Pubdate: Wed, 11 Apr 2001
Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)
Copyright: 2001 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/506
Author: Sarah Wyatt

MARIJUANA USERS LAUD DRUG'S MEDICAL BENEFITS

Jacki Rickert says she is tired of risking arrest every time she 
smokes marijuana to treat the pain and loss of appetite caused by a 
tissue disorder and degenerative bone marrow disease.

Rickert testified Tuesday before the Assembly State Affairs 
Committee, which held a hearing to gather information on the merits 
and pitfalls of medical marijuana, committee Chairman Rep. Rick 
Skindrud, R-Mount Horeb, said.

Rickert, executive director of the group ``Is My Medicine Legal 
Yet?'' testified that marijuana has been more helpful than any of the 
other drugs she has tried, including morphine.

Rickert, of Mondovi, said her weight dropped down to 68 pounds and 
cannabis -- or marijuana -- has been the only drug that has been 
substantially effective in increasing her weight. She said it allows 
her to take half the amount of drugs she would otherwise.

``You have a few puffs, when it works, you put it out. That's not 
something you can do with a pill, that's not something you can do 
with a liquid,'' she said. ``I don't sit down and get high or 
anything that everyone talks about. I do this to have an appetite, to 
be able to have a quality of life.''

Dr. Michael Miller, president of the Dane County Medical Society, 
said there is insufficient medical evidence showing that smoked 
marijuana is effective in treating the symptoms of various diseases. 
Legalizing smoked marijuana could be a detriment to society by making 
more people addicted to the drug, he said.

``Medical marijuana is an oxymoron,'' he said. ``Smoked marijuana is 
not medicine. . . . Wait until the science catches up.''

The State Medical Society is now opposed to any bills that would 
legalize smoked marijuana, Miller said. The Wisconsin Nurses 
Association supports legalized marijuana but has not specified how it 
is best used -- taken orally as a pill, inhaled using an inhaler, or 
smoked, said association president Gina Dennik-Champion.

Dane County Sheriff Gary Hamblin said law enforcement should defer to 
the medical community to evaluate and conduct reliable, significant 
research about whether marijuana has medicinal effects.
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