded the group about eight months ago and was joined by her
daughter-in-law, De Wimer, 28, and her good friend Linda Robinson, 49, both
of Parkersburg.

The three women have done extensive research on the benefits of using
marijuana for medicinal purposes. They have tried to rally support from
residents and from their state legislators.

"We've been going to rallies and educating ourselves for several years,"
Cindy said. "I've been researching for four to five years."

But they became serious about passing legislation in West Virginia after
they attended a NORML rally, the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws, in Washington, D.C., in 2000.

According to information the group found on the Internet, marijuana can
help numerous ailments, including nausea relief from chemotherapy and AIDS,
epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, muscle spasms, arthritis, insomnia and
anorexia to name a few, Robinson said.

"It is an option that should be open to the doctors, to the patients,"
Robinson said.

According to the group, the Federal Food and Drug Administration approves
other drugs, many with negative side effects, and the MCC doesn't
understand why cannabis is not one of them.

Other drugs are more addicting and have worse side effects, Cindy said.

"This is an option that should be available and medically help people,"
Robinson said.

Doctors who are against the legalization of medicinal marijuana haven't
been able to come up with enough risks to offset the benefits, Cindy said.

"These people that are suffering, they need this," Cindy said.

"If the doctor says it is OK, it should be legal," Cindy said. "I want it
to be a passed law that the patient and doctor can decide what's best for
them."

The group met earlier this month to discuss new information they found and
to plan ways to find people who would support a legislation.

Cindy and her two friends have experienced stereotypes from the public
associated with marijuana, even though many people support a purely
medicinal use, she said.

"Our fight is solely for medicinal marijuana," Robinson said. "We're here
to put out education on medicinal cannabis. "

This can be difficult when people associate medicinal marijuana with the
pot-smoking hippies of the 1960s, which does not properly represent the
cause, Robinson said.

"Do away with the stigmatism of a pot smoker. If you say the word marijuana
people associate it with the hippies movement," Robinson said."They are
afraid their neighbors will look down on them, afraid they will lose their
jobs."

"It was a concern when we first started. We are going to be looked down on
and we've already been looked down on, but that's OK, they need to be
educated," Cindy said.

According to a Web site for the Marijuana Policy Project, eight states
allow medicinal marijuana use, Colorado, California, Maine, Oregon,
Washington, Nevada, Hawaii and Alaska.

The MMC has contacted West Virginia officials, including Sen. Donna Boley,
Delegate Tom Azinger and Gov. Bob Wise, to try to motivate legislation for
West Virginia.

The group was surprised at the quick feedback they received.

"Governor Wise has been just fantastic. He has answered ever one of our
letters very promptly," Cindy said.

Boley, R-Pleasants, has also heard the group's need and responded.

"I would like to meet with them and see what it is they want, see where
they are coming from," Boley said. "I think it is a matter of education and
they are the ones who are going to be doing the educating."

No legislation exists that would support medicinal cannabis in the state.
Boley said she does not see the future holding a legalization of marijuana
in general, but that legislators would listen to arguments in favor of
using it for medicinal purposes.

For the MMC, the fight has just begun.

"We need all the support that the West Virginia people can give us," Cindy said.