Storck and Rickert at JRMMA hearing.
Madison: 2009 was a historic year for Wisconsin medical cannabis advocates. For the first time in decades, after a change in Assembly leadership, medical cannabis legislation gained the backing of key state lawmakers in both chambers. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison), a sponsor of mmj bills dating back to the late 1990s, was joined by his colleague, Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Waunakee), in sponsoring AB554/SB368, the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act. The bill also gained 13 Assembly and 2 Senate cosponsors.
Below are Madison NORML Examiner's "2009 Top 10 Wisconsin medical cannabis stories:"
#10) Thursday, Feb 26, 2009: US Attorney General Eric Holder: Ending Medical Cannabis Raids now US Policy. This event did not happen in Wisconsin, but it was one of many pieces of the puzzle that came together in 2009 to make the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act a viable bill.
#9) Sunday, June 7, 2009: State Capitol "Candlelight" Vigil for victims of Medical Marijuana Prohibition. On a Sunday evening in late Spring, nearly 50 patients and supporters including Jacki Rickert gather for a "candlelight" vigil to hear speeches from Jacki, Mary Powers, Gary Storck and others. Singer-songwriter Rick Harris' performance of his song, "Legal Medicine Blues," inspired by Jacki Rickert, topped off a moving night of activism and rememberance.
#8) Summer 2009: Re-establishing Milwaukee NORML: Since the creation of a Milwaukee NORML Facebook group in 2008, momentum had been building for the formation of an official Milwaukee NORML chapter. Finally, after numerous stops and starts, Milwaukee Area NORML, led by Milwaukee area patients and activists, became a reality in the Summer of 2009. Unfortunately, by early January 2010, internal problems within the chapter had left the chapter's future unknown.
Wheelchair patients lead parade!
#7) Thurs.-Sun. October 1-4, 2009, The 39th Annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival, with a live bill in play, represented the pinnacle of the festival's steadily rising focus on passage of Wisconsin medical marijuana legislation over the last decade or so. IMMLY's 7th annual Friday night benefit at the Frequency was the best yet. On Sunday, thousands of medical marijuana activists, led by a half dozen patients in wheelchairs, turned out on a cold and windy day for the traditional parade up State St., around Capitol Square, to the State St. steps of the Capitol for a rally and concert by Baghdad Scuba Review. And despite the cold weather, hundreds lingered to listen to speeches from advocates like JRMMA namesake Jacki Rickert, Gary Storck. Mary Powers, NJ activiist Jim Miller, along with other state and national activists.
#6) Monday, April 5, 2009: Michigan implements MMJ program, putting legal maedical marijuana just across the Wisconsin-Michigan borders: "Five months after voters approved a ballot measure to allow people with "debilitating" illnesses and diseases to use marijuana, the state Monday begins taking applications for the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program." Read more.
#5) Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009: Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle supports JRMMA. Although he had been telling supporters he would sign a bill if it reached his desk since before his election in 2002, Gov. Jim Doyle went a step farther, providing yet another piece of the puzzle by telling reporters at a October 2009 Wausau appearance that withholding medical marijuana was "senseless" and that he supported currentr legislation and would sign it if passed.
.jpg)
Mary & Gary and Friends.
#4) April 23-October 7, 2009: Lobbying with Mary & Gary (and friends). On April 23, Wisconsin patient activists Mary Powers and Gary Storck begin a new grass roots lobbying campaign at the State Capitol. By mid-summer, the two are making weekly visits, supplemented by increasing numbers of other patients and supporters, and documenting the visits with video "Mary & Gary" shows. By early October, this campaign has contacted more than 80 of 132 lawmakers offices.
Mary's veteran flag at memorial.
#3) Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009: Passing of Mary Powers. The Wisconsin medical cannabis community was saddened by the abrupt passing of Mary Powers, after a long and heroic struggle with cancer, AIDS and Hepatitis C. Mary's devotion to the cause of legal medical cannabis in Wisconsin, despite knowing she would not live to see it passed, should inspire everyone, whether healthy or dealing with a medical conditionm to step up and in some way, do something try to fill the gigantic activist shoes Mary left empty when she left us Oct. 22.
11/16 Press Conference (WI Eye)
#2) Monday, November 16, 2009: Capitol press conference announcing introduction of Jacki Rickert MMJ Act: The Capitol and it's ornate Senate Parlor, adjacent to the Senate Chamber, have hosted a number of press conferences about imedical cannabis legislation over the years. On Nov. 16, 2009, there was a different feeling in the air because, for the first time in decades, a bill with powrrful support in both chambers with the support of WI Gov. Jim Doyle, was unveiled to great hopes and much press.
#1) Tuesday, December 15, 2009: Combined Public Health Committee Hearing on AB554/SB368, the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act. Despite shrill attempts by opponents to distract committee members from focusing on medicinal benefits, one hundred five people including representatives of state health groups, health care professionals and most importantly, patients and family members, testified or registered in support with only five against, four of them special intesrest group paid lobbyists. Even more patients who were unable to make it to the Capitol submitted reams of written testimony. This historic hearing, standing room only on a bitterly cold winter day that followed a major snowstorm, demonstrated that Wisconsinites support medical cannabis, by an overwhelming margin.
An online poll by Wisconsin Eye, which videocast and archived both the press conference and hearing, ran an internet poll on Dec. 29 that registered support for passing medical marijuana in Wisconsin in the 95% or higher support range at publication time. Read a great late breaking "gloves-off" dissection of JRMMA opponents' behavior from the Fox Valley Scene, "Conservatives trot out tired stories at medical marijuana hearing".
Comments