OHIO JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE
AKA Fondly as J4J1
A Condensed History by Kay Lee

Toledo Ohio to Columbus
May 26, 1997
5 days - 130 miles
Lead Patient - Dan Asbury (red hat)

The Ohio Journeyers

From Ohio

Dan Asbury
Patient, now deceased

Kay Lee
Illegal Patient/Grandmother

Hans Ashbaucher
Patient 

John Precup
Patient 

Ray "Berry" Krieger
Patient, Roach Patrol 

From Florida

Elvy Musikka
Legal Patient

From Texas

Tiffany Landreth
Patient

John Wilson
Patient

With Support from

Don Worshafter 

Richard Lake 

John Hartman of Northcoast NORML, now deceased

Tomas Salazar

Jean Taddy 

 Charles Landreth

 George McMann

Swiss Growers

National NORML

All the Local Churches and Businesses who helped
All the National Groups who helped

It is likely I've forgotten some of the journeyers.  If you know of someone who should be on this list, let me know at kayleeusa@frontiernet.net

The first journey was total inspiration.  It was blessed from the beginning and all the way through. It remains the most peaceful, pleasant and perfect of the four journeys I've had a hand in.

I was over 50 years old at the time, relatively new to the 'movement' of cannabis information, knew no one and had never done anything of this magnitude before. My expertise up to this time had been limited to manning info tables at courthouses.

I was down in Texas in April of 1997 when I got a call from Dan Asbury, a wheelchair bound patient in Ohio who had been busted for trying to grow a handful of plants.  I had met Dan only once, at the statehouse in Columbus Ohio where we were all testifying to the senate and house about the efficacy of marijuana.

Dan told me that the county hadn't yet given him a nurse and he had been alone for three weeks without any care except an occasional visit from his cousin.  I told him if he could find me a way up there, I'd be glad to come stay with him until he could get a nurse.  John Hartman of Northcoast NORML bought me a ticket and I moved into Dan's home temporarily. I learned all kinds of things about caring for a quadriplegic that I had never thought of learning before.  It was quite an interesting and challenging education.

Anyway, Gov. Voinovich had just repealed a briefly lived marijuana defense law and Dan was mad.  One day he said in an offhand way, "It just makes me want to get in my wheelchair and go to the capitol."  I said, "Let's do it. I'll go with you."  So I called John Hartman and told him what we wanted to do.  John said "Good Luck".

I could see the vision of the J4J as clearly as I've ever seen anything in my life and I knew it was bigger than Dan and I.  We talked about the idea with John Precup, who also wanted to go and soon we had three wheelchair bound patients who wanted to accompany us. We needed help because now we had to have two support vehicles to carry wheelchairs and patients and helpers and we had no money. 

I could see the journey in my head, but I didn't know anyone that could help me make it happen.  So I got out a High Times magazine and a local phone book and began calling every number I could find and got a van donated for a week by a company in Toledo Ohio.  I called John back on the spur of the moment and told him I had a van.  That time he took me seriously and said Northcoast NORML would supply the other van.  The dream began to take shape.

A man I had never met before called to arrange a time to come out and talk to us about the J4J concept.  His name was Richard Lake and boy, did he turn out to be a blessing.  He saw the vision the moment I explained it to him.  He asked questions and took pictures and gave suggestions of people I could call.  He even came out on the road and rode with us some of the way during the journey and carried Dan and I home after we turned in the vans.

Every phone call Richard suggested led to new leads and I followed them all.  It took me three weeks to put it all together, with National NORML coming through with $5000 dollars to help us make the trip and soon many others jumped in to help.  We were actually going to live the dream! We were so excited! It felt like a real unity. 

Don Worshafter of Ohio Hempery handmade me a green hemp scrub suit; a health food store and a church brought boxes of drinks and food for the road, gloves and posters and other gifts for the journeyers arrived.  The participant list fell together as the public read newspaper articles about the upcoming J4J and patients called wanting to join us.  When Elvy Musikka called me from Florida and said she'd be there, I decided to have an out-of-state contingency to represent patients all over the country.  We had representatives from Texas and Florida who wanted to journey with us, and ended up with eight patients and a handful of helpers who were determined to go the distance. 

The media interest was amazing. Reporters came to the house to interview before departure day, taking pictures of everyone and our signs. On the day of departure, our front lawn was covered with reporters who were so interested in what we were doing that they held up our departure for two hours. Media was with us every step of the way: We'd turn a corner and they'd be waiting; we'd arrive at the night's motel and there would already be a pile of messages requesting interviews; before we started the next day's trek, we held press conferences; we were on the front page of every newspaper in every town we traveled through.

The police presence was just as heavy. The morning we left Dan's home, there was a long line of cop cars at the corner where we turned to leave; Although they were obviously there to watch us, they made no move to stop us. But on the road, they stopped us frequently just to hassle us or try to stop the journey. At the prison we vigiled at, every kind of cop you can think of from prison guards to city and county cops to the state highway patrol showed up, threatening to sic dogs on us. But we were blessed. I had called every town we were going to be traveling through asking for safe passage, so at least I had the right names and the right words always came at the right time.

The public was absolutely wonderful. We had not traveled more than two miles when we passed two large milk jugs sitting on the side of the road with a big sign attached that read, "We Love You Journey for Justice." We passed driveways packed with people, some anxious to give gifts, like the tshirt someone made special for Dan or the young couple that ran up to put a baggy in my hand. "We don't have any money to donate but we want you to have our stash." One man stood alone on the side of the road just to tell us what an inspiration we were. Yes, public support was so tremendous that it lifted the patients' spirits to know their cause was a popular one.

Something unusual that we all noticed on every journey: The animals seem to be very aware of people when they slow down to the animals speed. Zipping by in a car is nothing like going by at 4.5 miles per hour: Horses, dogs, even butterflys would keep pace with us for as long as they could. It was an amazing and touching experience and the final selling point for the organizers of the later journey through Florida.

On the final morning, a busload of supporters led by Kenny Swiegart(sp) appeared to travel the last two miles with us. When we began our trek down High street, cops said we couldn't do it because we had no parade permit. At that time I had no idea there was such a thing, but I told the officer, "These people have come too far to be stopped now." He huddled with other officers and finally came to me with the news that they were not only going to let us walk up High street to the capitol, but they were going to put us right in the middle of the road and accompany us.

So there we were, walking between two lanes of traffic going opposite ways. We were no more than a couple of feet from the people we wanted to educate. We used megaphones to send our message, "We are not criminals." I remember one lady in a car calling back to us, "I know you're not." She was crying.

At the capitol, we turned our backs on lawmakers who would not listen and talked to the people. Elvy smoked her legal joint for the media. There were strangers in wheelchairs who had come to see Dan. There were hippies who already knew we spoke the truth and business people who didn't but were willing to listen. Attorney Dennis Day showed up to congratulate us. All in all, it was a beautiful experience.

Below I've included some of the press we received on the Ohio J4J. I think they were very kind to us, our effort and our cause.

Kay Lee

Disabled man to travel to Columbus in motorized wheelchair to urge legalization of medical marijuana

Press OREGON: A quadriplegic who smokes marijuana to ease his aches and pains has spent the last few weeks preparing for his wheelchair trip to Columbus.

Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, Ohio
Sunday, May 25, 1997

Tomorrow, Dan Asbury, dressed in an oldtime blackandwhitestriped prison uniform, will begin his fiveday, 130mile ``Journey for Justice.''

It's all part of his campaign to legalize the medical use of marijuana in Ohio. 

``We have the right to use marijuana for medicinal purposes.  It's the only thing that works for me,'' Asbury said.  ``We're not hurting no one.  Marijuana helps people who are in pain.  But the state wants to make us criminals.''

Asbury, 41, will take off from his home in Oregon, a Toledo suburb, and be joined by more than a dozen supporters, who will follow his motorized wheelchair in a van.  Other supporters who are also in wheelchairs will travel with him. 

They have to take back roads to Columbus, said Kay Lee, a spokeswoman for Americans for Compassionate Use, a Cincinnati based club that gives marijuana to people suffering from diseases. 

The wheelchair can travel only about 5 mph, she said.  They will spend their nights in Fremont, Tiffin, Upper Sandusky and Marion before their trip ends Friday on the steps of the Statehouse, where they will hold a news conference. 

``There are so many people suffering.  What we are saying is that they have a right to this medicine,'' Lee said.

Lawmakers in March repealed a state law that allowed people to defend in court their possession of marijuana if they had permission from a doctor to use it. 

The purpose of Asbury's trip is to show legislators that people support medicinal use of marijuana.  He said it has helped him and many other people who are disabled or suffer from serious diseases. 

Asbury, who broke his neck in a fall from a fence in 1980, is paralyzed from the chest down but can move his arms.  He said he has muscle spasms in his legs, stomach and arms, sometimes with sharp pain.  He said he has taken prescription drugs such as Valium, but they made him nauseated and left him tired. 

He had smoked marijuana for 12 years when police raided his home in September 1995. 

Asbury was convicted in March 1996 of one count of trafficking in marijuana. 

Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Ruth Ann Franks suspended a two year prison term and put Asbury on probation for that length of time, on the condition he stop smoking marijuana. 

Asbury has said he has lied to his probation officer about quitting.  He said he still smokes marijuana. 

The Friday just before the departure date grew tense when my phone call to the Ohio Dept of Transportation was returned just before 5:00 in the afternoon.  I had called them the previous week asking what we could do to make the caravan safer.  They said, "We've spoken to the State Attorney and orders are you can't do this."  I said firmly, "I didn't ask if I could do it, I just asked how to do it safely."  I hung up and called a man named Jon Geitman to ask what I should do.  He said "Go to the press" so that's exactly what I did.  The morning we were to leave, the early edition of the paper had a nice big article about the DOT's statement to me and our reaction - we were going anyway.

'Journey for Justice' group must follow pedestrian laws
26 May 1997
By George J.  Tanber, Blade staff writer

Quadriplegic Dan Asbury and at least nine other people plan to begin a 140mile journey this morning from his Oregon home to Columbus in what they call a "Journey for Justice."

The group, three of whom will be in wheelchairs, is protesting a decision by the legislature last winter to close a loophole in state law that provided a legal defense for ill people who use marijuana for medical purposes.  Mr.  Asbury is on probation for his conviction for growing marijuana in his backyard. 

But state officials have issued an 11th hour warning to the group that people using wheelchairs must follow the same laws as pedestrians, which means they have to travel against oncoming traffic. 

Kay lee, the organizer of the event, said that's impossible.  Besides three wheelchairs, the caravan will include a scooter and two support vans. 

The Ohio Highway Patrol said that if the group doesn't follow the laws the travelers will be ticketed and perhaps stopped from continuing their expected six day journey. 

Ms.  Lee, who suffers from a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis, said she contacted the Ohio Department of Transportation more than a week ago to find out what her group needed to do to conduct a safe trip. 

"I didn't ask permission," she said.  " I just wanted to find out what roads to go on and what sort of signs we should use."

Joseph Broschart, ODOT special projects coordinator, said he checked with the attorney general's office and found out that wheelchairs are treated like pedestrians.  So he called Ms.  Lee and advised her against going. 

"It's dangerous on backroads when you have narrow shoulders," he said.  "Since they should be facing traffic, it would be difficult for their support vehicles to follow."

But Ms.  Lee does not plan on her caravan facing traffic. 

"We are going to try and go as far as we can the way we planned." she said. 

The group plans to travel along county and state roads thru Elmore, Fremont, Upper Sandusky, and Marion to reach Columbus, where they hope to arrive at the state capitol either Friday night or Saturday morning. 

Hopefully, Ms.  Lee said, the group will be able to meet with legislators to voice their complaints. 

"[Legislators] have called this medicine a hoax," she said.  "You would think they would want to see these people to know it's not a hoax."

Ms.  Lee noted that the march's participants, particularly those in wheelchairs and on a scooter, are "taking a great risk coming out like this.  Most of them are taking a great risk getting out of bed."

The Highway Patrol said it will not allow the marchers to risk safety to make their point. 

"As long as they obey the laws, nothing will happen." Said Sgt.  Brenda Collins, a spokesman for the Highway Patrol.  "However, if a violation occurs, they could be stopped and ticketed.  And they will be told not to continue to do it."

Ms.  Lee said her group will deal with that problem if it happens. 

"If they confront us, I guess we'll determine at the moment what we'll do," she said.  "We plan on handling it with as much dignity as we can."

The night before we were to leave, reporters visited the house for interviews, all the guests arrived, we watched ourselves on the evening news; the men all shaved their faces while Dan shaved his head, the artists among us made signs and the kitchen was filled with the wonderful smell of baking "Green" cakes and cookies made with medicine sent to us by the Swiss from 'Cannabioland'. 

The next morning, some of us were up before dawn, decorating the vehicles with banners and handmade signs.  As the sun came up, the lawn quickly filled with the media, cameras were all over the place, and everyone was giving interviews. 

Cannabis caravan on way to capitol
by George J.  Tanber, Blade Staff Writer

As Elvy Musikka prepared to fire up a marijuana cigarette, she looked into a TV camera and said, "We have to break the law every day.  [But we're] not criminals."

Ms.  Musikka, a Hollywood, Fla., resident who has glaucoma, says she smokes 10 marijuana cigarettes a day to ease her condition. 

In Florida it's legal to do so.  In Ohio, it's not. 

That's why Ms.  Musikka joined quadriplegic Dan Asbury of Oregon and six other people with debilitating illness in front of Mr.  Asbury's Wheeling Street home yesterday.  The group left for Columbus in a caravan that included two motorized wheelchairs, a scooter, and three support vehicles. 

The group expects it will take them five days to reach the capitol, where they will protest a decision by the legislature last winter to close a loophole in state law that provided a legal defense for ill people who use marijuana for medicinal purposes. 

A more immediate concern, however, was whether the Ohio Highway Patrol will allow the wheelchairs to complete the 140mile trek, which organizers are calling a "Journey for Justice." State law considers motorized wheelchairs the same as pedestrians, which means they must travel against traffic. 

However, Kay Lee, the event's organizer, who has severe rheumatoid arthritis, said the caravan will mostly travel with traffic, which is what it did as it headed down Curtice road toward its first overnight stop in Fremont. 

The caravan stayed partially on the berm, so vehicles were able to get around it with relative ease.  No state troopers were in sight. 

"We will do our best to try to follow the law," Ms.  Lee said.

We finished the interviews, loaded up and lined up to begin the greatest adventure of any of our lives.   We began the trek with all the wheelchairs out and the walking patients making a long line of protest between the lead car and the two vans.  To our surprise, we saw cop cars line up down at the corner where we had to make our first turn onto a state highway. We marched right past the ogling people on their way to work, past the line of police cars with our brave little heads held high, made our left turn in front of the cop cars and surprise! they didn't bother us at all. Maybe they weren't there to stop us, maybe they were protecting us from the traffic.

We traveled 4.5 miles per hour for a couple hours, feeling a bit isolated from the real world. We had not gone much more than a mile when we spotted two large metal milk jugs on the side of the road with a sign on it that said, "Water for the J4J. We Love You!"  I'll never forget how that sign lifted the spirits of the journeyers and sustained them for the next five days.

Lead, Follow Or Stay Out Of The Way
The Advertiser Tribune, P.O. Box 44883, Tiffin, OH 44883. FAX
(419) 4473274
May 28, 1997

The front page top story had a 5" by 8" color photo of the Journey group as it moved into town with Dan Asbury in front in his wheelchair with the caption of "The Journey for Justice makes its way down Ella Street on Tuesday."

And a sidebar: LEAD, FOLLOW OR STAY OUT OF THE WAY: For those who would like to show support for the trekkers or those who would like to avoid any traffic snarls in their wake the activists plan to head toward Upper Sandusky via SR 231 and SR 67. 

Moving protest Activists to lobby legislators on medical uses for marijuana
By Christine Brucker Staff Writer

The "Journey for Justice" rolled into Tiffin Tuesday afternoon. 

The 140mile trek from Oregon, in northwest Ohio, to Columbus is an attempt to call attention to those who use marijuana for medical purposes.  The organizers feel legislators have little or no place in determining doctor-patient care. 

The idea for the trip came from Dan Asbury.  Asbury is a quadriplegic who suffers from muscle spasms.  He is serving two years' probation for growing marijuana for personal use. 

The protest was organized by Kay Lee of Oregon.  Lee suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis and uses marijuana to ease the pain of the disease. 

Many other participants also use marijuana for medical purposes.  Hans Ashbaucher is HIV positive and uses marijuana as a cheap alternative to Marinal.  Marinal is the synthetic equivalent to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. 

I was prescribed Marinal but found it more expensive and not nearly as effective as marijuana," Ashbaucher said. 

Elvy Musikka is one of eight people nationwide receiving medical marijuana through a federal program.  She suffers from glaucoma. 

"I have traveled across the country and there has been nowhere that i have not met someone in these circumstances," Musikka said.  "Everyone seems to know of someone who would be helped by the drug."

John Precup, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, has testified before the Senate and House judiciary subcommittees on the matter.  He spoke against the repeal of Senate Bill 2, which allowed medical usage as a defense in marijuana possession cases.

Precup had a written recommendation from his doctor for the use of marijuana to treat nausea connected with MS.  According to Precup, scientific evidence about the benefits of marijuana to the severely ill were met with rhetoric about recreational use and children.

"What did they think we were doing," Precup said, "telling kids to go out and get cancer so they could smoke pot?"

People have come from across the country in support of Asbury and Lee.  John Wilson and Tiffany Landreth have traveled from Texas.  Wilson, who has been diagnosed with severe mixed bipolar disease, was happy to be out in support of the cause. 

"It is wrong of the legislature to interfere in the matter," he said. 

Tomas Salazar, president of Sandusky County NORML ( National organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws ), said this was not about the recreational use of marijuana. 

"This is about the basic freedom of choice," Salazar said.  "It is about the doctor and patient having the right to choose the treatment that is best for the patient."

Salazar and the other participants thanked the Tiffin Police Department for help in navigating through town and thanked all those who came out in support of the protest. 

The group will be speaking this morning at 8 a.m.  and leaving at 9 for Upper Sandusky.

The entire trip was filled with gifts from well wishers, horn-honking supporters, animals interacting with us, interviews with various media who jumped on and off our vehicles as if they'd done it all their lives, and cops... lots of cops who stopped us frequently, despite the fact that I had called every town ahead of time to make sure we'd have safe passage. 

We stopped once to march past a prison with our megaphone and were suddenly surrounded by prison trucks and every kind of cop in the vicinity, city police, county cops, highway patrol, all threatening to lock up our cameraman.  I told them it was my camera, my journey and my cameraman; if they were going to arrest anyone it would have to be me.  They chose instead to run all our IDs, claiming that if the check came up clean we'd be free to leave. But when we all checked out okay, one of them said, "If you have no marijuana on you, then you don't mind if we bring dogs and search the vehicles."  I said in total ignorance, "But isn't there a law or something that says you have to get a search warrant to do that?"  I was right.  The cop nearly shouted in a disgusted voice, "Oh, just get your stuff and get out of here."  So we did. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE" CONFRONTED BY PRISON AUTHORITIES DURING MONUMENTAL MEDICAL MARIJUANA TREK TO OHIO STATE CAPITAL
http://www.pressuredrop.com/TheFeature/PDNews/PDNews.html

Marion, Ohio - May 29th, 1997 -- Today, Thursday, on the fourth day of a 140 mile wheelchair trek from Oregon, Ohio to the Ohio state capitol building in Columbus, the participants in the "Journey for Justice" had their first confrontation with law enforcement officials.

The pro-medical marijuana patients, with two in motorized wheelchairs, have received support from crowds gathered along their route, including donations of cash and offers of medicine. The medicine, marijuana, offers have been politely refused.

After reaching their motel in Marion, most of the patients, who are protesting federal and state laws criminalizing patients and their doctors who recommend or use medical marijuana, visited the Marion Correctional Institution, a state facility.

The Institution houses about 2,100 medium security male inmates. A minimum security correctional camp is located on the grounds.

Upon arriving on the roads of the institution the group, which is called the Journey for Justice, was promptly surrounded by prison officials from two prison trucks, followed shortly by two Ohio State Highway Patrol cars.

Kay Lee, the group's spokesperson and organizer, stated that they were first threatened for videotaping the institution. It was evident that the prison officials were very concerned that the inmates could read the pro-medical marijuana signs on the support vans and were waving, since many of the inmates are serving marijuana violation sentences. Kay Lee stated that at least one prison official was extremely hostile, seeming to have no idea that he was close to violating the group's rights.

The State Highway Patrol officials threatened to search the group and were informed that the group had nothing to hide, as they were engaged in a constitutional effort to petition their government for rights which should be afforded all doctors and patients.

When search dogs were called for, the group announced that the vans could not be searched without a warrant, and the police decided to abandon bringing the dogs.

Ms. Lee said that the highway patrol officers talked about a flyer posted at their headquarters about the group. "The Highway Patrol officers were proper in their conduct, if not friendly." She said. Ultimately the group was allowed to return to their motel.

Ms. Lee announced that an advanced party of the group was planning to reach the capitol building, traveling down High Street, between 1:00 and 3:00 pm Friday. "A number of the group members wish to speak with their representatives before the legislators leave for the weekend," Ms. Lee stated, "so we adjusted our plans to accommodate them."

Numerous media organizations have contacted the Journey for Justice, and every effort will be made to accommodate all interview requests on High Street and at the state capitol entrance.

A spokesperson for the group may be contacted at their motel at (614) 389-5552 room 112 Friday morning until about 10:00 a.m.

The group will be staying at The Cross Country Inn on the north side of Columbus Friday evening and can be reached by calling Kay Lee at (614) 764-4545.

Five days later, after many adventures and challenges, we marched into Columbus, right up the main street leading to the capitol.  We were about a mile from the capitol building, keeping to the far right of the four lanes to try to stay out of the way of the early morning traffic,  but cops stopped us before we had gone a block.  One told me that we were not going to be able to march because we didn't have a parade permit.  I said, "Sir, these people have come a long way to do this and they are not going to turn back now.  He said, "Wait here," and joined a rather large group of police gathered on the sidewalk.  After a bit, he came back to me and told me to follow the cop car in front and they'd escort us there.  The cop car took us down the middle of the road.  We had cars going both directions on either side of us and everyone was slowed down to a crawl.  It was perfect.  We could talk to them and give them literature, and they rolled their car windows down to hear us.  We told them we weren't criminals and they responded.  One lady was crying and said, "I know, honey, I know." It was the most beautiful, emotional mile long walk I've ever taken.

Wheelchair users in capital to support medical marijuana
The Blade, Toledo, OH
Saturday May 31, 1997

By Ann Fisher, Blade Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS Tiffany Landreth traveled from Dallas to join the trip.  Dan Asbury of Oregon just rolled down his driveway for the excursion. 

Ms.  Landreth and Mr.  Asbury are wheelchair users who suffer from debilitating illness that they contend are eased by smoking marijuana.  Yesterday they finished a 140 mile road trip from Toledo to Columbus to dramatize their cause. 

Tired bodies and callused palms not withstanding, Mr.  Asbury said the five day trip, which started Monday, is only the first of what he hopes will be several wheelchair excursions from points in the Buckeye State to the Statehouse. 

The trips are a protest against action by state lawmakers, who earlier this year closed a loophole that had created a legal defense for ill people who used marijuana as a medicine. 

"We want to show other people that this isn't a closed issue," Mr.  Asbury said.  "The firestorm has just begun."

A Columbus police officer on a motorcycle escorted the group of eight disabled people and three accompanying vehicles into downtown and stood by while Florida resident and glaucoma suffer Elvy Musikka lit and smoked a marijuana cigarette, a legal act in the Sunshine State. 

Ms.  Landreth, 26, has a degenerative spine condition that causes nerve and muscle spasms.  Smoking marijuana eases the discomfort, she said. 

Texans who support her efforts donated money so she could join the trip.  Ohioans along the way gave her the encouragement she needed to finish it, she said. 

"Every time someone stood in their front yard and said, "we support your cause," that would keep us going."

Mr.  Asbury 41, who suffered a spinal injury, was arrested in 1995 and convicted of trafficking when marijuana plants were found in his Oregon yard.  A judge suspended a prison term. 

We stood in front of the capitol building, turned our back to the politicians and talked to the people Some may have thought we were nuts, but we only noticed those who came up to hug us, meet Dan and tell us their own medical stories.

JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE-- Daniel Asbury rests in his wheelchair after traveling from Oregon, Ohio to theStatehouse, in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, May 30, 1997. Asbury and others in wheelchairs started their journey on Memorial Day to protest the signing of SB 2, which struck the medical marijuana provision from Ohio Law. SHE'S LEGAL--Elvy Musikka, who suffers from glaucoma and is one of eight people nationally that receives medical marijuana from the U.S. Government, takes her medicine in front of the Ohio Statehouse, in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, May 30, 1997. Musikka was part of a group that traveled from Oregon, Ohio on Memorial Day to the Statehouse to protest the signing of SB 2, which struck the medical marijuana provision from Ohio Law.

From photoj - a cyberwire service (included in Summer/Fall 1997 Marijuana Policy Report)1997--YEAR IN REVIEW: MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROVISION GOES UP IN SMOKE - JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE--Daniel Asbury rests in his wheelchair after traveling from Oregon, Ohio to the Statehouse, in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, May 30, 1997.

We returned to our motel filled with the power of free speech. If you've never tried it, I highly recommend that you do. It is a right guaranteed to all Americans by the Constitution. However, as we are quickly finding out, if we don't use these rights in great numbers, we will very likely lose them and our children and grandchildren will be left a land of tyranny.

If you have any doubts that the public supports legal access to cannabis for medical use, get out there on the road and you'll find out what we found out -  There is a common consensus - The medical use of this plant should not be a part of the drug warrior's agenda!