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

Page 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, Steve Michael, Steve Smith, Alan Martinez, Rufus King, Hazel Rogers, Bob Basker

Page 4: Ron Crickenberger, Judith Cushner, Mary Gennoy, Cecilia Franceschini, Pope Micky, Kioshi Kurimaya

Eddie Smith

KY-Ohio AIDS and medical marijuana patient advocate. Died 2002.

Edward Allen Smith (1961 - 2002), who had AIDS for 12 years and cancer for 10, said he would not be able to take his other medication without marijuana and that it was therefore essential to his very survival. He championed the cause of medical access to cannabis. Smith was a spokesperson of the group, For a Better Ohio, which had encouraged the state legislature to pass a law allowing Ohioans with illnesses to smoke marijuana to alleviate pain. He helped found the Ohio Patients Network. As he fought for his life, he fought for the rights of other Americans needlessly suffering. He fought injustice, ignorance,and intolerance. The day he died, Eddie learned that he had been made Freedom Fighter of the month in HT Dec.2002 issue. He did nor live to see a copy of the article.

This photo by Gary Storck (IMMLY) shows Eddie at the October 2000 demonstration at Al Gore's office in Austin TX organized by Jim Miller, taking a hit off the "torch of freedom" as NJ Weedman, Julian Heicklen and others look on. Here's what happened that day:

"Eddie Smith, after describing his essential medical need for marijuana to control the nausea and vomiting caused by his AIDS medicine, said he wanted to show Mr. Gaston the use of medical marijuana and began to consume his medicine. Mr. Gaston said: "Don't do that here." Eddy replied: "If I can't do it here, where can I do it?" As he smoked Mr. Gaston became very upset. He called me to his office to express his displeasure. Kevin Zeese explained this was a First Amendment activity targeted at the Vice President for his inaccurate statements. It was up to Mr. Gaston to decide whether to arrest an AIDS/cancer patient for his use of a medicine or to allow him to use marijuana. He said he was concerned about being part of a marijuana conspiracy or aiding and abetting a criminal act. I explained that he now had a sense of what medical marijuana patients have to feel every day when they fear arrest for using a medicine.

"We went back to the group and Mr. Gaston asked Eddie to stop his marijuana use. Eddie explained he would not stop until he was finished. Mr. Gaston said to me, "Can't you do anything about this?" I said, it is not my decision; it is up to Eddie. Security arrived and Mr. Gaston looked unsure what to do and then decided to send security away. Eddie finished his medical use and as we left we explained to Mr. Gaston that the Gore campaign should be warned that other actions like this are likely because seriously ill people were very upset with his comments. Further, it was very likely that Mr. Gore will lose a lot of votes to Ralph Nader unless he corrects this misstatement." -- Kevin Zeese

Brownie Mary

Mary Rathbun worked at an AIDS hospice in the San Francisco area, watching the slow, painful disentegration of people infected with HIV and trying to bring them what comfort she could. One of the worst aspects was seeing how much they suffered in the course of taking their chemotherapy "drug cocktails," a combination of toxic medications. While the process clearly helped many patients and helped extend their lives, the relentless nausea and vomitting made her wonder if the cure might not be worse than the disease.

She noticed that some patients seemed to be handling their medications much better than others and eventually discovered the dirty little secret of the pharmaceutical world: Medical marijuana improved the quality of life and allowed patients to take their other meds with a minimum of suffering. Not only that, she noticed a big difference in the mental outlook of patients who used marijuana. "They went from dying of AIDS to living with AIDS in just a few puffs," she would later recall. Determined to ease their suffering, Mary began a clandestine operation of bringing cannabis to patients who could smoke it and baking brownies containing the herb for those who could not. Not only did it reduce their nausea and lift their spirits, she noticed that their appetites and interest in food grew and many of them enjoyed eating for the first time in months, and some actually put on weight -- essential to survive the "wasting syndrome."

With missionary zeal, Mary began to deliver her brownies to patients outside the hospice and it was in the process of doing this that she was arrested and charged with drug trafficking. Dubbed "Brownie Mary" by the news media, the sympathetic older woman became such a folk hero that the charges against her were dropped. But she wouldn't stop there. Brownie Mary became a spokesperson for the medical marijuana movement and helped rally San Francisco to pass local legislation protecting access to medical marijuana and later Proposition 215, the California medical marijuana initiative. For more on her story, visit Human Rights and the Drug War or read the article at Cannabis Culture.

Tom Flowers

Although he was wracked with crippling arthritis, Tom Flowers kept busy in his garden. Tucked amid the orchids and kitchen herbs, Tom was growing his own medicine. A quiet person in the Oakland area reform movement, but with a biting wit, Tom was repeatedly hospitalized for his crumbling health. Nonetheless, he managed to write several important books on the cultivation of marijuana and how to cook with it. This was his enduring legacy to patients: Teaching others how to produce and use cannabis for an improved quality of life.

Buddy the Drug War POW

Buddy is a life-size stuffed dummy, last seen January 29, 2003 at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, Main campus, Visual Arts Building, Room 132. Buddy was attending the UCF NORML "Casualties of the Drug War" panel discussion when he was stolen. Besides being an integral part of our ongoing struggle against America's unjust and futile War on Drugs, Buddy is also a cherished member of the November Coalition family. Buddy was designed and built by Martha Christman, a long-time member of the November Coalition whose brother, Mark, died in federal prison while serving a mandatory 10 year sentence for marijuana conspiracy.

Buddy has been with us for years, and we miss him terribly! He was a beloved part of the November Coalition's jail cell exhibit seen at rallies and events all across the country. If you have any information on Buddy's whereabouts, please contact Tom Murlowski at (509) 684-1550 or tom@november.org. No questions will be asked; we just want him back.

Help bring Buddy Home! For a PDF (Adobe Acrobat) copy of our "ABDUCTED!" poster, contact tom@november.org; we'd love to see these things plastered all over central Florida, especially on and around the University of Central Florida main campus, where he was taken. This prints out nicely in black & white or color. Hopefully whoever kidnapped him will see one and suffer an attack of conscience, or someone else will recognize him and force the perpetrator to return him.

Please forward this information to anyone you think might want to help.

Steve Michael

Steve Michael, age 42, founder of ACT UP/Washington, DC, the AIDS Coaliton To Unleash Power, died May 25, 1998 of AIDS. Michael's partner of seven years, Wayne Turner, gave the order to disconnect Michael from life support after his condition severly worsened early Monday morning. Michael had spent almost four weeks in the intensive care unit at Washington Hospital Center for treatment of AIDS related pneumonia. Steve was an integral part of the Initiative 59 medical marijuana campaign in the capitol district. When the Initiative 59 votes were finally counted, I59 had won by 69%. However, as a federal district, Congress was able to block the measure from going into effect.

A political funeral was held June 4 in front of the White House. Turner made arrangments with federal authorities to hold Michael's funeral, which would be his last White House protest. In lieu of flowers, donations should be sent to ACT UP/Washington, 408 "H" Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002. Turner asks that all DC area activists carry on Steve's work. Visit ACT UP/Washngton's web site at www.actupdc.org, or call 202-547-9404 to become involved.

Stephen J. Smith

Stephen J. Smith passed away due to complications from AIDS early morning, November 16, 1998, at GW University Hospital in Washington, DC. At the time of his death his dear friends and fellow activists, William Clemson and Cheryl Spector, were at his deathbed. His parents were also present.

Stephen was the founder of ACT UP/DC, during the Bush administration when Washington desperately needed a chapter of the activist group. On his agenda were needle exchange programs, condoms in the high schools, more federal funding for treatment, and he started America's first Cannabis Buyer's Club. He also helped launch the DC chapter of Queer Nation and was involved in numerous demonstrations and press conferences.

Losing both Stephen J. Smith and Steve Michael within six months is doing an emotional number on my head, but I feel that if we don't remember our departed friends and their activism, who will?

If you wish to make a contribution in memory of Stephen, and help continue his ideals, please send a check to ACT UP/Washington, 409 H Street, Washington, DC 20002. This chapter, especially Wayne Turner, was responsible for getting the pro-medical marijuana Initiative 59 on the 1998 Washington, DC, ballot. When the Initiative 59 votes were finally counted, I59 had won by 69%. However, as a federal district, Congress was able to block the measure from going into effect. You can also simply light a candle for Stephen, as I have done. My thoughts are with him and the extended family he leaves behind. --Michael Petrelis

Alan Martinez

Alan Martinez was a nurse who had his patients and livelihood affected by Sonoma County officials who decided to prosecute him for cultivation of medical marijuana shortly after the state medical marijuana law, Proposition 215, was enacted. He was an epileptic, and probably the earliest activist to pass away while on trial for having plants and assisting mmj patients after the change in law.

You'll see a photograph of him on the ASA website on the top banner! He passed away in a car accident during a drive from his home in Santa Rosa to Bodega Bay. It was felt that he probably suffered a grand mal seizure and crashed. he had gone without mmj for his own medical needs and most likely could not keep his malady in check.

Rufus King

For over 45 years Rufus King was one of America's most outspoken and energetic critics of drug prohibition.

In 1951 Mr. King became legislative counsel to the Special Senate Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce (the famous Kefauver Committee which led to Senator Estes Kefauver (D-TN) becoming the Democratic nominee to be Vice-President of the United States in 1952 on the ticket with Adlai Stevenson). The insights gained in that assignment has led to a career in drug policy reform. In 1953, his article for the Yale Law Journal, "Narcotics Bureau and the Harrison Act: Jailing the Healers and the Sick," was one of the first post-war establishment critiques of prohibition.

In 1955, he organized the first joint effort by the American Bar Association and the American Medical Association, a Joint Committee on Narcotic Drugs. Their report was a ground-breaking critique of the prohibition paradigm which was intensely attacked by the Commissioner of Narcotics, Harry J. Anslinger.

In the decades since then, Mr. King was both an out-spoken voice and a indefatigable behind-the-scenes advocate for drug policy and criminal justice reform. From 1957 to 1960 he was the chairman of the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association. His writing appeared in the Stanford Law Review, the Journal of the American Bar Association, Harper's, Newsweek, the Encyclopedia Britannica and numerous other publications. Among his books is The Drug Hangup: America's Fifty-Year Folly, published by W.W. Norton in 1973.

In 1989 he received the first Alfred R. Lindesmith Award for Scholarship and Writing from the Drug Policy Foundation. In 1988 he became a member of the Advisory Board of the Drug Policy Foundation. He has served on the Board of Directors of NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), and as an advisor to the National Drug Strategy Network.

In March 1998, the Alliance of Reform Organizations presented him with a Award for LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN THE FIELD OF DRUG POLICY REFORM at a ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Until his death he was a regular, volunteer advisor to most drug policy reform efforts.

Mr. King was a member of the bar in New York, the District of Columbia and Maryland. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Princeton in 1938 and his Juris Doctor from Yale in 1943.

Bob Basker

Bob Basker was a long time activist for labor, gay rights and medical marijuana. Because of his unique skills and connections, plus a gentlemanly manner, Basker was able to draw together a variety of groups to work together for the common cause of getting California voters to pass the 1996 medical marijuana law, Prop 215. He died April 6, 2001 of heart failure at age 82.

Born in East Harlem in 1918, Basker began his lifelong commitment to activism and social justice by joining the student peace movement in the 1930s. He served in the Army during World War II, where he fought in Europe. In later years, he was instrumental in increasing the visibility of gay veterans in the American Legion, as one of the founders -- along with Paul Hardman -- of San Francisco's Alexander Hamilton Post 448 of the American Legion, the only American Legion post with a predominantly GLBT membership.

Active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Basker became founding president in 1965 of Mattachine Midwest, the Chicago branch of the groundbreaking gay rights group formed in Los Angeles in 1951 by Harry Hay and a group of four friends.

When he moved to San Francisco in 1978, Basker continued his political work as a member of the National Organization for Women (news - web sites ) and San Francisco's many GLBT Democratic clubs. He later joined the board of the San Francisco branch of the NAACP and the California Legislative Council for Older Americans. After seeing the city ravaged by the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, Basker became a soft-spoken but impassioned medical marijuana advocate in the 1990s.

Hazel Rogers

Hazel Rogers made national news as the little old lady smoking from a marijuana pipe at Dennis Peron's Cannabis Buyers' Club in San Francisco during and after the Prop 215 campaign to legalize medical use.

She also heroically stepped into the void as director of the Club in 1998 when the state attorney general got a cease and desist order to stop Peron from operating his 5-story cannabis dispensary on Market Street. On April 20, 1998, San Francisco County Sheriff Michael Hennessey served Peron at around 1:30 p.m. with a court order for him to close his Cannabis Buyers Club. Hennessey, a supporter of Proposition 215, said he backed medical marijuana clubs because he knew sick people who appeared to derive therapeutic benefit from the plant. "I believe it is helpful to have well-run clubs,'' Hennessey said. On April 21, 1998, Peron announced that a new club, the Cannabis Healing Center, had been opened at the site of the old club, to be directed by 78-year-old medical marijuana user and advocate Hazel Rodgers. Peron, it seems, had decided to run for governor.

The feisty Rogers followed in Peron's footsteps but the relentless pressure of the federal and state governments came to a head when the property owner was threatened with property forfeiture if he allowed any medical marijuana to be dispensed from the premises. The club closed its doors for the last time shortly thereafter.

She rallied support with her call to the patient advocate community, "You are so strong when you have no fears anymore".