BBSNews 2003

BBSNews - 2003-01-12 -- The Democratic Party has been scrambling for a social issue that cuts across party lines. One that would resonate well with their base while not alienating moderate Republicans. Democrats are also looking for a way to re-energize the notion of Civil Rights in the US as a base issue. Punitive drug policy delivered as the War on Some Drugs is a hot button issue, but a deeply important one that must be faced soon. Canada's marijuana laws are in a complete shambles, it's likely marijuana will be decriminalized there, at the very least, early this year. Britain is also scheduled to re-classify marijuana and make it a non-arrestable offense. In the United States, tobacco and alcohol, while terribly costly in terms of health and lives are perfectly legal for adults, yet the possession of other drugs, including marijuana, can get a citizen up to life in prison. We are terribly out of step with the rest of the major powers on this issue. Minorities and the poor bear the brunt of Prohibition II, the sequel.

Perhaps most poignant of all in this war without end, this war on sick medical patients trying to get relief, are the medical marijuana patients who are paying a very heavy price for using a beneficial medicinal herb. National polls and many in the states have shown consistant support, 70-80% in most cases, for legal medical marijuana. This is an issue with strong support and bi-partisan appeal. Jean Marlowe is a medical marijuana patient who has paid the federal price by spending months of incarceration in a federal facility. While she was in prison and denied her prescription Marinol by federal officials, (now Democratic presidential candidate) Senator John Edwards(D-NC) and Congressman Charles Taylor(R-NC) attempted to and got Jean some help in the face of the real cruel hoax. The one that sends real, "regular people", the people that John Edwards is said to want to reach, to prison for using a natural medical botanical.

Current US marijuana policy is also a national security issue in that law enforcement resources are wasted each year arresting almost three quarters of a million people for the "crime" of marijuana. These finite resources could be used to make America more secure from real criminals and terrorists. How can we claim to not have the resources to check out flight schools yet there was enough manpower to arrest 726,000 Americans for marijuana offenses in 2001? Marijuana consumers are no more inherently criminal than are tobacco consumers. And users of marijuana for medical conditions are being denied medicine, worse still even being arrested for using their medicine, a clear violation of Human Rights. I spoke to Jean this afternoon, here's what she had to say:

BBSN: First of all, how are you Jean?

Jean: I am fine. It took a year for me to fully recover from my time in prison and I still have some psychological effects from my time in prison. You cannot go to prison and it not leave an effect.

BBSN: How has your life been since you got out of prison?

Jean: Since I have been out of prison, I find that I have a privacy issue. I need time to myself. I refuse to shop in stores with obvious video cameras. I refuse to stand in line at any restaurant for over a few minutes. (We had to stand in long lines in rain, snow, thunder and lightening, heat, bitter cold just to get in to the dining hall in prison) I started back with my activism as soon as I got out, in fact, I did a phone interview with Pete Brady for Cannabis Culture magazine the day I got out of prison.

BBSN: When you were on probation and throughout your ordeal prior to entering the federal prison system, I understand you were allowed your prescription Marinol, an FDA approved form of marijuana's most demonized active ingredient, Delta-9-THC. Can you describe that time and what happened after you had your probation violated?

Jean: When I was put in jail for two weeks awaiting sentencing, I was given Marinol by the doctor at the jail. I kept a prescription for Marinol the entire time I was on federal probation (18 months of a 24 month probation period) I was allowed to have the Marinol while on probation, while in county jail here, while being transported to a county jail in Georgia, during my stay there, while in route on the prison plane to Oklahoma Federal Transfer Center and on the plane to Alderson. Once I arrived at Alderson Federal Women's Work Camp, I was told I could not have my Marinol and the doctor told me he threw it away. He informed me that Marinol was not a medicine on the approved medicines list of the BOP. I was left with no medication and became anorexic due to nausea and the inability to eat.

BBSN: When you were inside, there was an effort by Senator John Edwards(D-NC) to secure proper medical care for you. What kind of things were done?

Jean: After five months of nausea and anorexia, my blood platlets had dropped very low and I was very weak. My family was on the phone to my legislators. Senator John Edwards's office called the prison warden and advised them that they were watching after my health. I began receiving Ensure (which had been prescribed for me by my physician at home) after Senator Edward's call. My case worker called me to his office to approve release of my medical records to the offices of all my representatives that called.

BBSN: I also understand that Congressman Charles Taylor(R-NC) also acted on your behalf. How did Congressman Taylor show support for your plight?

Jean: Congressman Taylor's office was very aggressive in letting the prison officials know that they had been aware of my condition for many years and that they would be watching my health condition while I was a guest of the BOP. Mr. Faulkner from Mr. Taylor's Asheville, NC office called the prison warden and the BOP to inquire why I could not receive the only medicine that I could take relatively safely since it was a schedule 3 drug. He was told that nobody in the federal prison system would ever receive Marinol because it could make you test positive for marijuana on a urine test.

Well gee, couldn't the women on morphine test positive for opiates on a urine test too?

BBSN: What did your federal incarceration for medical marijuana accomplish?

Jean: My federal incarceration accomplished the expenditure of approximately $100,000 of the tax payers money to lock me up for 10 months. I walked out of federal prison at 8:20 am on the morning of January 22, 2001 and I was medicating myself with cannabis before 9:00 am. My incarceration cost $10,000 per month to the tax payer. (Boy, they really didn't want me smoking.)

BBSN: Based on the apparently bi-partisan effort by Edwards and Taylor on your behalf and the nearly 80% approval rate Americans have of medical marijuana nationwide, do you think that Democrats could grasp this issue and take ownership of it leading up to the 2004 presidential election and really make a positive difference for America's medical marijuana patients?

Jean: I truly believe if the Democratic Party would come out in support of "equal treatment and equal protection" on the issue of medical marijuana, stop the lies, which costs them a tremendous amount of respect, and stop the war on America's sick people, I think they could take back the office of president.

BBSN: What do you say to politicians and law enforcement who continue to claim that there is no such thing as medical marijuana?

Jean: I tell the law enforcement officers that they are uneducated on this issue and if they hope to get any respect, they will learn the truth and not make medical determinations. To the politicians, I say that I understand they have to say that, they are paid very, very well to act stupid and lie for their benefactors. Pharmaceutical companies, alcohol companies, the prison/industrial complexes, all the industry making money off locking up adults for victimless behavior, all pay the politicians very much money to continue to quote Harry Anslinger and blatantly lie to the American people. While continuing to give marijuana cigarettes as medicine to citizens.

BBSN: I understand you are to be High Times Freedom Fighter of the Month for March 2003, congratulations, What does the future hold for you Jean? Do you have any hopes or plans you would like to share with our readers?

Jean: I ran for NC State House of Representatives this fall on the Libertarian ticket for District 113 in NC. I ran against one Republican incumbent and garnered 16% of the vote and over 3000 more votes than registered Libertarians. NC Legislators have announced they plan to pass legislation that would not allow any convicted felon to vote or run for office so I may lose my vote again. I was glad that NC thought that once you served your time and got off probation or parole, you had "served your debt to society", but now I may lose that cherished right, the right to vote.

I plan to continue with my activism. I am working on some legal research right now and may be involved in a lawsuit against the federal government later on, for violation of my constitutional rights, and I plan to continue reporting the news from the front lines of this war on us.

About Jean Marlowe

Jean Marlowe is a native of North Carolina. She has been a medical marijuana/hemp activist for the past 13 years.

Jean is a free-lance journalist with a background in business management and organization. She is a member of the National Association of Female Executives, a former member of the National Press Photographers Association, and a proud member of the Cannabis Consumers Campaign.