cannabisnews.com: Seattle's March for Marijuana Today





Seattle's March for Marijuana Today
Posted by CN Staff on May 03, 2008 at 16:35:12 PT
By Emily Heffter, Seattle Times Staff Reporter
Source: Seattle Times 
Seattle, WA -- Susan Kirkpatrick remembers how her mother suffered from severe nausea as she was dying of cancer. Kirkpatrick offered her marijuana, but her mother refused, because at the time it was illegal to use it for medicinal purposes.At one point, Kirkpatrick said she slipped some marijuana into her mother's tea — and was amazed at the difference it made.
That memory of her mother's suffering brought Kirkpatrick to Seattle this morning from her home in Longview. Although she depends on a wheelchair to get around, Kirkpatrick joined a march from Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill to downtown to support liberalizing marijuana laws.Kirkpatrick said she uses marijuana to ease the chronic pain caused by a degenerative bone condition. She says she's allergic to antibiotics and painkillers, so she drives to Tacoma or Bellingham to see a doctor who will approve her pot use. Although marijuana is legal as medicine in Washington, she's had trouble getting authorization."The doctors are so afraid, they won't touch it," she said.The organizers planned to march to Westlake Park in downtown Seattle, where a rally was planned from 2 to 3:30 p.m.The event coincides with similar "Marijuana Liberation Day" events in as many as 200 other cities nationwide, according to organizers.Seattle's march was organized largely by people who use medical marijuana, and it coincides with the death of musician Timothy Garon. Garon, 56, died this week after complaining that he had been denied a liver transplant because he used marijuana to ease the nausea and abdominal pain associated with his advanced hepatitis C.Organizer Vivian McPeak said the goal today is to "end the prohibition" on medical marijuana, eliminate jail sentences for nonviolent marijuana-possession charges and legalize the production of industrial hemp.Marijuana activism is associated with hippies and the 1960s counterculture, McPeak said, but "the reality is, people from all walks of life support this law, people from all walks of life know people who need medicinal marijuana, people from all walks of life know someone who has been needlessly incarcerated" for marijuana use.Several local political leaders are expected at today's rally, including City Councilman Nick Licata, King County Councilman Larry Gossett and state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle.At Volunteer Park, an eclectic mix of people gathered — middle-aged people with long hair and tie-dyed shirts, families with children, groups of young people drinking Red Bull and smoking. The smell of marijuana wafted from a stand of trees.Tirza Fortner was wearing a plastic marijuana-leaf costume. She uses marijuana for chronic back pain caused by a motorcycle accident she was in three years ago. She said she can't afford surgery that would fix the pain, so she got a doctor-approved authorization to use the drug as medicine.She encouraged people at the event to go get their authorization so they could use the drug legally. "It's always possible in Washington state," she said.On the outskirts of the rally, Margaret Denny, 57, rode in a wheelchair that her son had decorated with jail bars. She is fighting a drug-possession charge after an October arrest at her Maple Valley home. She said the police found more pot in her possession than she's allowed with her state authorization. They took her to jail in an ambulance. She said a 1979 car accident left her with various, painful problems with her hip and foot."I just think, what a sad waste of the taxpayers' money, putting the sick and the dying in jail or trying to arrest them," she said.Source: Seattle Times (WA)Author: Emily Heffter, Seattle Times Staff ReporterPublished: Saturday, May 3, 2008Copyright: 2008 The Seattle Times CompanyContact: opinion seatimes.comWebsite: http://www.seattletimes.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by Storm Crow on May 04, 2008 at 21:51:22 PT
Medicinal tea....
"At one point, Kirkpatrick said she slipped some marijuana into her mother's tea — and was amazed at the difference it made."It amazes me about the focus we put on just the THC in cannabis. THC, as many of you know, is not soluble in water. However, there are many other cannabinoids in this wondrous plant. Even with only trace amounts of THC present in the tea, it has been shown to relieve pain. Some water soluble component(s) of cannabis can alleviate pain! When the scientific community is FINALLY able to freely study this plant, who knows what cures and treatments will be discovered? 
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Comment #3 posted by afterburner on May 04, 2008 at 08:19:37 PT
Toronto's Global Marijuana March
Pot fans rally in Big Smoke.
Thousands pushing for legal weed peacefully mark Freedom Festival, 10th Global Marijuana March.
May 04, 2008 04:30 AM. 
Paul Irish, 
Staff Reporter.
Queen's Park may have been soggy from yesterday's rain, but sparks were flying as thousands spent the day smoking pot just north of the Legislature.
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/421228
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on May 03, 2008 at 23:07:57 PT
"They" are low forms of life.
"They took her to jail in an ambulance"?THEY?Who / what exactly is "they"?What kind of people are "they"?I feel like "they" are a low form of scum.We have military personel over in Iraq killing people that are no worse than "they" are."They" are worse than Iraqi's who shoot at Ameirica's troops. If We leave Iraq, the Iraqis will stop shooting at Us but "they" will still be harming Us / sick American citizens right here in small town and big city America."They" are low forms of life. 5th world thinkers in a 1st world nation. Low.Police are low.Oh well, taking a sick wheel chair cannabis user and grower to jail beats no work at all. (once cannabis prohibition is repealed, RCMP Ed Turgeon's [THEY] biggest fear will be job security. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n456/a03.html?397 )LOW 
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on May 03, 2008 at 16:50:53 PT
Texas: News Article From KEYETV.com
'Crusade' Calls for Legal Marijuana in Downtown AustinCBS 42 Reporter: Rebecca Taylor   
May 3, 2008 Austin, TX -- Hundreds protested for pot on the steps of the capitol today. A "cannabis crusade" came calling on Texas lawmakers Saturday, calling for the legalization of marijuana.The south steps of the state capitol were the scene of the protest.Participants argued that the medical use of marijuana is justified because it can help relieve the pain and nausea that accompany certain medical conditions -- despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision against legal medical use.CBS 42's Rebecca Taylor reports some were also calling for the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.The protest and march were sponsored by the Texas Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
 http://www.keyetv.com/content/news/topnews/story.aspx?content_id=2569b93b-b7c6-4b12-8969-bc953bd0c228Copyright: 2008 Four Points Media Group LLC. 
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