Supporters of Medical Marijuana Rally Downtown - KATU

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Medical marijuana supporters rallied against the "War on Drugs" at locations across the country Friday night, including downtown Portland.

They said their protest is not a challenge to Oregon's U.S. attorney who issued a warning earlier this month saying he will crackdown on any business distributing pot to patients.

Supporters and patients said the rally was a show of solidarity. They also said they will stand in unison fighting for each other and for a natural medicine they say is saving lives.

"We're done. We're done with this war," said Jacquelin Conley. "We want legalization. We want a sensible Oregon."

They lit candles for people who have died in the war on drugs and those who could soon die, including a man named "Hawk," a Native American with AIDS.

"I weighed 112 pounds. I had four T cells left, and basically I was dead," he said. "I was the walking dead. ... I wanted to die. I didn't think I had a right to live."

But Hawk said medical marijuana saved him.

"The doctor said to me, 'Have you thought about trying medical marijuana in order to be able to eat?'"

He eats two marijuana butter cookies a day to fight pain and increase his appetite. After just six months he now weighs 200 pounds, and his T cells -- the tools his body uses to fight viruses and infections -- have gone from just four to 1,300.

So Hawk applauds the people fighting for him.

"People are going to die. And they're not going to die because of their disease. They're going to die because they're going to go out on the streets, and they're going to try to buy medicine there. They're going to get ripped off, and then they're going to stand up for themselves and then somebody is going to end up dying because of it," he said. "The federal government is not getting a piece of it. That's what it boils down to. In the meantime, people are going to die."

Hawk said he can't take the synthetic marijuana, Marinol, which is approved by the FDA, because it made him sicker and insane.

He said the healing didn't start until he started eating his marijuana cookies every day.

Source: http://www.katu.com/news/local/124123244.html

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Medical Marijuana
• Oregon
• OMMP
• Portland
• 2011