DANIEL GENE ASBURY

1956-2006

Dan Asbury, 1956-2006

Daniel 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 Sept. 13, 2006, from complications of a massive heart attack.

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

For Dan's memorial, visit http://www.ohiopatient.net/v2/content/view/530/175/

It is with sadness that I pass along the obituary for Dan Asbury, below.

In May of 1997 Dan originated the idea of a medical marijuana patient wheelchair trek from his home in Oregon, Ohio, to the state capitol. Funded by the NORML Foundation, the trek was designed to bring publicity to the issue in Ohio, and to protest the affirmative defense in Ohio law which had been removed by the state legislature earlier in the year.

From Dan's idea sprang further medical marijuana patient wheelchair treks in Wisconsin and Florida.

Reform has lost a dedicated activist, and I a good friend.

Richard Lake

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever does" - Margaret Mead

The Toledo Ohio Blade, Fri, 15 Sep 2006

Activist Battled to Pass Medical Marijuana Laws

DANIEL GENE ASBURY, 1956-2006

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.

The family suggests tributes to the St. Francis Health Care Center in Green Springs, Ohio, or a charity of the donor's choice.

Copyright: 2006 The Blade