Madison NORML

A grade school/high school classmate, Bob, was one. A union electrician, father of two sons, husband, Bob found himself in a battle with cancer of the esophagus. He endured more suffering than anyone should. Cannabis was his ally, helping him get through the chemo, the radiation, the nausea and the pain. But thanks to cowardly politicians, he died a lawbreaker, forced to sneak a few hits of pot so he could have dinner with his family without puking. So much for family values.

Going way back to 1983, another friend who succumbed to cancer and its complications was my friend Paul. Paul was a transplant from Chicago, a black man who a decade earlier hipped us suburban white kids to the blues and the worldly ways of the big city. Bone cancer and kidney failure claimed Paul. Cannabis helped him deal with the pain, nausea, and the dialysis. We medicated together often, me for glaucoma, Paul for his cancer symptoms. Paul died a lawbreaker too, even as the Wisconsin legislature passed a medical marijuana bill in 1982 that the federal government immediately rendered impotent by refusing to supply marijuana.

Another veteran of this war who lost his life was Eddie Smith. I first met Eddie in New Jersey in 2000 for an action organized by Jim & Cheryl Miller click here. Eddie, who was dying from AIDS and cancer, had recently distinguished himself by having his medicine in Al Gore's campaign office in Austin Texas. At Al Gore's office in New Brunswick New Jersey, Eddie took the "torch of freedom" joint passed by Prof. Julian Heicklen and medicated. Eddie fought until the end, even traveling to Colorado to make a stand for his medicine one more time before returning to Kentucky to die.

And of course, today I am remembering my friend Cheryl Miller click here. Paralyzed from the neck down by multiple sclerosis for the last dozen or so years of her life, unable to even scratch her nose, Cheryl was fearless, getting arrested in Rep. Jim Rogan's office on Capitol Hill, taking on former Rep. Bob Barr and many other politicians, the MS Society, whoever was standing in the way of getting this medicine to patients. And while Cheryl passed away in June 2003, her energy and her memory is still alive, helping to push medical marijuana legislation along in New Jersey. On June 7, 2006, the third anniversary of her passing, her husband Jim and other medical cannabis activists will participate in a press conference at New Jersey's Statehouse. The next day an informational hearing will be held in the Senate Health committee, the first stop on what will hopefully be a medical marijuana law in New Jersey. While it will be too late for Cheryl, she did what she did for "all the other Cheryls". She knew that would be the case, but that was Cheryl's nature, even as she suffered herself.

I must also mention other patient-heroes who gave their lives for this struggle, Peter McWilliams, Joe Hart, Brownie Mary Rathbun, Hazel Rogers, Ron Crickenberger, Kiyoshi Kuromiya and others. You can read more about these good folks and others here click here. And we can't forget the civilian casualties, the millions of patients who never even had the option of medical marijuana, even though it could be very easily provided were it not for cannabis prohibition and those who profit from it.

The sick and dying should not be targeted for their choice of medicine. Cowardly elected officials continue to allow this to happen. We saw it firsthand in Wisconsin with the hearing last fall in the Assembly Health committee, and how cowards from both parties, like Rep. Tom Nelson (D-Kaukana) refused to take a position on the issue, while people like our would be Lieutenant Governor, Rep. Jean Hundertmark (R-Clintonville) rudely questioned patients and mocked their need for medical marijuana. Outgoing Rep. Gregg Underheim (R-Oshkosh), who raised, then dashed the hopes of Wisconsin patients with his medical marijuana bill, recently put the blame for the bill's failure with his Republican colleagues in an article in the Spooner Advocate click here.

If one believes in an issue, one should be willing to fight for it. In different ways, Bob, Paul, Eddie and Cheryl all were, and I thank them and remember them today. And I hope, by next Memorial Day, there is better news to report for Wisconsin patients, and a state law in place protecting New Jersey patients.