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| Growing Desperate |
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Posted by FoM on April 30, 2002 at 14:29:07 PT By Amy Linn of the Missoulian Source: Missoulian 
She wears the look of someone pinned beneath a boulder, a woman exhausted by pain and frustration.Why else would 45-year-old Robin Prosser - why would anyone - go on a hunger strike to get medical help? Why would a devoted single parent of a teen-age girl force herself to go so long without food - 10 days, as of Tuesday morning - that answering the telephone leaves her weak and hospitalization could lie ahead? The answer is desperation. And the desperation, startlingly, is for pot. Cannabis. Medical marijuana. Prosser, a Missoula mom and talented musician, suffers from a lupus-related immunosuppressive disorder, an illness that for the past 17 years has caused her chronic pain, heart trouble, muscle spasms, nausea, bone fractures and migraines. She also has neurological problems similar to those caused by multiple sclerosis, she says. Along the way, Prosser has tried nearly every prescribed potion and pill, including morphine and other painkillers (she's violently allergic to them), anti-nausea medications (ditto) and a long list of therapies (nothing works). Finally, on her own, she tried marijuana. "It made the pain go away," she says, squinting against the incongruously cheerful sun working its way into her living room. The aura inside Prosser's Upper Miller Creek home, meticulously tidy in a street of like houses, is otherwise not unlike a sickroom. "The pain is never completely gone," Prosser corrects herself. "But with marijuana, it's manageable." With daily pot use, Prosser says she can compose music, write, take care of her daughter and live a fairly normal life. Without it, she says, "I'm sunk." It might seem far-fetched to go on a hunger strike and hope to solve in a few days what in many respects is an intractable, decades-old legal issue. The matter of making marijuana available for medical use is mired in politics, zero-tolerance policies and a federal resolve to keep the drug illegal. Indeed, federal policy on such matters has recently led to federal shutdowns of two cannabis buyers' clubs in California widely used by cancer and AIDS patients to combat pain, nausea and weight loss. But Prosser, who lost 28 pounds in the first seven days of her fast (she isn't thin, but "I had some to spare," she jokes), says she felt she had no other choice. And she won't eat, she says, until she gets some assurance that using pot won't land her in jail. In the past, she was well enough to make the long drive to Seattle and buy from the cannabis club there, but she no longer has the strength, she says. And she wants some public official to promise not to prosecute her for growing marijuana in her yard, strictly for her own use. "I cannot do that," says county Sheriff Doug Chase. "In my position, I certainly could not legitimize that." If Prosser were to get arrested, Chase adds, it would be up to the courts to sort out whether she deserves an exemption or some special treatment. "It sounds kind of inhumane and callous," Chase says. "But I'm certainly not in a position to say that I'm not going to enforce the law. It would be totally inappropriate for me." Missoula Police Chief Bob Weaver is more blunt. "She'll be busted if she grows pot and we learn about it. The courts can look at mitigating circumstances." Prosser, sitting in a T-shirt and sweat pants sipping juice so she doesn't get dehydrated and collapse, says she doesn't want to be a criminal. That's her point. "I don't want to break the law," she says. "But I don't want to be forced to live and be sick. There has to be some law protecting people like me." A Missoula neurologist familiar with her case, Dr. Ethan Russo, agrees. "Yes," Russo says, "I believe that using cannabis is helpful to her condition." What's unfortunate is that someone in Prosser's situation would feel the need to take such drastic measures, he says. "In other countries, unlike the situation here, the medical use of clinical cannabis has been recognized as a right of the people." In Canada and parts of Western Europe, he says, people in need can get prescription cannabis. "But our government is still taking the position that this is a dangerous drug that has no medical use. And it basically is a pervasive lie." "If I had another choice, some other medication to take," Prosser says, "I'd take it in a heartbeat." She's joined political groups pushing for marijuana legalization; she's gone to rallies, written to legislators, and used the Internet to stay in touch with people in similar situations. She's joined a class-action lawsuit; it never came to fruition. "It was either this, or cut and run - move to Amsterdam or some other country with legalized medical marijuana," she says. "I don't want to leave my daughter." She is near tears. "But I'd do that before I'd die on her and not make it to her high school graduation. "I don't want to be a celebrity. I want to do this for all the hundreds of other people in the country who are ill and dying and are in the same boat, waiting for the laws to change. And I'm selfish, too. I want this for me and my daughter. If I could just have this one thing ..." Prosser accepts an invitation to sit at her gleaming piano in the corner. Her hands race across the octaves, and then she settles into a lush melody that suddenly becomes recognizable: it's the first few bars of "Misty." "Look at me," the words go, though she doesn't sing them. "I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree." Note: In her ninth day of a hunger strike, Robin Prosser says she wants to be able to grow a small marijuana garden outside her Missoula home to provide pain relief and ease the nausea she experiences from a health condition. Note: Woman turns to hunger strike to get right to grow medical marijuana. Newshawk: Ethan Russo MD Related Articles & Web Site: Cannabis Now Cannabinoids in Pain Management Missoula Woman Launches a Hunger Strike Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #13 posted by Dogwood on May 02, 2002 at 10:24:19 PT |
| Robin Prosser was misrepresented by the reporter. She does not wish to grow a "marijuana patch" in her yard. Being a mother, she would never even consider "exposing" her neighbors' children to her medicinal garden. She simply wishes to grow a sufficient amount of cannibis for own use in the privacy of her own home. The reporter and the newspaper owe Ms. Prosser a correction as their "assumption" grossly mis-states the facts and causes unnecessary "concern" amongst her neighbors. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #12 posted by el_toonces on May 01, 2002 at 19:26:29 PT:
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| ..at the expense of one's own health has drawn media attention to this case, but I wonder if Robin is much healthier and feels better eating AND using her medicine, why does she not invoke her "common law" right of medical necessity? True, she might have to prove in court if the authorities won't be educated voluntarily, but I thought the whole point of this is that, as a reasonable and "law-abiding" citizen and role model for her kids, etc., she does not want to break the law. Who truly can say what the law is when one claims medical necessity? If she has the resources and would not mind a trial, I can't imagine a state judge being all that harsh even if she lost standing up for right to medical necessity but I don't even pretend to know the Montana judiciary or local customs (or even whether they have "mandatory minimums"). Sometimes I just wonder if taking the position that your health is more important to you than what others think of you or your deference to law or custom -- because you can conform to neither if you die and our culture ain't too fond of ill folks, either -- the attitude that you,, the person, are that important, is healing in and of itself. The law should not ignore this but the voice of reason and civility has been lost in our public discourse on these topics. I don't at all mean to advise or even suggest a course of action to Robin, but I do hope to stimulate some discourse. Talk to everyone you know about someone who is ill and benefits from this medicine. Everyone likes to hear a story where the protagonist is doing well. People like Robin are the reason I am the "necktie and girdle" kind of person, as Ethan and FoM have jokingly put it, and take my activities in advocating and educating about this seriously enough to want to give some semblance of professionalism an credibility, even if its only in the minds of those who must be taught, and consider my own comforts or "preferences" on questions about whether a march should be smoke-free or smoking immaterial. The question is only what is more effective, and at the moment, I think our public image could use a little more of the "Zen master" angle:). I hope Robin stays well. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #11 posted by markjc on May 01, 2002 at 08:57:07 PT:
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| Tool will be looked upon by future generations as one of the most innovative bands of all time, lyrically and musically. thats my 2 cents. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #10 posted by goneposthole on May 01, 2002 at 07:14:37 PT |
| Find her about 50 to 100 joints and deliver them to her. Also, fry her some chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. A salad with greek black olives and feta cheese on top will help, too. Food is remarkable medicine. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ If I were her, I would find myself in Canada and forget about all of this rigamarole with the stupid, insane laws prohibiting cannabis for medicine or recreation. It's maddness, I tell you, maddness. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #9 posted by Dan B on April 30, 2002 at 20:41:08 PT:
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| I just learned that the part of the quotation extending from "Ritual Magik" to the end is an excerpt from Aleister Crowley's Magik in Theory and Practice. Just thought I'd let you know that since I posted it here and all. Dan B [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #8 posted by FoM on April 30, 2002 at 20:24:13 PT |
| Tommy Thompson Advises Brother By Associated Press
April 30, 2002, 7:13 PM EDT WASHINGTON -- Tommy Thompson, the Health and Human Services secretary, first offered fatherly advice on healthier living. Then he offered brotherly advice on how to get elected. "Run as a Republican," he told his younger brother, Ed Thompson, a Libertarian candidate for governor in Wisconsin. The younger Thompson attended his big brother's National Press Club speech promoting better eating and more exercise. Ed Thompson made his first trip to Washington as part of his long-shot bid for the seat his brother held for 14 years. The mayor of Tomah, Wis., Ed Thompson owns a supper club and has worked as bartender, prison guard and professional poker player. He's running about 10 percent in opinion polls. "As I've told him, as you all know, being a Libertarian is going to be difficult to get elected," Tommy Thompson told reporters after the speech, with his brother at his side. The Thompson brothers don't seem to have much in common politically. When Tommy Thompson was asked what he thought of his brother's political ideas, which includes favoring legalized marijuana, he responded: "I love my brother." Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #7 posted by Dan B on April 30, 2002 at 20:07:11 PT:
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| An article about Robin Prosser in the Missoula Independent is like preaching to the choir, but an article about her in the Missoulian is, for Montana anyway, mainstream media. I'm glad to see that such a positive article appeared in there, even if I still don't agree with the hunger strike (I sure hope she's at least taking an IV). I just don't want her to die. Hunger is such an ugly thing to die from. Want of medicine, though, is just as ugly. On another note, I bought the album Lateralus from Tool a while back, and today I one of bought its predecessors, Aenema. Absolutely brilliant. If you have access to the CD, I greatly encourage you to have a listen to "Third Eye," which contains several statements against the war on some drugs. Aside from that, this band is one of the few true innovators of hard rock from the late 20th/early 21st centuries. You just have to listen. Here's a little tidbit from the Aenema liner notes: Timothy Leary identified a genetic type whose future circuits have begun to be activated and called the FUTANTS. Futants are naturally selected to facilitate survival by being better adapted to explore the future and take risks through their genetic characteristics. Unless we provide a proper environment of freedom in which this positive genetic type can be recognized, operate in, and the dross be separated from the valuable information, we will be depriving the race of a vital resource. Every time a scientist, philosopher, artist, or athlete pushes our thresholds to new ground the entire race evolves. Ritual Magik is a system of disciplines and exercises aimed at activating parts of the mind we might normally never use (about 85%). Through this system a better understanding of ourselves is attained. No true Ritual Magician has ever sacrificed life, drank goat's blood, or taken part in any other stupid urban legend ritual. This sort of behavior is left to the psychotic, dogmatic, fundamentalist believers you see on your T.V. everyday letting off bombs and killing people in the name of God. Beliefs are dangerous. Beliefs allow the mind to stop functioning. A non-functioning mind is clinicaly dead. *Believe in nothing . . . Dan B [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #6 posted by The GCW on April 30, 2002 at 17:32:39 PT |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 30, 2002 Brother of HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson Joins Call for Medical Marijuana http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr043002.html ...The Coalition has been trying to arrange a meeting with administration officials since the ad ran. "After nearly two months the White House drug czar's office finally agreed to sit down with us, but we've heard nothing from their health officials," said Jason Young, director of special projects for the Marijuana Policy Project. "While we appreciate the opportunity to meet with people on the enforcement side, this is first and foremost a health issue, and the administration's health officials have been missing in action. We've been trying to talk to Secretary Thompson, to Ann Phelps, the president's domestic advisor on health issues, and to AIDS czar Scott Evertz, but they've been like deer caught in the headlights."... [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on April 30, 2002 at 16:03:41 PT |
| >>And she wants some public official to promise not to prosecute her for growing marijuana in her yard, strictly for her own use.<< While I sympathize with her plight, this demand is beyond the domain of the local law enforcement. Even if they said yes, you may do this with our blessing... cannabis remains illegal for everyone else. And so eventually, because of its black-market status, somebody will raid her garden and steal her plants. Once again, proving Dr. Lester Grinspoon's adage about the only way we'll see the full medical use of cannabis is when it is fully legalized for everyone. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by Nuevo Mexican on April 30, 2002 at 15:37:09 PT |
| You are all setting great examples as to how we are going to win this war on people! Through compassion, understanding, knowledge and most of all, love!
Can you feel the tides a' turning? Unfortunately, we are still at the same 'stage' as the Palestinians, who are fighting for their lives against all odds. Guess what the outcome will be....total vindication for Cannabis users and the oppressed peoples of the world. Set your watches! [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 30, 2002 at 15:11:03 PT |
| I went ahead and fixed your name. If you emailed the Missoulian they might correct your name in the paper. Just a thought. Has there been any local tv coverage? If not maybe someone should contact your local tv channels and ask them to do something. If we had the links to your local channels some of us could write and ask them to do a piece. If you think it could help I mean. PS: Leader Not, Friend Yes! [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo MD on April 30, 2002 at 14:50:19 PT:
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| I suppose you have to be really famous for them to spell your name properly. The direct quotations were not fabulously accurate, either. However, the article seems to be sympathetic to Robin's situation, and that is why I suggested it to FoM, our fearless leader and friend. [ Post Comment ] |
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