Betty Jean Wicker
The first part of Ms. Wicker's story, quoted below, was published as
part of a more comprehensive article by the
Northwest
Arkansas Times (2-13-2000).
"In August, Fayetteville police arrested Betty Wicker for marijuana
possession... she was given three years probation. Although she told
Judge Storey the marijuana was used to fight debilitating cerebral palsy
symptoms, he said she would need to find another effective method to
manage the condition.
"Wicker, 42, shakes uncontrollably from head to foot, making simple conversation difficult. Wicker said she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy in 1993, which doctors believe could have been caused by a head injury she suffered when falling from a horse as a teenager.
"When a Walnut Ridge doctor correctly identified her condition, he said she had three options. Undergo brain surgery, which could kill her, take 21 pills each day which could also kill her, or smoke marijuana.
"In fact, Wicker said, "the doctor specifically instructed her to not stop smoking or she would wind up in a wheelchair within six months. Yet due to the court ordered probation, Wicker is forced to take urinalysis tests each week and to avoid legal trouble, she has discontinued smoking marijuana...
"For now, because of the court fines and her disability, Wicker cannot afford rent and is living from couch to couch with friends.
"Her seizures, which were limited to only two per month now strike once a week, leaving her temporarily crippled."
NOTE: That was last February. Our organization received a letter from her in October, 2000, asking for petitions so that she could help us get marijuana legalized for people like her.
Here's what she said in
that letter.
"... I moved to where my family lives (in northeast Arkansas). This
way I have help when I need it. My shaking gets really bad a lot of the
time. I'm not taking morphine shots, but I am back on morphine pills. I
would much rather smoke a little medical marijuana, but for now if I
don't take the morphine I would be unable to do anything. If I go one
day without the pills my family can tell it by the way I shake and have
trouble talking.
"People are afraid to sign the petitions. I tell them it's just to say we should vote on having a choice. But some people are saying whether they use marijuana or not, if they sign the petitions the law could give them trouble of some kind or other. [Note: Signing petitions is a right guaranteed by the Constitution.]
"On the medical marijuana subject, I get the thought, forgive them for they know not what they do -- every time someone says marijuana is a gateway to other drugs. If marijuana as a medical drug was legal, people using it for medical use would not have to be around people who do illegal drugs. The commercial about doing things with your children so they don't use marijuana is silly. I wouldn't want children doing morphine. However, morphine is a legal medical drug. So are a lot of other drugs that no one would want children to do."