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Patient's
Hunger
Strike
for
Medical
Cannabis
Enters
Fourth
Week
5/10/02
(courtesy NORML, http://www.norml.org)
Sunday will mark the fourth
week of a hunger strike by a seriously ill Missoula, Montana, woman fighting
for the right to use medical marijuana legally. Robin Prosser, who
uses marijuana medicinally to treat pain and spasmodic symptoms from a
lupus-related immunosuppressive disorder, began her strike on April 20th.
Prosser has vowed to continue her hunger strike until the federal government
allows her legal access to government-grown marijuana or grants her legal
protection to cultivate her own.
"I want to grow my own personal
supply of medicine or be allowed access [to] ... the same 300 joints monthly
that the remaining patients in the [federal] Compassionate IND Program
receive," Prosser said, referring to a US government health program that
grows and supplies medical cannabis to a handful of seriously ill patients.
That program has been closed to new applicants since 1992. "I [should]
not be treated differently because of where I live," she added.
Prosser says she is violently
allergic to most conventional medications, and maintains that cannabis
provides the most effective relief for her medical symptoms.
To date, local law enforcement
officials appear unmoved by Prosser's struggle. Missoula Police Chief
Bob Weaver recently told The Missoulian that Prosser would "be busted if
she grows pot and we learn about it," despite her medical condition or
hunger strike.
Nevertheless, Prosser remains
undaunted, despite having already lost more than 30 pounds and temporarily
requiring hospitalization. "I have decided that I need to do something
to stand up for the medicine I and so many others must have," she said.
"I'd rather die deliberately under the eye of the public and put a name
on my executioners than just fade off under the persecution of my homeland."
(Visit http://www.cannabisnow.org
for additional information about Prosser.)
-- END --
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Issue #236, 5/10/02
Editorial: Unsafe Streets | Leading Education, Civil Rights, and Drug Policy Organizations Urge Congress to Repeal HEA Drug Provision in Full | Congressional Drug and Terrorism Expert Says Legalization Could Cut Crime | Needle Exchange Not Playing Well in Peoria | Philadelphia Trying to Quash Open-Air Drug Markets With Massive Police Presence | In Hartford, Neighborhood Drug Fighters and Drug Reformers Inhabit Parallel Universes | Million Marijuana March Hits 200 Cities Worldwide, Major Arrests Only in NYC | Patient's Hunger Strike for Medical Cannabis Enters Fourth Week | Newsbrief: FDA Okays Marijuana Hair Test, Would Detect Up to Three Months | Newsbrief: German Heroin Deaths Decline After Safe Injection Sites Introduced | Newsbrief: South Dakota Hemp Petition Signatures Submitted, Seeds Planted | Newsbrief: Philippine Official Asks End to Vigilante Killings of Drug Dealers, Users | Newsbrief: Canadian Senate Panel Hints at Marijuana Legalization | NPR and Reuters on HEA and SSDP | The Reformer's Calendar
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