Madison NORML

Medical Marijuana: Wisconsin bill puts human face on political hot potato
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"Real Beer Man"
Appleton, WI
Fun Fact: a/k/a The Real Beer Man...www.scenenewspaper.com

Weak-kneed politicians fearful of offending conservative constituents have let medical marijuana bills die in committee in the Wisconsin Legislature since 1996.

On Sept. 18 medical marijuana advocates will introduce a new bill they hope makes it beyond the Assembly health committee. This time they have put a human face on the bill by calling it the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act.

"That is a great idea because Jacki has been a leader for the cause in your state," said George McMahon, an Iowa man who has been smoking Uncle Sam's marijuana since 1990. He is one of seven Americans who receive 300 government joints every month under the Federal Drug Administration's Compassionate Investigational Drug program. McMahon, who suffers from Nail Patella Syndrome, a rare genetic condition, met Jacki Rickert of Mondovi, Wis., in 1997, when Jacki traveled 210 miles by wheelchair from her home to the state Capital to deliver a message to legislators on the need for medical marijuana for people like herself.

"She is a true hero," McMahon said.

Rickert, who suffers from the wasting Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, was also approved for the federal cannabis program, but just as the first President Bush shut the program down to new participants in 1992.

"I was down to 68 pounds. My daughter said I looked like I'd just come from a concentration camp," Rickert said.

She had lost her appetite and was too weak to move herself.

"I had to be carried from room to room," she said.

Then someone suggested marijuana.

"My appetite returned. I gained strength back," she said.

She had an understanding doctor who saw her health improve with marijuana after every sanctioned pharmaceutical had failed. He helped her fill out the barrage of paperwork required for entry into the federal canabis program. But when that resource dried up because the feds figured it was sending the wrong message, Jacki, like thousands of others suffering from chronic pain and wasting diseases, turned to black market marijuana.

"I don't like being a criminal," she said, "but marijuana, this simple herb that grows anywhere, really does help me have a better quality of life. With marijuana, I take half the (legal) morphine that I used to take." McMahon will join Rickert and other state medical marijuana advocates on Sept. 18 in Madison to meet with Rep. Frank Boyle (D-Superior), who will introduce the Jacki Rickert Act.

"It's about time state lawmakers listen to the voters of the state, 80% of whom have said they believe medical marijuana should be available to the chronically ill," Boyle said. "I'm hoping by giving it a face -- the face of Jacki Rickert -- that legislators will see this bill for what it is and vote rather than let it die in committee."

Stay tuned!