MADISON: Is My Medicine Legal YET? Founder Jacki Rickert, the namesake of Wisconsin medical cannabis legislation, urged supporters to not give up hope and to keep pushing until their medicine is legal at a “Vigil for Victims of Medical Marijuana Prohibition” Monday on Capitol Square. She also promised supporters she would be back for next year’s vigil on June 7, 2011, and reminisced about her late friends Cheryl Miller, Mary Powers and Joe Hart, all medical cannabis activists.
Rickert was among several speakers at the vigil at the King St. corner of the State Capitol Square in downtown Madison.
I was another, explaining to attendees, onlookers and passersby about why medical cannabis patients and advocates were gathering downtown on a Monday evening with signs and a memorial table. I also talked about the loss of Mary Powers, the Army veteran and Wisconsin medical cannabis leader taken by cancer in October 2009. I noted how a year earlier, Mary had told vigil attendees that she “knew what her demise would be.”
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MADISON: Mary Powers was one of those speaking at the First Annual Vigil for Victims of Medical Marijuana Prohibition on Sunday June 7, 2009 at the State Street entrance of the Wisconsin State Capitol here in Madison. The vigil was organized by the Madison chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and Is My Medicine Legal YET? (IMMLY).
Powers, an Army veteran and leader in the Wisconsin medical cannabis movement, died of cancer on Oct. 22, 2009, just 4 ½ months later. Mary, in her wheelchair, was a familiar figure at the Capitol. In the six months before her death, she and I visited over 80 different legislative offices talking to lawmakers and staff about the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act, AB554/SB368, which was formally introduced about a month after her passing by Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Waunakee) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison). Mary Powers’ state legislators, Sen. Mark Miller (D-Monona) and Rep. Kelda Helen Roys (D-Madison), both cosponsored the JRMMA.
MADISON: A Republican Assembly representative and Public Health Committee member who was ready to vote for AB 554/SB 368, the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act if it came to a vote has announced he will not be seeking reelection this fall.
Rep. Scott Newcomer, (R-Hartland) issued a statement saying he would not seek reelection in November. Newcomer served in the Assembly since 2006. He faced a primary election fight against five fellow Republicans in September.
The Chicago Tribune reported that Newcomer’s announcement makes him the 22nd Wisconsin lawmaker legislator to give up their seat, translating to 19 open seats in the Assembly and three open seats in the Senate. That means that nearly 17% of seats will be represented by new faces and counting. Democrats currently hold a 52-46 majority in the Assembly and an 18-15 edge in the Senate.
Veterans and others managing post traumatic stress report that medical marijuana can help in ways conventional medications cannot, without the toxicity, side effects and interactions.
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Waunakee, showed true support for vets and other PTSD sufferers by including it among qualifying debilitating medical conditions in the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act. Unfortunately, the bill died in committee like so many others before it.
In 2007, New Mexico also faced the end of session without passing a medical marijuana bill long in the works. Gov. Bill Richardson persuaded wavering lawmakers to come back and pass it, making New Mexico the first state to pass a bill specifically including PTSD, and the 12th state to OK medical marijuana.
