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Marijuana activist dies following explosion
Ottawa Citizen ^ | November 1, 2003 | James Gordon

Posted on 11/01/2003 9:04:19 AM PST by Loyalist

CREDIT: Jonathan Hayward, The Canadian Press

Don Appleby died of his injuries suffered in an Oct. 12 explosion while he was trying to make a concentrated oil using marijuana and butane.

Don Appleby's fight against the aids virus that was sapping him was made more difficult by a tragic paradox. While the Ottawa man was one of the few Canadians who could legally smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes, he could rarely afford it due to his minuscule disability pension.

In the end, he was killed in the struggle to produce the drug that was helping him survive.

On Oct. 12, Mr. Appleby was in the bathroom of his Blake Boulevard apartment, trying a dangerous method to get some use out of the non-smokable parts of his marijuana plants.

By injecting butane into a plastic container with the plant in it, he hoped to make a concentrated oil he could use. Friends suspect he then tried to light a joint, igniting an explosion that blew the bathroom door off its hinges.

Residents of the apartment above his heard the explosion, and rushed him to the Ottawa Hospital's General campus. It's where he remained in intensive care since the incident, and where he died Thursday morning.

Ron Whelan was Mr. Appleby's close friend, and was living under the same circumstances. He said yesterday that Mr. Appleby never should have died the way he did.

Both 44, they received about $900 a month on disability, not nearly enough to pay for both marijuana and food. While the government would pay for the $1,500-$2,000 of aids medication Mr. Appleby needed, they wouldn't pick up the cost of the marijuana. Nausea was a side-effect of the pills, and without the drug, he couldn't keep them down.

Forced to buy marijuana himself and pay rent, his friends say Mr. Appleby was reduced to scrounging through dumpsters to find the food he could no longer afford. He would go searching behind restaurants late at night so nobody would see him. At the same time, he wasn't shy about asking people with marijuana gardens to help him.

"You do what you have to do to survive, whether it's beg, borrow or steal," Mr. Whelan said. If one had a bag of dry macaroni from the food bank, he would often go to the other's place to share.

Mr. Appleby decided to try and save some money by growing his own marijuana, and after two failed gardens, things were starting to work out for him. Still, the cost to grow was still high. With no other source of medicine, he resorted to the butane method. He never recovered from the burns that covered 75 per cent of his body and his scorched lungs.

Mr. Whelan said although Mr. Appleby experienced difficult times in the past, he really blossomed after meeting people similar to him. He loved participating in marijuana rallies, and helping others.

"The world needs more people like Donny," he said. "He was there for the underdog, and it's a terrible loss for everyone who knew him."

Mr. Whelan said he doesn't blame the government for what happened to his friend, but said it should take more responsibility and provide for people like him.

© Copyright 2003 The Ottawa Citizen


TOPICS: Canada; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: 420; chronic; darwin; darwinaward; donappleby; explosion; ganja; grass; hippylettuce; marijuana; maryjane; pot; puffthis; reefer; spliff; warondrugs; weed; wod; wodlist
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To: Dane
Sorry, I can't do the Mariners.

Despite hundreds of letters and e-mails from a growing group of us, they continue to refuse to display the American flag OUTSIDE the stadium. They HAVE TO display it inside otherwise the league would boot them.

For a couple of days immediately following 9/11 they had a large flag hanging over the home plate entrance...then it disappeared never to be seen again. It would appear that the Mariners, a professional baseball team in the United States, bowed to the pressure from some of Seattle's finest and made the flag disappear.

Until the Mariner's can display the U.S. flag where it can be seen outside the staduim I will continue to boycott them and hope the other team wins. I guess it's safe to say, I hold the Mariners in slightly higher esteem them say...dope dealers. But just slightly.

261 posted on 11/03/2003 11:07:33 AM PST by CWOJackson
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To: CWOJackson
Thanks for your support.

Especially the double post.
262 posted on 11/03/2003 11:07:55 AM PST by headsonpikes (Spirit of '76 bttt!)
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To: CWOJackson
Until the Mariner's can display the U.S. flag where it can be seen outside the staduim I will continue to boycott them and hope the other team wins.

Baseball is gay anyway. Why not boycott the sport itself and watch real man sports like football and NASCAR?

263 posted on 11/03/2003 11:09:07 AM PST by jmc813 (Michael Schiavo is a bigger scumbag than Bill Clinton)
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To: MrLeRoy
"but be aware that I'm happily married."

Good for you, but what does that have to do with his post?

He was wondering if you were in the woodshed getting whacked by hemp plants, not the bath house getting whacked by ... whatever.

264 posted on 11/03/2003 11:09:38 AM PST by robertpaulsen
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To: jmc813
Baseball in Seattle is gay, but I can't say the same out east. I've been to a few games where it was a full contact sport for the fans.

You can't buy a decent hot dog and a beer at Safeco Field; you can get a latte, a rasberry pale ale, a biscotti, tofu...

In Cleveland you can get a real beer and a brat, hot dogs, peanuts...

265 posted on 11/03/2003 11:12:42 AM PST by CWOJackson
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To: headsonpikes
I played it in stereo for the thinking impaired. You're welcomed.
266 posted on 11/03/2003 11:13:31 AM PST by CWOJackson
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To: CWOJackson
You can't buy a decent hot dog and a beer at Safeco Field; you can get a latte, a rasberry pale ale, a biscotti, tofu...

Barf!

267 posted on 11/03/2003 11:14:19 AM PST by jmc813 (Michael Schiavo is a bigger scumbag than Bill Clinton)
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To: CWOJackson
You can't buy a decent hot dog and a beer at Safeco Field; you can get a latte, a rasberry pale ale, a biscotti, tofu...

Friggin' metrosexuals. Bet they don't have upright urinals at Safeco either.

268 posted on 11/03/2003 11:16:32 AM PST by Loyalist
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To: jmc813
Bingo. And the only red, white and blue you can see from the outside are Pepsi machines, EXCEPT...

If you walk underneath an overpass on the otherside of the railroad tracks, there is a small area where you can actually see into the park and see the American flag.

269 posted on 11/03/2003 11:16:44 AM PST by CWOJackson
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To: CWOJackson
I played it in stereo for the thinking impaired.

Good comeback.

Original?

270 posted on 11/03/2003 11:17:43 AM PST by headsonpikes (Spirit of '76 bttt!)
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To: CWOJackson
For a couple of days immediately following 9/11 they had a large flag hanging over the home plate entrance...then it disappeared never to be seen again. It would appear that the Mariners, a professional baseball team in the United States, bowed to the pressure from some of Seattle's finest and made the flag disappear.

Until the Mariner's can display the U.S. flag where it can be seen outside the staduim I will continue to boycott them and hope the other team wins. I guess it's safe to say, I hold the Mariners in slightly higher esteem them say...dope dealers. But just slightly.

Did not know that. Thank you for the information. How about if you ever in Pittsburgh, I buy you and your wife lunch at Primanti's.

Just don't be surprised when the cole slaw and fries are on top of the sandwich instead of on the side. It is a shock at first, but there is no better sandwich in the world, IMO.

271 posted on 11/03/2003 11:18:11 AM PST by Dane
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To: headsonpikes
You would probably guess that since it doesn't contain any reference to koolaide.
272 posted on 11/03/2003 11:19:52 AM PST by CWOJackson
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To: Dane
How about if you ever in Pittsburgh, I buy you and your wife lunch at Primanti's.

Does that offer apply to me too? Those sandwiches look disgustingly good. I'll take back what I said about Pittsburg beer and buy you the best hot dog in the world if you're ever in dirty Jersey.

273 posted on 11/03/2003 11:20:39 AM PST by jmc813 (Michael Schiavo is a bigger scumbag than Bill Clinton)
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To: LibKill
This wouldn't have happened if his butane lighter had a trigger lock.
274 posted on 11/03/2003 11:21:47 AM PST by freedomlover
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To: Dane
Sounds like a winner.

All-in-all, there is some decent food in this town. Most of what the locals consider good I tend to disagree with but there are some real jewels.

We often go to a little Italian place near our home; tiny, reasonably prices, great food and one of the best kepts secrets around (Palo's). Alex Rodriguez used to come in with his own family fairly often.

As for sandwiches and fries, not much surprised me any more. Here the big deal is tartar sauce for the fries, peanut butter on a bacon-burger. When we used to go up to Canada it was gravy and cheese curds on the fries and a fried egg on the hamburger.

If you're ever out this way we'll take you to one of the little known places.

275 posted on 11/03/2003 11:24:41 AM PST by CWOJackson
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To: jmc813
Jersey street dog?
276 posted on 11/03/2003 11:25:38 AM PST by CWOJackson
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To: jmc813
Does that offer apply to me too? Those sandwiches look disgustingly good. I'll take back what I said about Pittsburg beer and buy you the best hot dog in the world if you're ever in dirty Jersey

Yeah you also, Jeff. Although for it to be a true Primanti's experience you also have to put a good dallop of Heinz ketchup on a Primanti's sandwich, even though every dallop of Heinz ketchup, indirectly goes to ketchup boy's(John Kerry's) Presidential campaign.

We all have to make sacrifices.

277 posted on 11/03/2003 11:27:40 AM PST by Dane
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To: CWOJackson
Jersey street dog?

No, Texas Weiners. It's a food paradox. You can go to Texas and never hear of Texas Weiners, but come to Northern Jersey and you'll find them all over the place. It's a dog with chili sauce, mustard, onions, and celery. Most well-known hot dog joints around here sell their chili sauce retail it's so good.

278 posted on 11/03/2003 11:30:25 AM PST by jmc813 (Michael Schiavo is a bigger scumbag than Bill Clinton)
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To: CWOJackson
When we used to go up to Canada it was gravy and cheese curds on the fries

Better known as poutine. The best poutine is here in the Ottawa-Hull area, especially smoked meat poutine.

But nobody has come up with a meal quite like the Halifax donair. If it's got anything other than ground beef in the meat, tomatoes and onions, and sweet sauce, it ain't a donair. It just ain't.

279 posted on 11/03/2003 11:35:34 AM PST by Loyalist
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To: jmc813
Celery? Texas?

Uhhh...can you get a Chicago Dog there?

280 posted on 11/03/2003 11:35:34 AM PST by CWOJackson
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