US WI Column: She makes case for
medical pot
Source: The Capital Times
Copyright: 2000 The Capital Times
Author: Doug Moe
Pubdate: 20 March 2001
SHE MAKES CASE FOR MEDICAL POT
During the weekend I asked Jacki Rickert if she was smoking marijuana.
"I don't think I should answer that," she said.
Which just shows you how cruel and stupid life can be.
Last week was the one-year anniversary of one of the most disgraceful busts in the war on drugs.
You may remember the story. Rickert lives in Mondovi, southwest of Eau Claire. She is 49 years old and weighs about 90 pounds. She is in a wheelchair as a result of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and reflexive sympathetic dystrophy, bone and muscle illnesses that keep her in constant pain and often unable to eat.
In 1990, Rickert was approved to receive medical marijuana under a federal program. She had a pretty good case. With the marijuana, she could muster a bit of appetite. The drug also eased her pain slightly. It still didn't give her a great quality of life, but it helped. Even the government bureaucracy could see that.
Unfortunately, the program that green-lighted Rickert's medical marijuana was being looked at by
George Bush the elder's administration. And before all the paperwork was done on Rickert's case, the Bush administration canceled the medical marijuana program. If you weren't already officially in - and Rickert, though approved, was not - you couldn't get the pot legally.
Rickert got marijuana when she could, illegally. At one point her weight dropped to 76 pounds. Then one year ago, on March 13, Mondovi police officers raided Rickert's home, stayed 10 hours and confiscated some baggies containing marijuana. In April, the Buffalo County district attorney decided against pressing charges. Rickert, though, can't talk about whether she still smokes marijuana, lest her door get kicked in again.
Still, that's about the only thing Rickert won't talk about. She was always a medical marijuana advocate - in 1997, in her wheelchair, she led a march from Mondovi to Madison - and since the raid on her home, her activity has only increased. That's not to infer her health is improving - it isn't. "I take it day to day," she said Sunday. "Sometimes hour by hour. I'm hanging on." She was saddened earlier this month by the death of her dog of 17 years, who had suffered a stroke the night of the raid.
But her will - not to mention her fury over the inanity of not allowing marijuana for medical purposes - keeps her going. Rickert has started a Web site - www.immly.org (Is My Medicine Legal Yet) - which tracks rallies and the status of legislation. Later this month Rickert will head for Washington, where on March 28 the U.S, Supreme Court will hear a California medical marijuana case. That state's 1996 Proposition 215 allowed pot for reasons of "medical necessity" while the government contends that interferes with enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act. Santa Clara Professor
Gerald Uelmen, of O.J. Simpson fame, will argue for the medical marijuana advocates.
There is some reason for hope here in Wisconsin, where state Reps. Frank Boyle and
Mark Pocan are working on a medical marijuana bill in the Assembly. "Something should be drafted by April," Pocan said Monday. Pocan said he has heard from many constituents on the issue. Any number of polls show that people think that medical marijuana for truly ill people is humane and should be available. Pocan and Boyle will need Republican help for it to pass, and
Rick Skindrud has made noise in the past about supporting a medical marijuana bill. They are still looking for someone with enough guts to take the lead in the state Senate.
"I'm hoping that Gov. Scott McCallum would be willing to sit down and talk with us," Jacki Rickert said Sunday.
I wouldn't count on it. But if he did, he'd find Rickert pretty convincing. Ten years ago, the government told her she could have medical marijuana. She 's still waiting.
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