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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
Now if I am a Libertarian by my rhetoric, would that make you a fascist?
81 posted on 11/02/2003 9:16:18 AM PST by xrp
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To: Dane
Good, I got the response I wanted.
82 posted on 11/02/2003 9:18:13 AM PST by Conservative til I die
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To: xrp
Now if I am a Libertarian by my rhetoric, would that make you a fascist?

Nice try at a rhetorical question there dude, but you already knew the answer(from my previous replies on this thread), and just to remind you, the answer to your above italicized passgae is no.

Go right ahead xrp, look over every one of my replies on this thread, get back to me when one in even in the most microscopic way looks like what the classic fascist, hitler, would say.

I have a notion that I will be waiting a long time, but what the hey it is kinda of fun watching you knee jerkers on the left get yourselves all twisted into knots.

83 posted on 11/02/2003 9:23:34 AM PST by Dane
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To: Dane
the answer to your above italicized passgae is no.

That's ok. Your support for the WoD and its methods and tactics is evidence enough that you are a fascist.

84 posted on 11/02/2003 9:26:54 AM PST by xrp
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To: xrp
That's ok. Your support for the WoD and its methods and tactics is evidence enough that you are a fascist

Whatever, Hillary rhetoric follower.

85 posted on 11/02/2003 9:28:40 AM PST by Dane
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To: Dane
Seeing as how Hillary advocates having the government make decisions for people, it is much more probable that you are a student of hers than I.
86 posted on 11/02/2003 9:45:52 AM PST by xrp
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To: Dane; xrp
I've been reading your posts for years, you are most certainly a totalitarian.
87 posted on 11/02/2003 10:02:28 AM PST by Conservative til I die
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To: Loyalist
"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.



Yeah, Canada needs more dope smoking morons that they have to support because of their actions of putting another intoxicant into the hands of people that light butane filled weed.

Sounds better every time I read it back.

88 posted on 11/02/2003 10:03:34 AM PST by Redwood71
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To: Conservative til I die; xrp
I've been reading your posts for years, you are most certainly a totalitarian

Have no real idea CTID, if your post #87 is directed towards xrp or me, but in the case of political defense, I will surmise CTID, that your post #87 was directed towards me.

In any case CTID, BFD. The ACLU rhetoric you are so fond off is about 30 years off the mark, IMO.

89 posted on 11/02/2003 10:19:49 AM PST by Dane
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To: Dane
Actually I posted a thread two and half years ago, where a former marine and Allegheny county employee(Pittsburgh, PA) caused a fire, killing 2 innocent people, while smoking marijuana and huffing paint thinner.

So I assume you're in favor of banning paint thinner as well?

90 posted on 11/02/2003 11:33:04 AM PST by ellery
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To: Loyalist
Another example of Darwin at work.
91 posted on 11/02/2003 11:34:41 AM PST by medscribe
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To: FITZ
Here in the States we do them one better: we give people convicted of using drugs years of 100% free housing, three meals a day and full medical care -- all on the taxpayers' dime.
92 posted on 11/02/2003 11:36:11 AM PST by ellery
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To: pageonetoo
So true. Jesus also did not go to Rome to try to get laws passed against certain behavior. Instead, He ministered. When we let government enforce morality, we lose the benefits we ourselves receive through the act of ministering to others (and having others minister to us).
93 posted on 11/02/2003 11:41:12 AM PST by ellery
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To: Conservative til I die
Yes, Christ was against drunkenness and gluttony, but was of course not against moderate consumption of alcohol and food. I don't believe we have any information to show whether He would have recognized a "moderate" use for pot (or whether He would have considered all pot use immoral). It's an interesting question, I think -- your thoughts?
94 posted on 11/02/2003 11:51:09 AM PST by ellery
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To: Loyalist
Meth lab ?
95 posted on 11/02/2003 11:52:33 AM PST by ChadGore (Kakkate Koi!)
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To: Conservative til I die
Does anyone pay for anything in Canada?

The taxpayers.

96 posted on 11/02/2003 11:57:48 AM PST by Moonman62
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To: Dane
So, are you a totalitarian or not?
97 posted on 11/02/2003 12:09:45 PM PST by Conservative til I die
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To: ellery
Comrade: Here is worker's paradise, everyone has place to live provided for them. They get three square meals a day. No one goes hungry. There is 100% full employment, and free medical care!"

Capitalist: Oh. Over here, we call that 'prison.'

98 posted on 11/02/2003 12:15:28 PM PST by Cultural Jihad
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To: verity
Paging Darwin!
99 posted on 11/02/2003 12:17:15 PM PST by Palladin (Proud to be a FReeper!)
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To: Cultural Jihad
:) Exactly - hee.
100 posted on 11/02/2003 12:18:55 PM PST by ellery
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