Missoula, MT: Sunday will mark the fourth week of a hunger strike by a seriously ill Missoula woman fighting for the right to use medical marijuana legally. Robin Prosser, who uses marijuana medicinally to treat pain and spasmodic symptoms from a lupus-related immunosuppressive disorder, began her strike on April 20th. Prosser has vowed to continue her hunger strike until the federal government allows her legal access to government-grown marijuana or grants her legal protection to cultivate her own.
“I want to grow my own personal supply of medicine or be allowed access [to] … the same 300 joints monthly that the remaining patients in the [federal] Compassionate IND Program receive,” Prosser said, referring to a U.S. government health program that grows and supplies medical cannabis to a handful of seriously ill patients. That program has been closed to new applicants since 1992. “I [should] not be treated differently because of where I live,” she added.
Prosser says she is violently allergic to most conventional medications, and maintains that cannabis provides the most effective relief for her medical symptoms.
To date, local law enforcement officials appear unmoved by Prosser’s struggle. Missoula Police Chief Bob Weaver recently told The Missoulian that Prosser would “be busted if she grows pot and we learn about it,” despite her medical condition or hunger strike.
Nevertheless, Prosser remains undaunted, despite having already lost more than 30 pounds and temporarily requiring hospitalization. “I have decided that I need to do something to stand up for the medicine I and so many others must have,” she said. “I’d rather die deliberately under the eye of the public and put a name on my executioners than just fade off under the persecution of my homeland.”
For more information, please contact Keith Stroup of NORML at (202) 483-5500. Robin Prosser may be contacted directly at KeltikMoon@ganga.com. Additional information about Prosser is available online at: http://www.cannabisnow.org.