cannabisnews.com: Advocate Remembered for Fight To Legalize MMJ





Advocate Remembered for Fight To Legalize MMJ
Posted by CN Staff on December 20, 2007 at 06:08:38 PT
By Michael Moore of the Missoulian
Source: Missoulian 
Montana -- Robin Prosser is gone, dead at her own hand. But for the 30 or so people who gathered at University Congregational Church to memorialize Prosser on Wednesday, it's easy to see how her hand was forced. By pain. By depression. By poverty. By her own government.“We can't properly honor Robin and her life without recognizing the truth of what the government's marijuana prohibition policy did to her, physically, emotionally, spiritually,” said Tom Daubert. “We can't properly honor what Robin struggled for years to achieve without crying out in rage at the forces of insanity and even sadism that destroyed her.”
Prosser suffered chronic pain due to a form of lupus that made it impossible for her to use prescribed pain medications. So she used marijuana instead.She was an active proponent of the statewide initiative that approved medical marijuana use in Montana, and thought at least some of her problems had been solved by its passage.In late March, however, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration seized a small amount of marijuana that was being shipped to her by an authorized provider. At the time, a DEA agent said the federal government was “protecting people from their own state laws” by seizing such shipments.Six months later, robbed of the only thing that brought her relief, Prosser was dead at age 50.She was, said those who knew her, a talented pianist, a mother who loved her daughter, a friend who gave when she literally had nothing but time to give.She was funny, too, in a wicked sort of way. And she was tireless, even as disease and pain drained her last reserves.“She smiled a lot, even when she was hurting,” said her friend Paul Befumo, who worked with her on the medical marijuana initiative.Byron Weber said Prosser taught him what it meant to be poor and sick with dignity.“She was a teacher,” Weber said.She taught Daubert a lesson in patience and perseverance.“She also taught me to look underneath what you can see on the outside of people and find their core, because while our differences may be many on the physical level, our similarities, if we take the time to look for them, are always much more numerous,” Daubert said.Prosser, Weber said, “needed a break, but couldn't seem to get one.” Still, she fought her pain. She also fought for others with similar pain, working to legalize the use of marijuana for those who need it, friends said.“I applaud her for her bravery in that,” said Angela Goodhope.In a way, Wednesday's memorial was a lot like Prosser. Daubert gave an impassioned, at times angry, speech about government drug policy, while other friends cried and told touching, small stories.Prosser could be both sides of that coin, an abiding friend and a fierce advocate.Her life touched those who knew her, and they sense her presence and inspiration as they move through their daily lives.“I am going to take the very important lessons that Robin Prosser taught me and incorporate them in my daily life, in part by reaching out more to people whom we as a society often isolate, whether we mean to or not,” Daubert said. “I hope you will, too.”Complete Title: Advocate Remembered for Fight To Legalize Medical MarijuanaRobin Prosser: Forbidden Medicine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuxHvCDdNzcSource: Missoulian (MT)Author: Michael Moore of the MissoulianPublished: Thursday, December 20 2007 Copyright: 2007 MissoulianContact: oped missoulian.comWebsite: http://www.missoulian.com/Related Articles:A Medical Marijuana Casualtyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23442.shtmlMedical Marijuana Advocate Kills Herselfhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23438.shtml
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Comment #25 posted by Dankhank on December 21, 2007 at 13:52:20 PT
Hope
they in fact are withdrawing from the USA, they were only ever part of the USA by treaty ...
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Comment #24 posted by Hope on December 21, 2007 at 09:15:12 PT
The Lakota
Actually, on reading more of this stuff, I see that they aren't actually seceding from the US as a nation. They are withdrawing from all the treaties that have been made with the US. I'm not sure what all that means. But I do wish them their freedom and hope, which they have less of than they should.
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Comment #23 posted by Hope on December 21, 2007 at 08:58:22 PT
Lakota
Aolbites. That's stunning news. The Lakota Nation. I so hope it goes well for them... but I fear they'll be viciously attacked for what they are doing. I hope they won't. About a week ago or maybe more, we had a Lakota visitor post here at C-News, I think. I did go to the url he posted for a Lakota site, at that time. I can't recall his name this minute. It was about the hemp debacle that the US laid on the Lakota in recent years.They've "laid" the hemp debacle on all of us... but they have been very cruel and condescending, they're always cruel and condescending, I know, to the Lakota in their very worthy hemp endeavor.
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Comment #22 posted by aolbites on December 21, 2007 at 08:35:16 PT
The Lakota have said - Enough. We're outta here.
http://www.lakotafreedom.com/index.htmlFREEDOM!Today is a historic day and our forefathers speak through us. Our Forefathers made the treaties in good faith with the sacred Canupa and with the knowledge of the Great Spirit, They never honored the treaties, that is the reason we are here today...Garry Rowland, Wounded Knee ----------------------------------------------------------MEDIA ADVISORY
Immediate Release: 19 December 2007Media Contacts:
Naomi Archer, Communications Liaison (828) 230-1404 lakotafree [at] gmail.comFreedom! Lakota Sioux Indians Declare Sovereign Nation StatusThreaten Land Liens, Contested Real Estate Over Five State Area in U.S. WestLakota Satisfies Treaty Council Mandate of 33 Years, Drafted by 97 Indigenous NationsDakota Territory Reverts back to Lakota Control According to U.S., International LawWashington D.C. – Lakota Sioux Indian representatives declared sovereign nation status today in Washington D.C. following Monday’s withdrawal from all previously signed treaties with the United States Government. The withdrawal, hand delivered to Daniel Turner, Deputy Director of Public Liaison at the State Department, immediately and irrevocably ends all agreements between the Lakota Sioux Nation of Indians and the United States Government outlined in the 1851 and 1868 Treaties at Fort Laramie Wyoming.“This is an historic day for our Lakota people,” declared Russell Means, Itacan of Lakota. “United States colonial rule is at its end!”“Today is a historic day and our forefathers speak through us. Our Forefathers made the treaties in good faith with the sacred Canupa and with the knowledge of the Great Spirit,” shared Garry Rowland from Wounded Knee. “They never honored the treaties, that’s the reason we are here today.”The four member Lakota delegation traveled to Washington D.C. culminating years of internal discussion among treaty representatives of the various Lakota communities. Delegation members included well known activist and actor Russell Means, Women of All Red Nations (WARN) founder Phyllis Young, Oglala Lakota Strong Heart Society leader Duane Martin Sr., and Garry Rowland, Leader Chief Big Foot Riders. Means, Rowland, Martin Sr. were all members of the 1973 Wounded Knee takeover.“In order to stop the continuous taking of our resources – people, land, water and children- we have no choice but to claim our own destiny,” said Phyllis Young, a former Indigenous representative to the United Nations and representative from Standing Rock.Property ownership in the five state area of Lakota now takes center stage. Parts of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana have been illegally homesteaded for years despite knowledge of Lakota as predecessor sovereign [historic owner]. Lakota representatives say if the United States does not enter into immediate diplomatic negotiations, liens will be filed on real estate transactions in the five state region, clouding title over literally thousands of square miles of land and property.Young added, “The actions of Lakota are not intended to embarrass the United States but to simply save the lives of our people”.Following Monday’s withdrawal at the State Department, the four Lakota Itacan representatives have been meeting with foreign embassy officials in order to hasten their official return to the Family of Nations.Lakota’s efforts are gaining traction as Bolivia, home to Indigenous President Evo Morales, shared they are “very, very interested in the Lakota case” while Venezuela received the Lakota delegation with “respect and solidarity.”“Our meetings have been fruitful and we hope to work with these countries for better relations,” explained Garry Rowland. “As a nation, we have equal status within the national community.”Education, energy and justice now take top priority in emerging Lakota. “Cultural immersion education is crucial as a next step to protect our language, culture and sovereignty,” said Means. “Energy independence using solar, wind, geothermal, and sugar beets enables Lakota to protect our freedom and provide electricity and heating to our people.”The Lakota reservations are among the most impoverished areas in North America, a shameful legacy of broken treaties and apartheid policies. Lakota has the highest death rate in the United States and Lakota men have the lowest life expectancy of any nation on earth, excluding AIDS, at approximately 44 years. Lakota infant mortality rate is five times the United States average and teen suicide rates 150% more than national average . 97% of Lakota people live below the poverty line and unemployment hovers near 85%.“After 150 years of colonial enforcement, when you back people into a corner there is only one alternative,” emphasized Duane Martin Sr. “The only alternative is to bring freedom into its existence by taking it back to the love of freedom, to our lifeway.”We are the freedom loving Lakota from the Sioux Indian reservations of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana who have suffered from cultural and physical genocide in the colonial apartheid system we have been forced to live under. We are in Washington DC to withdraw from the constitutionally mandated treaties to become a free and independent country. We are alerting the Family of Nations we have now reassumed our freedom and independence with the backing of Natural, International, and United States law. For more information, please visit our new website at www.lakotafreedom.com.
Lakota Freedom Delegation
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Comment #21 posted by Hope on December 21, 2007 at 07:45:25 PT
Sam comment 14
If one of us had checked that blog... we probably could have realized she was Robin. I probably wouldn't have... but I can be slow to figure out the obvious, even, sometimes.
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Comment #20 posted by Hope on December 21, 2007 at 07:43:11 PT
Amen
"Merry Christmas to the DEA. God bless us all. God save us all."
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Comment #19 posted by Hope on December 21, 2007 at 07:42:19 PT
True
"Nothing can be as maliciously cruel and hateful to one human being as another human being."
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Comment #18 posted by Hope on December 21, 2007 at 07:41:07 PT
DEA
"How do these DEA agents sleep at night. Are they not human?"I think the problem is that they, Agents of the DEA, see people like Robin and anyone who uses cannabis as actually, somehow, less than human. They really do. They really look down on all of us. We're the "Bad guys" to them, and they are the "Good guys", as ludicrous as that is. 
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Comment #17 posted by Hope on December 21, 2007 at 07:35:45 PT
Dongenero
I read several pages before I went to bed last night. As much as I could stand. After the holidays I intend to read it all. The grief is hard to deal with. I didn't realize that she was estranged from her daughter. I can see that Robin had a problem with suicidal tendencies. It's a wonder she made it as long as she did. She was so fragile in that area.She could write in a way that made her thoughts very interesting. Ricky and Duke broke my heart. She told about watching an eight point buck from her steps. She told how awful it was for her to go to Walmart. She would get seriously sick when she worried about scraping up enough money just to get by. There are several pages. I do remember going to her MySpace page back when she died and there wasn't anything there that I could see. Navigating MySpace pages isn't something I'm good at anyway. I missed it, when there might have been a chance to encourage her to keep fighting the struggle that life can be.Anyway. I'm glad we have her words and thoughts. It's like she's still alive when you read those pages.
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Comment #16 posted by dongenero on December 21, 2007 at 07:24:20 PT
Hope - Robin's blog
That last entry is really sad.How do these DEA agents sleep at night. Are they not human?Nothing can be as maliciously cruel and hateful to one human being as another human being.Merry Christmas to the DEA. God bless us all. God save us all.
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Comment #15 posted by Hope on December 20, 2007 at 21:40:28 PT
A painful thing...
Aolbites. I ran on to this from that search you posted. It's painful. I'm not sure how I missed this. She posted it to a thread here... and I guess I just didn't check it, which is unusual for me. I just wish I'd read it back when she posted it and maybe commented or something. She was so lonely, sick, afraid, and unhappy with all that was happening to her.http://blog.myspace.com/74314604
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Comment #14 posted by Sam Adams on December 20, 2007 at 17:16:06 PT
robin/mbc
So sad, I still can't believe it was her.  Now I wish I'd tried to cheer her up more instead of my usual cynical rantings. But obviously she preferred to be anonymous here. Maybe sometimes it's easier to communicate & vent if you're anonymous.I've always thought that medical MJ was the key to the WOD. Why are the feds fighting SO hard against it? It's such a travesty, and such an incredibly black-and-white issue, that it has the potential to break through the propaganda, to "wake up" people from the brainwashing. I have enough faith in humanity to believe that most people would be outraged at what happened to Robin. That's why she was such an enemy of the feds, because she jumped out in front, to the front lines, she refused to suffer quietly. Again, I wish I could be as brave as she was. What a true hero and role model for us all.
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Comment #13 posted by aolbites on December 20, 2007 at 12:47:49 PT
Rest in Peace Robin, your words live on!!
http://www.google.com/search?q=mai_bong_city&num=100&hl=en&safe=off&hs=vDS&filter=0
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Comment #12 posted by fight_4_freedom on December 20, 2007 at 12:12:22 PT:
What a sad day it was indeed
I was in shock for a good couple days after hearing the news. I had only responded back and forth with her a few times but I read her posts over a long period of time. I wish she could be here to see the day when we finally become free to live. But even if she isn't here to see it, she certainly helped pave a way for that day to come.It's very important we all remember Robin and her fight to live without pain. It's too bad most people probably don't have the slightest clue about this lady or her struggle. She is a prime example of what we are fighting for. She found a medicine that helped her a lot that God created for people like her, and those evil sickos known as the DEA took it away from her. They prevented her from getting any relief. They are murderers. They took her medicine knowing that it helped her prolong her life. They did this to her.Robin - We will never forget you or the things you've done. May God Bless Your Beautiful Soul Forever
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Comment #11 posted by runruff on December 20, 2007 at 11:43:25 PT:
The Neo-American Gestapo
The cruel, dispicable, inhumane, murder for hire club known as the DEA. Nixon's gift that just keeps on giving.I've been reading lately that these blood thirsty monsters just can't seem to spill enough human blood or cause enough suffering to quench their perverted desires. Thousands of retired DEA agents are now working as hired guns for Blackwater and other mercenary agencys in Iraq.
Mercearies, wether they are employed to kill foreign or domestic, makes no difference to them. It is the cloth they are cut from and not the cause. This anti-freedom paramilitary Federal police force represents everything that is anti-American in it's most ideal sense. They are a festering boil on the face of democracy.
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Comment #10 posted by Hope on December 20, 2007 at 11:36:23 PT
Max
I still remember what you did and that you did help her... and tried to help her again... but it was too late. You tried. You risked your own freedom and safety to help her. You are one of my heroes... that's for sure.
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on December 20, 2007 at 11:32:45 PT
Mai_Bong_City
Yes, Sam. We did chat with her regularly over several years. Most of us didn't realize that Mai_Bong_City was Robin Prosser until several days after reports of Robin Prosser's suicide came out. When MBC didn't reply to any of our replies to her last post... we became worried. Then we started putting two and two together... and the horrible realization of what had become of MBC started revealing itself. She was gone. We were all very sad, and still are, of course, when we heard of Robin's suicide. But we were truly, deeply, devastated when we discovered that MBC was really Robin... and that our old cyber friend wasn't coming back to answer our posts to her that day. It was horrible to realize.I, too, wish we could have helped keep her from giving up. Apparently, she could no longer bear the weight and sorrow of the pretty sorry hand that she'd been dealt by life and sickness.She left us a very disturbing post right before she left this world for, hopefully, a kinder place for her.I hate that she gave up. Don't anyone else give up. Please.
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Comment #8 posted by Max Flowers on December 20, 2007 at 11:20:26 PT
MBC
I feel good that I was able to relieve her pain at least for a couple of days about a year ago---I sent her a small amount of medicine in the mail---but I wish I had done so more regularly and especially wish I had done so near the time of her suicide. You guys know how these things go... I will likely second-guess myself for a long time to come as to whether I could have saved her if I had known how bad it was for her and done more to help. I've said this before, but I wish she could have relocated here to northern CA where there is so much medicine that growers often can't even get rid of it... 
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Comment #7 posted by Sam Adams on December 20, 2007 at 11:09:50 PT
wow
so we were chatting with her here? Wow, I did not know that.  I wish I was physically in Montana so I could have helped her directly. I guess all we can do is reach out to people in our own lives & states that need us.
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on December 20, 2007 at 10:10:26 PT
Comment 3
Oh my, FoM. How sweet! You just made my day. First smile of the day, too. I'll always be sad about Robin/MBC. I wish she could have hung on and stayed with us. We are going to rise above all this reefer/freaker madness and idiotic injustice and squash the pogram, the War on Drugs, that has bedeviled, destroyed, and ended, so many people's lives for so long.We aren't, by any means, the biggest baddest thing in the world... but we're up against one of the biggest baddest things in the world... injustice on a huge scale. We can't "go for the throat" of the prohibitionists and all the power and money they possess, and take them down. But we can hang on and raise a ruckus for the betterment of humanity, and all together, we can be heard.We are just many small individuals who care very much. As I've said before, forty pounds of angry "chihuahuas" hanging on each leg is something the prohibitionists are not going to be able to ignore forever.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on December 20, 2007 at 09:36:08 PT
Sam
Are you asking what MBC stands for? If so it was mai_bong_city.
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Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on December 20, 2007 at 08:44:11 PT
what is MBC?
I hope Robin realized that her work was not in vain.  With all the evil examples of humanity thrust into our faces every day, how re-assuring it is to now that people like Robin and Tod McMormick, true heroes, are part of humanity also.There are many people in MT benefiting right now from the medical MJ law there that may not have happened without Robin's activist work.I have special respect for the bravery of people like Robin that come right out in the open and tackle the govt's hypocrisy and cruelty, at great personal risk - even while fighting debilitating diseases.When Thoreau was thrown into jail for refusing to pay a poll tax (he was protesting slavery and the govt's war on Mexico), he was visited by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson said "shame on you for landing here" Thoreau said "Shame on you for not being in here with me" So true, if all medical MJ patients were like Robin, this battle for legal medical MJ would be over within days.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on December 20, 2007 at 07:54:55 PT
Hope
I just love you so much Hope. You are the dearest friend I have ever met on line. Thank you.
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Comment #2 posted by Hope on December 20, 2007 at 07:50:23 PT
FoM
I second that agenda and sentiment. Amen!
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on December 20, 2007 at 06:17:55 PT
Robin
Since Robin, who was our own MBC, took her own life I have had an anger deep inside. Nothing will take me away from changing the laws on medicial marijuana. Life is precious. Ideologies are just that ideologies. I hope and pray that we can turn our country around and change the laws so no one else decides that life isn't worth living. Rest in Peace Robin and know that I will never give up no matter how hard it might become or how many enemies I might make along the way. Popularity isn't important but accomplishing the goal is very important. 
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