Posted on 04/30/2007 2:17:03 PM PDT by microgood
She is 71 years old, a great-grandmother - hardly the type of person you would expect to see in Bronx Criminal Court to answer charges of buying two dime bags of pot.
Yet at the appointed time today, Barbara Jackson will make her way to the courthouse, a colorectal cancer survivor ready to plead her case.
"I smoke it to live," the feisty granny told the Daily News. "I don't think I should have been arrested."
Jackson said she started smoking the green, leafy drug eight years ago - a year after being diagnosed with cancer - to restore her appetite after chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
"After cancer treatments, I was very sick," she said. "I couldn't eat and could not stand the smell of food."
Even though her cancer is in remission, she lost her appetite, Jackson said.
On March 13, she set out to find some more of the illegal drug shehas grown dependent on. She found some close to her house on E.179th St. and began walking down Walton Ave.
Plainclothes cops suddenly descended on her and found the two bags of marijuana on her.
"I am looking for a dismissal in the interest of justice," said Ron Kuby, one of two lawyers representing Jackson. "I would hope the Bronx district attorney's office has more important cases than prosecuting a great-granny for medicinal marijuana."
After her arrest, Jackson was handcuffed and brought to jail. She was taken to the 46th Precinct stationhouse, photographed, fingerprinted and issued a desk appearance ticket that she must answer today.
Her other lawyer, David Pressman, said it's heartbreaking to see a senior citizen who was "just trying to survive" handcuffed and held in police custody for five hours.
Steven Reed, a spokesman for the Bronx district attorney's office, said his office is not aware of the case because it hasn't come into the the DA's office.
Jackson hopes to get a chance to tell her story.
She weighed 99 pounds when she entered Lincoln Hospital in 1998. After surgery and treatments she lost even more weight. Jackson said her doctor prescribed an appetite enhancer, but it made her sick.
"The medicine gave me a terrible headache," said Jackson, who was raising three great-grandchildren at the time. "I was very weak and sick after treatments. I had diarrhea and was vomiting all the time.
"The smell of food made me sick and I was nauseous," she said. "The marijuana calmed me down and gave me back my appetite. My taste buds are gone, but the marijuana helps me get the food down."
Jackson said she puffed marijuana twice a day in the privacy of her home. Jackson, who now weighs 124 pounds, credits the marijuana with saving her life.
"The marijuana has kept me alive; I wouldn't be here if I didn't smoke," Jackson said. "I know it's illegal, but I did what I had to do to make myself comfortable and restore my quality of life."
String her up! Anyone who would do this is obviously a threat to society.
Mr. Bush -
How much prison time for old ladies with cancer?
If Tony Snow used medical pot, how much jailtime should he get?
Do not compare apples and hand grenades. Book ‘er, Danno.
Free The Coney Island Two! Support Kuby's Boobies.
Medicinal use is a ruse. Everyone knows it; it's an insult to even say it. It's no different than the fellows who used to carry around a flask of sherry "for medicinal purposes."
Give me a break.
There are plenty of other, effective options for nausea. People smoke pot because they want to smoke pot. At least have the decency to be honest about it.
None. Tony would be found guilty with Rove to serve 20 years.
There will be a civil settlement with Kuby getting one third of her weed.
Meet Granny.
It’s the placebo effect; 71 year-old grannies today are 1960s potheads.
How much closer could they get to Nirvana than to have free weed and a bunch of purring kitties by their side?
This old gal won’t rot in prison; who wants to dispose of the bones?
I'm not talking about this specific case. I'm talking about the whole movement.
Isolated, anecdotal evidence can be found to support nearly any position you care to imagine. But that doesn't make for good public policy and/or law.
Some people are deathly allergic to peanuts, but that doesn't mean they should be banned from sale. Some people have survived falling out of an airplane, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to jump out of one.
Isolated cases do not a good, general idea make.
In general, the support of "medical marijuana" is just a bunch of people who want to smoke pot without fear. It's simple and it's obvious.
Marijuana is worse than cancer. And Global Warming causes pot to be more potent.
Name ten of them and supply the testimony of the AMA, please.
Laudanum used to be widely prescribed too.
They should lock this subhuman drug user up and throw away the key. Her walking the streets is an obvious danger to our children!
Is a /sarc tag needed?
That's some pretty good stuff! Not very tasty, but its got it where it counts!
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