Backwards biker raises awareness about homelessness, AIDS and medical marijuana

Drivers speeding down Interstate 90 through Mineral County Friday may have had to do a double-take as they saw a 37-year-old man riding a child’s BMX bike along the road backwards.

“If you make a mistake out here you’ll get killed,” said Curan Wright, the backwards biker, while standing at the side of I-90 Friday afternoon.

Wright has been riding his tiny bicycle across the country since Aug. 17, 2007 to raise awareness for HIV, AIDS, homelessness, and medical marijuana. He started his journey in Venice Beach, Calif. and traveled to Glade Springs, Va. He then began his journey back across the country from Atlantic City, Fla. and is now traveling back to Venice Beach.

“Actually, every time I ride it’s a world record,” Wright said.

Wright, who is homeless and HIV-positive, spends his time biking across the country and talking with people about issues. He says that medical marijuana is the only thing that helps him deal with the pain of his illness.

“Medical marijuana is the only prescription I can get that helps me eat and sleep and I don’t think about dying every day,” Wright said.

The portion of Wright’s ride across Montana is dedicated to a Missoula woman, Robin Prosser, a vocal medical marijuana advocate who suffered from lupus and killed herself in 2007. Wright said that Prosser took her own life because of the pain she was in. He added that it happened while he was on his way to Washington D.C. to speak with legislators about legalizing medical marijuana.

“If we would have had federal marijuana legislation, Robin Prosser would have been alive today,” Wright explained.

Wright said that he once tried to take his own life and that this ride and his use of medical marijuana, along with his faith in Jesus Christ, have helped keep him alive.

Wright’s visit to Washington D.C. ultimately proved fruitless. He did not get to talk directly with any legislators about medical marijuana use. Montana is one of 12 U.S. states that has passed laws approving medical marijuana, but Wright said the state-by-state legalization process is a failure.

“Medical marijuana is not working on a state level,” he explained. “I’m fighting for federal legislation for patients with cancer, leukemia, multiple sclerosis, HIV, AIDS, and lupus.”

He insists that the difficulties and dangers surrounding obtaining medical marijuana use are far more dangerous than their physical side effects.

“The greatest danger in the medical use of marijuana is it’s illegality, which imposes much anxiety and expense on suffering people, forces them to bargain with illicit drug dealers and exposes them to criminal prosecution,” Wright said.

However, Wright’s ride is not without its own dangers. One of the first things he insists on is not riding backwards while, as he puts it, being “medicated.” The whole activity is far too dangerous to take on without a sober mind, he explained.

Wright said the hardest part of his ride through Montana was Butte Pass, but Fourth of July Pass and Lookout Pass will be a difficult end to his trip as he bikes to the west coast.

Hills aren’t Wright’s only challenges. Whenever the biker comes to a bridge or portion of road without a bike lane, he sometimes is forced to get off and walk. In many places Wright said he has been helped by police officers or others who see him riding and are interested in his cause.

Wright funds his trips with a monthly disability check and public donations.

“The American people sponsor me,” he said.

For more information about Wright, visit his Web site at http://www.grindtv.com/profile/bikingbackwards/.