In honor of all the
drug policy reform activists who worked so hard, but did not
live to see the day of freedom and realization. They are
true heroes of liberty and justice.
Page
1: Don Topping, Cheryl Miller, Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm,
Peter McWilliams, Genie Brittingham Erstad, Joe Hart, Ian
Hunter, Robert Randall, Gil Puder, Jim
Rosenfield
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2: Laura Carden, Robert Lunday, Norm Major, Ralph Seeley,
Ken and Barbara Jenks, Kirk Hampton, Keith David Whitaker,
Roland Heyne Jr., Christie Bohling, Tom
Forcade
Page
3: Eddie Smith, Brownie Mary Rathbun, Tom Flowers, Buddy the
MIA POW, Steven Smith, Steve Michael, Alan Martinez, Rufus
King, Bob Basker, Hazel Rogers
Page 4: Ron
Crickenberger, Judith
Cushner,
Mary
Gennoy,
Cecilia
Franceschini,
Kioshi Kurimaya, "Pope" Micky,
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Ron Crickenberger
Libertarian drug policy reformer Ron Crickenberger being
arrested in a 2002 protest against federal raids on
California medical marijuana patients.
One thing Ron Crickenberger knew for certain was that he
didn't like either of the major political parties or what
they are doing to our Constitutional liberties.
Crickenberger died of metastic melanoma (skin cancer) at
Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC, on January 20,
2004, less than two months after being diagnosed with the
disease.
Crickenberger, 48, was Libertarian
Party national political director from 1997 until 2003
and made ending drug prohibition a central plank in the
party's platform. With Crickenberger at the helm, the number
of Libertarians holding elected office more than tripled,
from 180 to about 600, and the party set new records for
candidates on the ballot in both 2002 and 2002. Ron himself
was one of that number in 2000, when he campaigned for
Congress in his home district in Northern Virginia. Before
joining the staff in Washington, DC, Crickenberger was a
member of the Libertarian National Committee, the party's
governing board, from 1989 to 1997.
Crickenberger was a big supporter of medical marijuana in
particular, being arrested in a civil disobedience action at
the US Department of Justice in Washington DC in June 2002.
Ron also produced the Cheryl Miller/Bob Barr ad and
otherwise championed the cause of medical rights.
Ron, and was a Georgia native who lived in Falls Church,
Virginia with his partner of 12 years, Noelle Stettner. Ron
had two adult children, a son, Jason, and daughter, Anna. He
also had a week-old granddaughter, Sabrina, that he got to
see before he died, living in the Atlanta, Georgia area.
Crickenberger was a warrior for the causes he cherished,
a tireless soldier in the fight against marijuana
prohibition, and a man who walked his talk. He was also fun
to spend time with at the drug policy conferences and
conventions that he attended. Ron Crickenberger will be
sorely missed by all who worked with him and admired his
efforts.
For
more about Ron's role in the drug reform movement, click
here.
For
the Advocates for Self-Government's memorial to Ron, click
here. (Has more links.)
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Judith
Cushner
 California.
Died of cancer January 31, 2004
Judith Cushner was the preschool director of Laurel
Hill,, spokesperson / advocate for the medical marijuana
cause, and the patient plaintiff in the Conant case. She and
her physician, Dr. Conant, sued the office of the Drug Czar
for threatening to take the medical licenses of doctors who
recommended medical marijuana or even discussed it with
their patients. The Drug Policy Alliance fought her case
through the appeals process. After the Ninth Circuit Court
of Appeals ruled that the First Amendment right to free
speech protected conversations between physicians and
patients, the US Supreme Court chose not to hear the federal
government's appeal and let the ruling stand, as is
presently the case.
In 1990, during radiation and chemotherapy treatments for
breast cancer, she found relief from nausea by using
marijuana. The experience led her to become active in the
medical marijuana movement, for which she became a key
spokesperson.
In 1996, her efforts helped to pass Proposition 215,
which allowed California patients to use marijuana with
their doctor's approval. She was featured in an ad campaign
for the initiative, and was frequently interviewed about her
experiences and the benefits of medical marijuana. She
looked directly into the camera and admitted to millions of
people, "I want to tell you a secret. When I had breast
cancer the chemotherapy was so awful, the nausea, the
vomiting, the pain. I broke the law and got marijuana. It
worked. I could eat…Proposition 215 allows cancer
patients to get marijuana without becoming criminals. Vote
yes on Proposition 215. Someday, you might need it."
Judith Cushner is survived by her husband of 34 years,
John; her daughter, Aviva; her son, Ari; and her mother,
Esther Smith; all of San Francisco. Judith's husband, John,
asked people to send donations in her honor either to the
Drug
Policy Alliance, 2233 Lombard St., San Francisco 94123,
or Laurel Hill Nursery School. For more information go to:
http://www.critpath.org
Read
Marsha Rosenbaum's obituary to Judith at the DPA website.
Photo by Anjuli Verma.
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 Mary
Gennoy
California. Died following surgery, Sept. 5, 2004
Small in stature but a giant among medical marijuana
advocates, Mary Gennoy suffered from the lifelong side
effects of her mother's radiation treatment undertaken while
pregnant. Mary was born July 11, 1951, hard of hearing,
lacking forearm bones, missing some fingers and toes and
suffering from numerous health problems, including chronic
pain and rheumatoid arthritis. She suffered miserably but
always managed to rise to the occasion and elicit a smile
from those around her. Her diminuitive stature and visible
ailments set her apart even among the San Francisco scene,
where she was an icon in the Castro district and in City
politics, including a run for county supervisor.
The 4'6" Mary did not limit her political activism to the
medical use of marijuana, however. She was an
environmentalist who supported the restoration of industrial
hemp. She was a civil rights activist for disabled rights,
gay rights and the right of adults to use marijuana without
criminal penalties. The feisty advocate of patient rights
was active in the San Francisco Prop P campaign, the
California Prop 215 campaign and was a regular at the San
Francisco Gay Pride Parade, where she often rode on the back
of a friend's motorcycle for the "Dykes on Bikes"
contingent.
"She never felt sorry for herself," fellow SF activist
Dennis Peron said. "She said, 'This is the body I've geen
given, and I'm going to go with it'." Mary was a fighter and
a personal friend to many of the local cannabis reformers,
along with Peron, Brownie
Mary, Hazel Rogers,
Bob Basker, and other
luminaries of the 1990s medical marijuana scene in the City.
She died Sept. 5, 2004 at age 53, due to complications after
throat surgery.
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 Cecilia
Franceschini-Barboni
California, Died September 2004
Owner, along with her husband,
Tony
Barboni, of one of the oldest and
most successful hemp stores in the USA, Cecilia succumbed to
cancer in September, 2004. She loved life and lived with joy
and whimsy, as shown by this photo, one of her favorites,
from the 1970s. She used the last years of her life to
promote a sustainable future through hemp and testified at
the California Agriculture Hearings on the effort to
legalize hemp cultivation in the state. The couple had
received an honorarium from the Hemp
Industries Association in April
of 2004.
Cecilia credited medical marijuana with
helping her control the disease, which had been in remission
for years. When her cancer returned, she kept up her spirits
with strength and courage. She kept up the good fight for a
cause, a store and a plant that she truly believed in. Hemp
in the Heartland at 125 K Street in Old Sacramento
(916-447-4367) is a full line hemp boutique, featuring
clothing, accessories, body care, food and paper products. A
warm person who made others feel welcome in her store and
better educated when they left, Cecilia was beloved by the
public, her fellow activists, her staff Amy, Marie and Kyle,
and certainly by Tony, who supported her in her life, her
illness, and her hempen pursuits. Tony always said Cecilia
was the "heart and soul" of the store.
"We are going to try and keep the store
open in her memory, but it won't be the same without her.
.It would mean so much to us, she was like a mother to us
and she is greatly missed. Thanks for all your support,"
writes Marie.
"The members of the HIA send condolences
to her devoted husband Tony, her son and staff. We will miss
her in form, and know she is now playing with the hemp gods,
dancing and dreaming our vision of a sustainable world for
all. Much love to you, Cecilia!" said HIA director Candi
Penn.
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Kioshi Kurimaya
Lead plaintiff in 1999's MMJ Class Action Suit launched
in Philadelphia.
"Pope" Micky
Greenwich Village, NY, pot activist who devised a
religious use defense but later came to rely on cannabis for
its medicinal properties.
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