In Memory of Daniel "Dan" Asbury 1956-2006

September 15, 2006 -- Activist Battled to Pass Medical Marijuana Laws -- Daniel Gene Asbury, 50, a Toledo-area activist who spent more than 20 years lobbying state legislators to introduce the legal use of marijuana for medical purposes, died Wednesday in Flower Hospital from complications of a massive heart attack.

Mr. Asbury, an ardent environmentalist, also was opposed to the expansion of the Envirosafe Services of Ohio Inc. site near his South Wheeling Street home in Oregon.

A quadriplegic, Mr. Asbury, who used a wheelchair after a fall that left him paralyzed from the chest down 26 years ago, relied on marijuana to ease the pain of muscle spasms, his sister, Susan, said.

He became involved in the movement to change state laws regarding the use of marijuana for medical purposes because he knew what it meant to people who needed it, his sister said.

"He was very passionate about the cause and spent many years going to Columbus and Ann Arbor to march with groups that believed in the importance of changing the law," Ms. Asbury said.

However, his passion for changing marijuana laws was not without its legal hurdles.

In 1999, Mr. Asbury pleaded guilty and was given a one-year suspended jail sentence for attempted possession of marijuana after U.S. Customs officials intercepted a marijuana package from Sweden addressed to him.

"Somebody from Sweden who knew about his involvement in the movement to change marijuana laws in Ohio sent him a package and that is how he got into trouble," his sister explained. "He didn't even know the person who sent the package."

Born in Toledo, Mr. Asbury grew up in Oregon.

He graduated from Scott High in 1974 and held a number of jobs in Toledo before his accident in 1980, which left him unable to take on other jobs.

So he spent much of his time after the accident reading and teaching himself about laws concerning the use of medical marijuana, his sister said.

"He never felt sorry for himself," she said, "and that is when he started to get involved in a number of causes he believed in."

Having grown up a few blocks away from the shores of Lake Erie, he naturally opposed the expansion efforts of Envirosafe, his sister said, "because he worried that the company would contaminate the lake."

In 1996, he wrote then-Vice President Al Gore, asking him to take an active role in the movement to reform state and federal laws concerning medical marijuana, his sister said. "He was especially proud of that letter and the fact that Al Gore wrote him back," she said.

Three years later, Mr. Asbury was one of three residents who threatened to sue the city of Oregon in an effort to have the city replace its curb ramps, which did not meet federal standards. Oregon City Council not only agreed to change its curb ramps to meet federal standards, it paid $5,920 in legal fees for the three plaintiffs.

"Daniel strongly believed that he ought to live his life in pursuit of a cause he believed in," his sister said.

Surviving are his mother, Elizabeth Brandenburg; father, Clyde Asbury; sisters, Susan, Carol, Candace, Constance, and Libby Jane, and brothers, James and Michael.

Visitation will be after 2 p.m. Sunday in the Eggleston Meinert Funeral Home, Oregon, where services will be at 11 a.m. Monday.

Newshawk: Ohio Patient Network http://www.ohiopatient.net
Pubdate: Fri, 15 Sep 2006
Source: Blade, The (Toledo, OH)
Copyright: 2006 The Blade
Contact: letters@theblade.com
Website: http://www.toledoblade.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/48

Prisoner of War in the War on Drugs

Dan was a patriotic American in every sense of the word. He stood for the America our forefathers created in the hopes of freeing the world of tyranny and injustice. Suffering a fall in 1980 that left him paralyzed from the chest down, and having only the use of his arms, Dan would roll into the battle for freedom and justice, fighting for his life, and the lives of others like him, who are prisoners of their own bodies, and of their own government.

Dan was an avid medical marijuana activist, writing hundreds of letters and attending dozens of events in support of allowing the sick and dying to use marijuana for medical purposes. Dan was also an environmental activist, and a staunch champion of Willow Cemetery, a dilapidated and almost forgotten civil war era cemetery.

Dan will be remembered most for an historic journey that he and fellow activists, patients and friends made in 1997. Dubbed the "Journey for Justice" it was the first time patients had ever set out on battery powered scooters and wheelchairs, traveling over 130 miles from Dan's home in Oregon, Ohio to the state capital in Columbus, Ohio to protest the removal of Ohio's "medical necessity" defense, which allowed patients to present evidence that marijuana was a necessary medical treatment. Although the small group failed to sway the governor and the state legislature, the seed had been planted, and the journey for justice would blossom into a nationwide campaign that continues to this day. Patients in other states, some in wheelchairs and hospital beds, would embark on a Journey for Justice of their own, following a trail blazed by Dan Asbury.

Patient, patriot, prisoner, activist, and friend, Dan will be missed by the hundreds of people he knew from all over the country. A country whose ideals he believed in. If Dan was nothing else, he was courageous because he did not fear those who would lock him away and he was the inspiration for the Journeys for Justice, and a personal inspiration to many, including myself.

Daniel Gene Asbury's righteous journey has come to an end, let our future Journeys be as blessed as he.

Written by Jim White
for OPNews

From: Eleanor Ahrens
Date: 9/15/2006

How do I express my sorrow for losing such a warm, kind, hard working, activist, friend and colleague. I first met Dan when we were lobbying and testifying at the state house for the then SB2 bill. Dan has always been an inspiration and I admired him so throughout all these years - for as ill and in pain that he was in he always kept working for the issues that meant so much to him. He never complained - always had kind words and I'll always remember his smile.

We have lost a true patriot of freedom and sleep peacefully, Dan for now you are without pain. Let us keep his legacy going.

Peace, love and tears,
Eleanor Ahrens

From: Deirdre Zoretic
Date: 9/15/2006

I never got to meet Dan face to face. During our first case, John Hartman, now director of The Ohio Cannabis Society, had Dan contact me. Dan told me about his own experiences, and advised me. He was the first medical marijuana patient that I knew, besides myself. I went on line and studied about all that Dan Asbury had been through.

I think Dan was the first patient that I ever felt that I wanted to protect, outside of myself. Dan brought out the compassion in me. Dan was the person that changed my selfish pursuit of my own health into a passion for the patients that I feel responsible for in our state.

During our second prosecution, Dan contacted me again. Assuring me that we had people on our side, working for us and praying for us. Dan Asbury is aman that I admired, and will always admire. This is indeed a sad, dark day for our organization. As I sit here crying, all that I can think, is that I couldn't do enough in time for Dan. Dan will not have died in vain. He gave too much to all of us in this cause, we will forever remember Dan as a courageous man of high morals, who acted on them. Dan was a crusader, Dan was a fighter. Dan was a hero. Dan was our friend, we will always have a Dan Asbury shaped whole in the heart of this organization. Dan, we love you and will miss you.

Dee Dee

From: Lynne Wilson
Date: 9/16/2006

I'd like to add that I've known Dan since 1997 and was fortunate to interview him on HempRock Radio about that first Journey for Justice at that time. Then again recently during one of the last shows HempRock aired, which included Ken Locke who road across the country on his bike, this year. Unfortunately, the show didn't get recorded but I still have Dan's interview
on tape if anyone would like a copy.

He was a great guy who I admire immensley. I doubt that I could live the life he had to endure as a quadriplegic. I feel blessed to have known him and been his friend. In recent years I've been able to visit and share meds with him.

Last year I was able to take him numerous jars of Don Wirtshafter's "hemp" salve that he and I donated to Dan. He felt honored when he learned that Don said Dan would have a lifetime supply. It seems the salve was the only
thing he had found that helped heal his bedsores. Last time we spoke, he was doing much better.

Although we've lost a great friend in our fight, I know that he is now free and fighting with us where ever he is!

Lynne Wilson
The Happy Hemptress

From: Kenny Schweickart
Date: 9/19/2006

Dan made a lot of press. I remember when the first Journey 4 Justice was taking off and it was storming outside. Tomas and John from the Norml chapters, Kay Lee, her daughter, some others, and myself from For A Better Ohio thought it too dangerous to travel. But Dan insisted. He raged. Absolutely nothing would delay his departure. We tried everything to talk him out of going out in a storm in an electric wheelchair. He was going to do it anyway, by himself. Nothing would stop him. He demanded his medicine be legal with a force I have not heard from anyone before. Coming from me, that is saying quite a bit. So we wrapped him up with plastic and duct tape, and off we went. ( Just one of many antedotes about Dan )

Together we shall overcome,
Kenny Schweickart

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