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2737 B.C. to Present
Over 4,700 years of the History of Cannabis (Marijuana) as Medicine (2737 B.C. - present) is presented below. Each event is classified as Pro, Neutral or Con events for medical marijuana. Neutral items include those events offered as General Reference (not clearly pro or con).
| DATES | EVENTS | POSITION: Pro, Neu or Con |
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| 2737 BC | "Emperor Shen-Nung in China prescribes cannabis for beri-beri, constipation, 'female weakness,' gout, malaria, rheumatism and absentmindedness." |
P |  |
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| 2737 BC | "Actually, the emperor [Emperor Shen-Nung] turns out to be mythological; Shen is a component of Chinese folk religion, creator of agriculture, and one of the gods most widely worshipped in pre-Revolutionary China. The Treatise on Medicine attributed to Shen was compiled by an early Han dynasty writer, whose sources go back only as far as the fourth century B.C." |
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|
C |
| 2000 BC | In Egypt, cannabis is used to treat sore eyes. |
P |
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| 1400 BC | "A thriving Bronze Age drug trade supplied hashish (cannabis) and opium to ancient cultures throughout the eastern Mediterranean as balm for the pain of childbirth and disease, proving a sophisticated knowledge of medicines dating back thousands of years." |
P |
|
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| Pre 1000 BC |
Cannabis use begins in India to overcome hunger and thirst by the religious mendicants. |
P |
|
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| 1000 BC | Bhang, a cannabis preparation (a drink, generally mixed with milk) is used as an anesthetic and anti-phlegmatic in India.
Cannabis begins to be used in India to treat a wide variety of human maladies. The drug is still highly regarded and used by some medical practitioners in India. |
P | |
|
| 500 BC |
Gautama Buddha is said to have
survived by eating only cannabis seeds. |
P | |
|
| 200 BC |
In ancient Greece, cannabis is used
as a remedy for earache, edema, and inflammation. |
P | |
|
| 70 BC |
Roman Emperor Nero's surgeon,
Dioscorides, praises cannabis for making the stoutest cords and for its
medicinal properties. |
P | |
|
| 200 AD |
A Chinese physician, Hoa-Tho,
prescribes cannabis as an analgesic in surgical procedures. |
P | |
|
| 500 AD |
Travelers, traders and adventurers
carry knowledge of cannabis to Persia and Arabia. |
|
N | |
| 800 AD |
Mohammed allows cannabis but forbids
alcohol.  |
|
N | |
| 1000 AD |
Moslems produce hashish as
medicine. |
P | |
|
| 1484 |
Inquisitor Pope Innocent VIII
outlaws cannabis. |
|
|
C |
| 1606 |
The British take cannabis to Canada
for maritime uses. |
|
N | |
| 1606 |
The British start growing cannabis
in Virginia. |
|
N | |
| 1619 |
America's first marijuana law is
enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia, "ordering" all farmers to "make
tryal of" (grow) Indian hemp seed. More mandatory (must-grow) hemp
cultivation laws are enacted in Massachusetts in 1631, in Connecticut in
1632 and in the Chesapeake Colonies into the mid-1700s. Cannabis is used
primarily for fibers, and it’s medical use is not widely known by the
population at large. |
|
N | |
| 1621 |
The medical book The Anatomy of Melancholy by English clergyman
Robert Burton claims cannabis is a treatment for depression. |
P | |
|
| 1632 |
"The Pilgrims spread cannabis
throughout New England." |
|
N | |
| 1637 |
The General Court at Hartford,
Connecticut orders that all families plant one teaspoon of cannabis
seeds. |
|
N | |
| pre-1700 |
Cannabis is used in Africa to
restore appetite and to relieve pain of hemorrhoids. Its antiseptic uses
are also known to certain African tribes. Various other uses, in a number
of African countries, include the treatment of tetanus, hydrophobia,
delirium tremens, infantile convulsions, neuralgia, cholera, menorrhagia,
rheumatism, hay fever, asthma, skin diseases, and protracted labor during
childbirth. |
P | |
|
| 1753 |
Botanist Carl Linnaeus named the
European version of the plant “cannabis sativa”. The other version was
named “cannabis indica” soon thereafter. |
|
N | |
| 1763 |
The "New
English Dictionary" says cannabis root applied to skin eases
inflammation. |
P | |
|
| 1765 |
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew
cannabis on their plantations. Jefferson, while envoy to France, went to
great expense - and even considerable risk to himself and his secret
agents - to procure particularly good hempseeds smuggled illegally into
Turkey from China. The Chinese Mandarin’s rulers so valued their hempseed
that they made its exportation a capital offense. |
|
N | |
| 1799 |
Napoleon’s army re-turns from Egypt
with knowledge (and samples) of cannabis. The scientific members of
Napoleon’s forces are interested in the drug’s pain relieving and sedative
effects. |
P | |
|
| DATES | EVENTS | POSITION: Pro, Neu or Con | ||
| 1820 |
Eleven physicians meet in Washington, D.C.,
to establish the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, the first compendium of standard
drugs for the United States. | |
N | |
| 1839 |
William O'Shaughnessy, an Irishman
working in the service of the British in India, writes the first modern
English medical article on cannabis. |
P | |
|
| 1840 |
Work of physicians O’Shaughnessy,
Aubert-Roche, and Moreau de Tours draw wide attention to cannabis. |
P | |
|
| 1842 |
O’Shaughnessy reports that tetanus
could be arrested and cured when treated with extra large doses of
cannabis. Various marijuana and hashish extracts are
the first, second or third most prescribed medicines in the United States
from 1842 until the 1890s. |
P | |
|
| 1847 |
The American Medical Association is
founded. |
|
N | |
| 1850 |
U.S census of 1850 records 8,327
cannabis plantations of over 2,000 acres each. |
|
N | |
| 1850 |
"Medical use of cannabis declines
and cannabis begins to lose support of the medical profession as other
medications, considered superior to cannabis in their effects and more
easily controlled as to dose, come into wide use." |
|
|
C |
| 1854 |
"The U.S. Dispensary of 1854 lists
cannabis compounds as suggested remedies for a multitude of medical
problems, including neuralgia, depression, hemorrhage, pain relief and
muscle spasm." |
P | |
|
| 1856- 1937 |
"Cannabis loses its image as a
medicine and is left with a disreputable image as an intoxicant." |
|
|
C |
| 1857 |
John Bell, MD, Boston, reports that
the effects of cannabis in control of mental and emotional disorders is
superior to the use of “moral discipline” to restrain the mentally ill. Smith Brothers of Edinburgh market
cannabis indica extracts. |
P | |
|
| 1858 |
"Moreau de Tours reports several
case histories of manic and depressive disorders treated with hashish
[cannabis]." |
P | |
|
| 1860 |
The Committee on Cannabis Indica of the Ohio State
Medical Society is convened. The Committee reports that their respondents
claimed cannabis successfully treated neuralgic pain, dysmenorrhea,
uterine hemorrhage, hysteria, delirium tremens, mania, palsy, whooping
cough, infantile convulsions, asthma, gonorrhea, nervous rheumatism,
chronic bronchitis, muscular spasms, tetanus, epilepsy and appetite
stimulation. |
P | |
|
| 1862 |
President Lincoln appoints chemist Charles M.
Wetherill to head the Bureau of Chemistry in the new Department of
Agriculture. This is the predecessor of the Food and Drug
Administration. |
|
N | |
| 1870 |
U.S. Pharmacopoeia lists cannabis as
a medicine. |
P | |
|
| 1876 |
Cannabis hashish is served at the
American Centennial Exposition. |
|
N | |
| 1880 |
Peter Collier, chief chemist, U.S. Dept. of
Agriculture, recommends passage of a national food and drug law. The bill
is defeated. |
|
N | |
| 1893-94 |
India establishes the India Hemp
Commission to examine the question of cannabis use in India. The
Commission reports the use of cannabis as an analgesic, a restorer of
energy, a hemostat, an ecbolic, and an anti-diarrhetic. Cannabis is also
mentioned in the report as an aid in treating hay fever, cholera,
dysentery, gonorrhea, diabetes, impotence, urinary incontinence,
testicular swelling, granulation of open sores, and chronic ulcers. Other
beneficial effects attributed to cannabis are prevention of insomnia,
relief of anxiety, protection against cholera, alleviation of hunger and
as an aid to concentration of attention. |
P | |
|
| 1895 |
First known use of the name
"marijuana" for cannabis, by Pancho Villa's supporters in Sonora,
Mexico. |
|
N | |
| 1906 |
The Pure Food and
Drug Act is passed, forming the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
and giving it the power to regulate foods and drugs, and requiring
labeling of contents on foods and drugs. The patent medicine industry was
demised by this act. |
|
N | |
| 1911 |
The U.S. Supreme Court, in U.S. v. Johnson, rules that the 1906 Food and
Drugs Act does not prohibit false therapeutic claims but only false and
misleading statements about the ingredients or identity of a drug. |
|
N | |
| 1912 |
Congress enacts the Sherley Amendment to overcome the ruling in U.S. v. Johnson. It prohibits labeling medicines
with false therapeutic claims intended to defraud the purchaser. |
|
N | |
| 1914 |
Congress passes The
Harrison Act, which requires prescriptions for products exceeding the
allowable limit of narcotics and mandates increased record-keeping for
physicians and pharmacists. |
|
N | |
| 1915 |
Utah passes the first U.S. state
anti-marijuana law. Mormons who had gone to Mexico in 1910 returned
smoking marijuana. The Utah legislature enacted laws outlawing all Mormon
religion prohibitions as criminal laws. The States of Utah, California and Texas outlaw
cannabis. |
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|
C |
| 1922 |
The Narcotic Drug
Import and Export Act is passed by U.S. Congress. It is intended to
eliminate use of narcotics except for legitimate medical use. |
|
N | |
| 1923 |
Canada adds Cannabis to the Schedule of
prohibited drugs of the Opium and Narcotic Drug Act. The States of Louisiana, Nevada, Oregon and
Washington outlaw cannabis. |
|
|
C |
| 1924 |
At the Second International Opiates
conference, "cannabis is declared a narcotic." |
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|
C |
| 1927 |
The Bureau of Chemistry is reorganized into
two separate entities. Regulatory functions are located in the Food, Drug,
and Insecticide Administration, and nonregulatory research is located in
the Bureau of Chemistry and soils. |
|
N | |
| 1927 |
The State of New York outlaws
cannabis. |
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|
C |
| 1928 |
The U.K.'s Dangerous Drugs Act become law, making cannabis
illegal in the United Kingdom. |
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|
C |
| 1929 |
Southwest states in the U.S. make cannabis
illegal "as part of a move to oust Mexican immigrants." |
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|
C |
| 1930 |
The U.S. government sponsors the Siler
Commission to study the effects of off-duty smoking of marijuana by
American servicemen in Panama. The report concludes that marijuana is not
a problem and recommends that no criminal penalties apply to its use. |
P | |
|
| 1930 |
The Food, Drug, and Insecticide
Administration is shortened to the Food and Drug Administration. |
|
N | |
| 1931 |
Mellon, in his role as President Hoover's
Secretary of the Treasury, appoints his future nephew-in-law, Harry J.
Anslinger, to be head of the newly reorganized Federal Bureau of Narcotics
and Dangerous Drugs (FBNDD). |
|
N | |
| 1933 |
The Military
Surgeon writes: “Practically all the seed for the present day American
hemp culture is grown in the Kentucky River valley. Hemp is found growing
wild in the 'slough' district of the Illinois River valley, especially in
Tazewell County, where the gathering of the flowering tops is a local
industry. The harvest is sold to the pharmaceutical trade. There is no
evidence that the smoking of hemp or other abuse respecting this plant is
practiced or known to those engaged in this occupation.” |
P | |
|
| 1933 |
The FDA recommends a complete revision of the
obsolete 1906 Food and Drugs Act. A five-year
legal battle is launched in the U.S. Senate. |
|
N | |
| 1933 |
Marijuana (Cannabis indica or C. sativa) is described in the Epitome of U. S. Pharmacopoeia, and National Formulary as a "narcotic poison, producing a mild delirium. Used in sedative mixtures, but of doubtful value. Also employed to color corn remedies. Cannabis is used in medicine to relieve pain, to encourage sleep, and to soothe restlessness. The drug is used very little in the
practice of medicine. It is considered unstable and unreliable and as
there are other drugs which can be used to relieve pain and produce sleep
the prescribing of this drug for these purposes is falling into disuse.
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|
C |
| mid-1930's |
"The abolition of slavery following the Civil
War put hemp at a competitive disadvantage because its harvest and
processing required intensive labor. The industry slowly declined to the
brink of extinction as cotton captured the fiber market, but by the
mid-1930s new machinery could efficiently extract hemp's fibers from its
stalk, and the plant was poised for economic recovery. The February 1938
issue of Popular Mechanics hailed it as the 'New Billion-Dollar Crop,'
while a concurrent issue of Mechanical Engineering deemed hemp 'The Most
Profitable and Desirable Crop That Can Be Grown.'" |
|
N | |
| DATES | EVENTS | POSITION: Pro, Neu or Con | ||
| 1935-7 |
"In secret U.S. Treasury Department meetings,
prohibitive tax laws are drafted and strategies plotted. Marijuana is not
banned outright; the law calls for an occupational excise tax upon
dealers, and a transfer tax upon dealings in marijuana." |
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|
C |
| 1937 |
Assistant U.S. Surgeon General Walter
Treadway told the Cannabis Advisory
Subcommittee of the League of Nations that, "It [cannabis] may be
taken for a relatively long time without social or emotional breakdown.
Marihuana is habit-forming. . . in the same sense as. . . sugar or
coffee." |
P | |
|
| 1937 |
"The Hearst newspapers had acquired a taste
for sensationalistic headlines and lurid stories about Mexicans and
'marijuana-crazed Negroes' assaulting, raping and murdering whites. It was
all nonsense, but Anslinger shamelessly parroted these myths and concocted
his own in congressional testimony and in speeches and articles, branding
marijuana the 'worst evil of all.' In a 1937 magazine piece titled
"Marijuana, the Assassin of Youth," he blamed suicides and "degenerate sex
attacks" on the drug.
'Marijuana is the unknown quantity
among narcotics,' he wrote. 'No one knows, when he smokes it, whether he
will become a philosopher, a joyous reveler, a mad insensate, or a
murderer.' Prior to such calculated misstatements, few Americans had
smoked marijuana. Most had never even heard of it." |
|
|
C |
| 1937 March 29 |
"After the Supreme Court decision of March
29, 1937, upholding the prohibition of machine guns through taxation,
Herman Oliphant made his move. On April 14, 1937 he introduced the bill
directly to the House Ways and Means Committee instead of to other
appropriate committees such as food and drug, agriculture, textiles,
commerce, etc.
His reason may have been that "Ways
and Means" is the only committee that can send its bills directly to the
House floor without being subject to debate by other committees. Ways and
Means Chairman Robert L. Doughton, a key DuPont ally, quickly
rubber-stamped the secret Treasury bill and sent it sailing through
Congress to the President." |
|
|
C |
| 1937 Spring |
"William G. Woodward, M.D., who was both a
physician and an attorney for the American Medical Association, testified
on behalf of the AMA.
He said, in effect, the entire
fabric of federal testimony was tabloid sensationalism! No real testimony
had been heard! This law, passed in ignorance, could possibly deny the
world a potential medicine, especially now that the medical world was just
beginning to find which ingredients in cannabis were active.
Woodward told the committee that the
only reason the AMA hadn't come out against the marijuana tax law sooner
was that marijuana had been described in the press for 20 years as 'killer
weed from Mexico.'
The AMA doctors had just realized
'two days before' these spring 1937 hearings, that the plant Congress
intended to outlaw was known medically as cannabis, the benign substance
used in America with perfect safety in scores of illnesses for over one
hundred years.
'We cannot understand yet, Mr.
Chairman,' Woodward protested, 'why this bill should have been prepared in
secret for two years without any intimation, even to the profession, that
it was being prepared.' He and the AMA were quickly denounced by Anslinger
and the entire congressional committee, and curtly excused." |
P | |
|
| 1937 Spring |
"When the Marijuana Tax Act bill came up for
oral report, discussion, and vote on the floor of Congress, only one
pertinent question was asked from the floor: "Did anyone consult with the
AMA and get their opinion?"
Representative Vinson, answering for
the Ways and Means Committee replied, "Yes, we have. A Dr. Wharton
[mistaken pronunciation of Woodward?] and the AMA are in complete
agreement!"
With this memorable lie, the bill
passed, and became law in December 1937." |
|
|
C |
| 1937 Aug 2 |
The Marijuana Tax
Act passes and becomes law. |
|
|
C |
| 1938 |
"The Food,
Drug and Cosmetic Act is passed. The FDA is given control over drug
safety, and the Act establishes a class of drugs available by
Prescription." |
|
N | |
| 1940 |
Dr. R.N. Chopra reports that, in
India, “hemp drugs are popularly used as household remedies in the
amelioration of many minor ailments.” |
P | |
|
| 1940 |
The FDA is transferred from the
Dept. of Agriculture to the Federal Security Agency. Walter G. Campbell is
appointed the first Commissioner of Food and Drugs. |
|
N | |
| 1941 |
"Marijuana is officially removed
from the U.S. Pharmacopoeia." |
|
|
C |
| 1942 |
Drs. Allentuck and Bowman, in a
study of the use of marihuana in the morphine abstinence syndrome, state
“The results in general, although still inconclusive, suggest that the
marijuana substitution method ameliorated or eliminated (the symptoms)
sooner, the patient was in a better frame of mind, his spirits elevated,
his physical condition was more rapidly rehabilitated, and he expressed a
wish to resume his occupation sooner.” |
P | |
|
| 1943 |
U.S. Military Surgeon magazine
declares that "smoking cannabis is no more harmful than smoking tobacco."
|
P | |
|
| 1944 |
New York City Mayor LaGuardia’s Committee on Marihuana notes two possible therapeutic applications of marijuana: “The first is the typical euphoria-producing action which might be applicable in the treatment of various types of mental depression; the second is the rather unique property which results in the stimulation of appetite.” New York City Mayor LaGuardia’s
Committee on Marihuana studied 56 morphine and heroin addicts at Riker’s
Island Penitentiary, N.Y., find-ing “those who received
tetrahydrocannabinols had less severe withdrawal symptoms than those who
received no treatment or who were treated with Magendie’s solution.” |
P | |
|
| 1945 |
Newsweek Magazine reports "over
100,000 Americans use cannabis." |
|
N | |
| 1945 |
Harry J. Anslinger, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (FBNDD), "in public tirade after tirade, denounces Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, the New York Academy of Medicine and the doctors who researched the report. Anslinger proclaims that these doctors would never again do marijuana experiments or research without his personal permission, or be sent to jail. He then uses the full power of the United States government illegally to halt virtually all research into marijuana while he blackmails the American Medical Association (AMA) into denouncing the New York Academy of Medicine and its doctors for the research they had done." To refute the LaGuardia report, the
AMA, "at Anslinger's personal request, conducts a 1944-45 study, which
reports; 'of the experimental group 34 were negroes and one was white'
(for statistical control) who smoked marijuana, became disrespectful of
white soldiers and officers in the segregated military." |
|
|
C |
| 1947 |
Dr. Douthwaite reports using
cannabis hashish “for reducing of anxiety and tension in patients with
duodenal ulcer.” |
P | |
|
| 1948 |
"Testifying before a strongly
anti-Communist Congress in 1948 - and thereafter continually to the press
- Anslinger proclaims that marijuana renders its users not violent at all,
but so peaceful - and pacifistic - that the Communists 'could and would
use marijuana to weaken our American fighting men's will to fight.'" |
|
|
C |
| 1949 |
Researchers JP Davis and HH Ramsey
report (Fed. Proc. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol. 8: 284) that a clinical trial of
five institutionalized epileptic children found that: “Three children -
responded at least as well as to previous therapy. Fourth child – almost
completely seizure free. Fifth child – entirely seizure free.” Their
conclusion was that “the cannabinols herein reported deserve further trial
in non-institutionalized epileptics.” |
P | |
|
| 1950 |
"Congress passes The Durham-Humphrey Amendment, which defines the
kinds of drugs that cannot be safely used without medical supervision and
restricts their sale to prescription by a licensed practitioner." |
|
N | |
| 1952 |
Dr. J. Kapelikovi, in his report
"Antibacterial Action of Cannabis Indica," concludes that "alcohol extract
of cannabis is bacterially effective against many gram-positive and one
gram-negative micro-organisms." He also found a paste form of external
application successful. According to the report; “from a study of 2,000
herbs by Czechoslovakian scientists it was found that cannabis indica was
the most promising in the realm of antibiotics.” |
P | |
|
| 1953 |
Drs. Thompson and Proctor report;
“Pyrahexyl (a synthetic cannabis-like drug) and related compounds are
beneficial in the treatment of withdrawal symptoms from the use of alcohol
to a marked degree, and in the treatment of withdrawal symptoms from the
use of opiates to a less marked, but still significant degree.” |
P | |
|
| 1954 |
Pharmacopoeias of India contains
descriptions of liquid cannabis extract and tincture, and describes how it
is made. |
P | |
|
| 1957 |
"In 1957, a Wisconsin farmer
harvested the last legal commercial hemp crop in America." |
|
N | |
| 1957 |
Drs. Chopra and Chopra, in their
article “The Use of the Cannabis Drugs in
India”, state; “with regard to the use of cannabis in Indian
indigenous medicine at the present time, it may be said that it was and
still is fairly extensively used in both the Ayurvedle (Hindu) and Tibbi
(Mohammedan) systems of medicine as an anodyne, hypnotic, analgesic and
antispasmodic, and as a remedy for external application to piles. It is
also used in the treatment of dysmennorhoea, rheumatism, chronic diarrhea
of the sprue type, gonorrhea, malaria and mental diseases on the advice of
itinerant practitioners of indigenous medicine as well as quacks who roam
about the country. For medicinal purposes the drug is administered by
mouth and hardly ever by smoking.” |
P | |
|
| 1958 |
The FDA publishes in the Federal
Register the first list of Substances Generally Recognized as Safe
(GRAS). |
|
N | |
| 1959 |
In the Czech publication of Pharmacie, Dr. Krejci reports that he extracted a
chemical from the cannabis plant that had “antibiotic properties.” |
P | |
|
| 1960 |
Krejci, Kabelik and Santavy include in “Cannabis as a Medicant” the various microorganisms against which cannabis is effective; “Proof could be furnished that the cannabis extracts produce a very satisfactory antibacterial effect upon the following microbes: staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, streptococcus alpha haemolyticus, streptococcus beta haemolyticus, enterococcus, diplococcus pneumonia, B. antracis, and corynebacterium diptheriae i.e., all of them gram-positive microorganisms. Noteworthy is the effect upon staphyloccus aureaus strains, which are resistant to penicillin and to other antibiotics." Kabelik reports that in Argentina “cannabis is considered a real panacea for tetanus, colic, gastralgia, swelling of the liver, gonorrhea, sterility, impotency, abortion, tuberculosis of the lungs and asthma…even the root-bark has been collected in spring, and employed as a fibrifuge, tonic, for treatment of dysentery and gastralgia, either pulverized or in form of decoctions. The root when ground and applied to burns is said to relieve pain. Oil from seeds has been frequently used even in treatment of cancer.” Kabelik also notes; “In human
therapy the best results have been obtained with the following medicaments
combined with substances derived from cannabis: dusting powder together
with boric acid, ointment, ear drops, alcohol solutions with glycerine,
aqueous emulsions, dentin powder. The preparations mentioned above have
been already tested clinically, and will eventually be made available for
production.” |
P | |
|
| 1961 |
Dr. Krejci reports in another Czech
publication that he had obtained “two additional samples [from cannabis]
with antibiotic activity.” |
P | |
|
| 1961 |
The U.N. Treaty 406 Single
Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed, which seeks to outlaw cannabis use
and cannabis cultivation worldwide, and "eradicate cannabis smoking within
30 years." The U.S. representative is Anslinger. |
|
|
C |
| 1962 |
President John F. Kennedy, who uses
cannabis as a pain relief, fires Anslinger. |
P | |
|
| 1962 |
News reports on the role of Dr. Francis Kelsey, FDA medical officer, in keeping Thalidomide (a new sleeping pill that caused thousands of birth defects in western Europe) off the U.S. market arouses strong public support for stronger drug regulations. The Kefauver-Harris Drug Amendment passes, which ensures drug efficacy and greater drug safety. For the first time, drug manufacturers are required to prove to FDA the effectiveness of their products before marketing them. President John F. Kennedy proclaims
the Consumer Bill of Rights to Congress.
Included are the right to safety, the right to be informed, the right to
choose, and the right to be heard. |
|
N | |
| 1963 |
H.B.M Murphy, M.D. PhD, Associate
Professor, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, reports
on cannabis investigations in Eastern Europe, stating “it is alleged to be
active against gram positive organisms at 1/100,000 dilution, but to be
largely inactivated by plasma, so that prospects for its use appear to be
confined to E.N.T. (ear, nose and throat) and skin infections.” |
P | |
|
| 1964 |
Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, Lionel
Jacobson Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, is the first to identify delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as
the most active compound in cannabis. |
|
N | |
| 1965 |
An article of Medical News, “Cardiac Glycocides” suggests
cannabis as treatment for a specific form of malignancy. |
P | |
|
| 1966 |
Pharmacopoeias of India contain
descriptions of liquid cannabis extract and tincture, and describes how it
is made. |
P | |
|
| 1968 |
The U.K.'s Wooton Report states "Having reviewed all the
material available to us we find ourselves in agreement with the
conclusion reached by the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission and the New York
Mayor's Committee that the long-term consumption of cannabis in moderate
doses has no harmful effects." |
P | |
|
| 1968 |
The FDA Bureau of Drug Abuse Control
and the Treasury Dept. Bureau of Narcotics are transferred to the Dept. of
Justice to form the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD). |
|
N | |
| 1968 |
A report by a London Advisory
Committee suggests that "cannabis treats the symptoms and not the cause by
focusing the user’s attention on his anxieties and pains without helping
to resolve them." |
|
|
C |
| 1969 |
Dr. Vansim of Edgewood Arsenal,
Maryland Headquarters of the U.S. Army Chemical Corps, writes in a 1969
book Psychotomimetic Drugs that “the synthetic
preparations of cannabis are of interest. There are three areas where they
may be of definite use in medicine. One concerns the use of a cannabis
analogue which Dr. Walter S. Loewe reported [1937-1942] very effective in
preventing grand mal seizures if given in small doses.” Lester Grinspoon, MD, Harvard,
suggests that cannabis might be useful in the treatment of pathological
loss of appetite known as anorexia nervosa. |
P | |
|
| 1970 |
Veliky and Genest in “Suspension
Culture of Cannabis Sativa” report that “the ethanol extract of cultured
cells exhibited antibiotic activity against Bacillus megatherium,
staphylococcus aureaus and escherichia coli.” Tod Mikuriya, MD, notes that the
substitution of smoked cannabis for alcohol may have rehabilitative value
for certain alcoholics. |
P | |
|
| 1970 |
The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act
(U.S. Controlled Substances Act) is passed by Congress, which deletes
the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, and places Marijuana (and all parts
thereof) into Schedule I, meaning it has not medical value and has the
highest potential for abuse. |
|
|
C |
| 1970 October |
A NIMH granted research study by Leo
E. Hollister, MD, reports in the Journal of
Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics that “Two separate experiments
indicated that in most subjects, after oral administration of marihuana,
total food intake, as well as reports of hunger and appetite, are
increased. Stimulation of appetite by marihuana is by no means invariable,
occurring in only slightly more than half the subjects." |
P | |
|
| 1971 |
Drs. Hepler and Frank report that
cannabis reduces intraocular pressure by up to 30%, thus helping glaucoma
patients. |
P | |
|
| 1971 |
The British Misuse of Drugs Act classifies cannabis as a
Class B drug. "This bans the medical use of cananbis, ignoring the Wooton Report." |
|
|
C |
| 1972 |
The Drug
Abuse Office and Treatment Act is passed. Creates the Special Action
Office for Drug Abuse Prevention (SAODAP) within the Executive Office of
the President; authorizes the establishment by 1974 of the National Inst.
on Drug Abuse (NIDA) within the National Institute of Mental Health
(NIMH). |
|
N | |
| 1972 Dec |
Drs. Hepler, Frank and Ungerleider
publishes a study in the American Journal of Ophthalmology which finds
that the use of marijuana is associated with a decrease in intraocular
pressure. |
P | |
|
| 1973 |
The Final Report of Canada's Commission of Inquiry
into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs (the Le Dain Commission) is released,
which recommends decriminalization of the personal use of marijuana.. |
P | |
|
| 1973 |
The Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA) consolidates NIMH, NIDA, and NIAAA under one organization. The Bureau of Narcotics and
Dangerous Drugs is reorganized into the Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA). The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the 1962 drug
effectiveness law and endorses FSA action to control entire classes of
products by regulations rather than to rely only on litigation. |
|
N | |
| 1975 |
In an article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute;
"Antineoplastic Activity of Cannabinoids" a Medical College of Virginia
team notes: "The active chemical agent in marijuana curbs the growth of
three kinds of cancer in mice and may also suppress the immunity reaction
that causes the rejection of organ transplants." The researchers find that
"THC slowed the growth of lung cancers, breast cancers, and a
virus-induced leukemia in laboratory mice, and prolonged their lives by as
much as 36 percent." Dr. Stephen Sallan of the Sidney Farber Cancer Center
publishes a study which finds that THC has antiemetic properties and that
it is better in preventing vomiting than in treating existing vomiting.
Dr. Donald Tashkin et al publishes
an article in American Review of Respiratory
Disease (Volume 112, 1975) which, Dr. Tashkin says "appear to support
the benefit ascribed to the use of cannabis in the last century for the
treatment of bronchial asthma."
The report noted; "After
methacholine induced bronchospasm, placebo marijuana and saline inhalation
produced minimal changes in specific airway conductance and thoracic gas
volume, whereas 2.0 per cent marijuana and isoproterenol each caused a
prompt correction of bronchospasm and associated hyperinflation." |
P | |
|
| 1975 Oct. 20 |
Paul Consroe, PhD, publishes a study
in the Journal of the American Medical
Association that finds “Marijuana smoking, in conjunction with
therapeutic doses of Phenobarbital and diphenylhydantoin, was apparently
necessary for controlling seizures in one 24-year-old epileptic
patient." |
P | |
|
| 1975 Nov |
Virtually all of America's leading researchers on marijuana meet at Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, California. Seminars sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) address a compendium of studies from their earliest to most recent findings. When the seminars are over,
"practically all the scientists conclude that the federal government, with
the hard evidence collected so far on the therapeutic potential of
marijuana, should be rushing to invest tax money into more research." |
P | |
|
| 1976 Jan 5 |
The New York
Times declares "Scientists find nothing really harmful about pot." |
P | |
|
| 1976 |
Keyes reports that cannabis seeds
“contain an appreciable amount of protein (19 percent), oil and an
impressive array of enzymes, including lipase, maltase, amylase, urease
and tryptase, which might be the main reasons for their medicinal
activity.” |
P | |
|
| 1976 |
American pharmaceutical companies successfully petition the federal government to be allowed to finance and judge 100% of marijuana research. The Ford Administration, NIDA and the DEA said in effect, "no American independent (read: university) research or federal health program would be allowed to again investigate natural cannabis derivatives for medicine." This agreement is made without any
safeguards guaranteeing integrity on the part of the pharmaceutical
companies; "they are allowed to regulate themselves." |
|
|
C |
| 1976 Nov. 24 |
A Washington, D.C. man (Robert
Randall) afflicted by glaucoma employs the little-used Common Law Doctrine of Necessity to defend himself against
criminal charges of marijuana cultivation (U.S. v.
Randall). On November 24, 1976, federal Judge James Washington rules
Randall's use of marijuana constitutes a "medical necessity." |
P | |
|
| 1978 |
As a result of a settlement
agreement in a lawsuit against the government (Randall v. U.S.), a procedure is devised to allow
patients to receive medical marijuana from the U.S. government (NIDA).
"Since its inception in 1974, NIDA has been the sole administrator of a contract to grow cannabis (marijuana) for research purposes and the only legal source for cannabis in the United States." "NIDA has continued to grow cannabis
in order to provide a contamination-free source of cannabis material with
consistent and predictable potency for use in biomedical research." NIDA
produces marijuana cigarettes "in three potencies: strength 1: 3-4%;
strength 2: 1.8-2.2%; and strength 3: placebo, as close to 0% as
possible." |
P | |
|
| 1978 Feb 21 |
New Mexico state legislature passes
HB 329, which authorizes a medical marijuana research program for patients
with cancer chemotherapy and glaucoma. |
P | |
|
| 1978 Sept 9 |
Illinois state legislature passes HB 2625, which
authorizes a medical marijuana research program for patients with cancer,
chemotherapy and radiology. The plan is never operational. |
P | |
|
| 1979 March 10 |
Illinois state legislature passes SB 366, which
authorizes a medical marijuana research program for patients with cancer
chemotherapy and glaucoma. The plan is never operational. |
P | |
|
| 1979 June 14 |
Texas state legislature passes SB 877, which
authorizes a medical marijuana research program for patients with cancer
and glaucoma. The plan is never operational. |
P | |
|
| 1979 July 30 |
Alabama state legislature passes S. 559, which
authorizes a medical marijuana research program for patients with cancer,
chemotherapy and glaucoma. The plan is never operational. |
P | |
|
| 1980 Feb |
Georgia state legislature passes HB 1011, which
authorizes a medical marijuana research program for patients with cancer
and glaucoma.
South Carolina state legislature
passes S. 350, which authorizes a medical marijuana research program for
patients with cancer chemotherapy and radiology and glaucoma. The program
has never been operational. |
P | |
|
| 1980 April 24 |
Minnesota state legislature passes
HF 2476, which authorizes a medical marijuana research program for
patients with cancer. The plan has never been operational. |
P | |
|
| 1980 May 19 |
Rhode Island state legislature passes HB 79.6072,
which authorizes a medical marijuana research program for patients in a
life or sense threatening situation. The program has never been
operational. |
P | |
|
| 1980 June 30 |
New York state legislature passes SB 1123-6, which
authorizes a medical marijuana research program for patients with cancer
and glaucoma and other life or sense threatening diseases. |
P | |
|
| 1981 |
The Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act of 1981 is passed. Established the ADMS Block Grant
program, giving more control of drug abuse treatment and prevention
services to the states. |
|
N | |
| 1981 March 23 |
New Jersey state legislature passes AB 819, which
authorizes a medical marijuana research program for patients with life or
sense-threatening diseases. The program has never been operational. |
P | |
|
| 1982 |
Omni magazine (September
1982) indicates that Eli Lilly, Abbott Labs, Pfizer, Smith, Kline &
French, and others would lose hundreds of millions, to billions of dollars
annually, and lose even more billions in Third World countries, if
marijuana were legal in the U.S. Omni Magazine notes that after nine
years, Nabilone was still considered virtually useless when compared with
real, home-grown THC-rich cannabis buds; and Marinol works as well as
marijuana in only 13% of patients. |
|
|
C |
| 1983 |
Periodical el Tiempo
(Bogota, Columbia), reports that American pharmaceutical companies are
guilty of a practice known as "product dumping," wherein they "sell on the
over-the-counter markets of Columbia, Mexico, Panama, Chile, El Salvador,
Honduras and Nicaragua, over 150 different illegal, dangerous drugs." This
report has not been disputed by the U.S. government or American
pharmaceutical companies and the practice continues. The World Health
Organization backs up this story with a conservative estimate: "they say
that some 500,000 people are poisoned each year in Third World countries
by items (drugs, pesticides, etc.) sold by American companies but which
are banned from sale in the U.S. ( Mother Jones
magazine, 1979, "Unbroken Circle" June, 1989; The Progressive, April 1991,
et al.)" |
|
N | |
| 1983 Sept |
The Reagan/Bush Administration put a soft "feeler"
out in September of 1983 for "all American universities and researchers to
destroy all 1966-76 cannabis research work, including compendiums in
libraries. Scientists and doctors so ridiculed this unparalleled
censorship move that the plans were dropped." |
|
|
C |
| 1988 Sept |
The DEA's own conservative administrative law judge,
Francis Young, after taking medical testimony for 15 days and reviewing
hundreds of DEA/NIDA documents positioned against the evidence introduced
by marijuana reform activists, concludes that "marijuana is one of the
safest therapeutically active substances known to man." |
P | |
|
| 1988 Sept |
The DEA ignores the ruling of DEA's
administrative law judge, Francis Young ." |
|
|
C |
| 1989 Dec. 30 |
DEA Director John Lawn orders that cannabis remain
listed as a Schedule I narcotic - having no known medical use. |
|
|
C |
| 1990 |
Stephen Ng et al publishes a study,
“the first case-control study of incident seizures in adults”, which
states; “Marijuana use appeared to be a protective factor against first
seizures in men.” The study concluded; “The authors conclude that heroin
use is a risk factor and marijuana use a protective factor for new-onset
seizures.” |
P | |
|
| 1990 |
The cannabinoid receptor, the "lock"
into which cannabinoids fit, activating the specific biochemical events,
is discovered. This intensifies the search for the cannabinoid-like brain
molecule that binds to the cannabinoid receptor. |
|
N | |
| 1991 |
In April, 1991, The Florida Court of
Appeals reverses the lower court, overturning a young couple's criminal
conviction for marijuana cultivation and rules their use of marijuana is a
"medical necessity" in the treatment of AIDS. In October, 1991 the Florida
Supreme Court upholds the Appeals Court's verdict and orders the
prosecutor to file no further appeals in the case. |
P | |
|
| 1991 |
The FDA publishes regulations to
accelerate the review of drugs for life-threatening diseases. |
|
N | |
| 1991 |
In June, 1991, The Compassionate IND
Program for medical marijuana is suspended after the number of
applications surge in response to the AIDS epidemic. |
|
|
C |
| 1991 Dec 31 |
The State of Massachusetts enacts S.
1582, which permits use of marijuana to treat cancer chemotherapy and
radiology, glaucoma, and asthma (marijuana or THC). The program has never
been operational. |
P | |
|
| 1992 |
William Devane and Raphael Mechoulam
identify a natural brain molecule that binds to the cannabinoid receptor.
They call it anandamide, from the Sanskrit word for "eternal bliss". While
the substance mimics the action of THC, interestingly, it doesn't look
anything like it. Additional natural anandamides have since been found and
it is speculated that a family of receptors may exist. |
P | |
|
| 1992 |
The ADAMHA
Reorganization Act is passed. ADAMHA is reorganized, and NIDA, NIMH
and NIAAA is transferred to NIH, and ADAMHA's programs are transferred
into the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA). |
|
N | |
| 1992 |
In March, 1992, The Secretary of the
Department of Health and Human Services decides that NIDA would not
provide marijuana for single-patient INDs, "except to those patients who
were already receiving marijuana at the time. 27 additional single-patient
INDs that had received FDA approval are canceled and the patients are not
supplied with marijuana." |
|
|
C |
| 1992 March 28 |
In the U.S., The Economist states: "Medicines often produce
side effects. Sometimes they are physically unpleasant. Cannabis too has
discomforting side effects, but these are not physical they are
political." |
P | |
|
| 1992 March 28 |
Jim Montgomery, a U.S. paraplegic
who smokes cannabis to relieve muscle spasms, is arrested in Oklahoma for
two ounces of marijuana. He is sentenced to life plus 16 years. It is
later reduced to 10 years. |
|
|
C |
| 1993 |
55 British MP's (Member of
Parliament) "call for cannabis to be recognized and allowed for treatment
of Multiple Sclerosis." |
P | |
|
| 1993 |
The NIH
Revitalization Act of 1993 is passed. Requires NIDA to conduct a study
on the relationship between the consumption of legal and illegal drugs.
|
|
N | |
| 1994 Feb. |
In February, the U.S. District Court rejects a petition for review of the rescheduling of Cannabis. The ruling leads to a 5-part “revised formulation for determining whether a drug has a currently accepted medical use:
|
|
|
C |
| 1994 Nov. |
In November, The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) call on the federal government to aggressively research marijuana's medicinal use for the seriously ill. In a petition to Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, the FAS point out that whole cannabis is already in clinical use by patients suffering a variety of illnesses, including AIDS and epilepsy. The Federation, in a one-sentence
petition, state: "based on much evidence from patients and doctors alike
on the superior effectiveness and safety of whole cannabis ... we hereby
petition the Executive Branch and the Congress to facilitate and expedite
the research necessary to determine whether this substance should be
licensed for medical use by seriously ill persons.” |
P | |
|
| 1995 |
The FDA declares cigarettes to be “drug delivery
devices.” |
|
N | |
| 1995 July 10 |
Jon Gettman submits a petition to
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) requesting “that
proceedings be initiated to repeal the rules and regulations that place
marijuana and tetrahydrocannabinols in Schedule I of the Controlled
Substances Act (CSA)”. |
P | |
|
| 1995 Nov 11 |
British journal of the medical
profession, The Lancet states: "The smoking of
cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health." |
P | |
|
| DATES | EVENTS | POSITION: Pro, Neu or Con | ||
| 1996 |
The U.K. Crown Prosecution Service
begins dropping cases of possession and cultivation of marijuana against
some ill (Multiple Sclerosis) people as "not in the public interest to
proceed." |
P | |
|
| 1996 June |
Scottish Nationalist Conference
votes to allow cultivation for personal use and research into medical uses
of cannabis, stating; "Relatively few adverse clinical effects from the
chronic use of marijuana have been documented in humans. However, the
criminalization of marijuana use may itself be a health hazard, since it
may expose the users to violence and criminal activity." |
P | |
|
| 1996 August |
The Journal
of the National Cancer Institute publishes an article by researchers
Sanford Barsky, MD et al., that states: ”findings suggest that smoking
marijuana and/or cocaine, like tobacco smoking, exerts field cancerization
effects on bronchial epithelium, which may place smokers of these
substances at increased risk for the subsequent development of lung
cancer." |
|
|
C |
| 1996 Aug 4 |
California state agents raid the San
Francisco Cannabis Buyers' Club. The next day, the club is ordered closed
by Superior Court Judge William Cahill. The Club reportedly distributed
marijuana beyond that used for medicinal purposes. The club's owner,
Dennis Peron, makes news when he declares that "all use [of marijuana] is
medical." |
|
|
C |
| 1996 Aug 8 |
The State of Massachusetts enacts H.
2170, which mandates that "within 180 days, the state's public health
department must establish the rules and regulations necessary to get its
therapeutic research program running and to allow a defense of medical
necessity for enrolled patients. Rules were established, but federal
permission for research was never obtained." |
P | |
|
| 1996 Nov 5 |
Voters in Arizona (Proposition 200)
and California (Proposition 215) approve initiatives endorsing the legal
use of marijuana under a doctor’s supervision. |
P | |
|
| 1996 Nov 6 |
Arizona Governor Fife Symington
threatens to veto Proposition 200. John MacDonald, Government Affairs
Director for the Arizona Attorney General’s office says a veto of
Proposition 200 by the governor would violate the state’s constitution. |
|
|
C |
| 1996 Nov 9 |
The Office of National Drug Control
Policy (ONDCP) issues a press release stating: “Federal law is unchanged
by the passage of these initiatives. The decision to bring appropriate
criminal or administrative enforcement action will be decided on a case by
case basis. |
|
|
C |
| 1996 Nov 14 |
U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey holds
a closed door meeting with California law enforcement officials to discuss
the federal response to the passage of Prop 215. Attendance is restricted
to those who oppose the legal use of medical marijuana. |
|
|
C |
| 1996 Dec. 2 |
Senator Orrin Hatch calls a special
hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee to denounce the passage of the
California and Arizona initiatives. Thomas Constantine, Administrator of
the DEA, testifies that the federal government could “take both
administrative and criminal actions against doctors who violate the terms
of their DEA drug registrations to prescribe controlled substances.” |
|
|
C |
| 1996 Dec. 12 |
McCaffrey and Dept. of
Transportation Secretary Federico Pena hold a joint press conference
stating: “The law is clear. If you are a safety-sensitive worker and
you’re caught using drugs, these propositions don’t mean a thing. You’re
out of a job.” |
|
|
C |
| 1996 Dec. 30 |
The Clinton administration announces
its plan to institute criminal prosecution of physicians who prescribe or
recommend marijuana in California and Arizona, and to deprive them of
their right to write prescriptions of any kind. The plan further
recommends that such physicians be excluded from Medicaid and Medicare. |
|
|
C |
| 1997 |
An 8-year study at the UCLA School
of Medicine concludes that long-term cannabis smokers do not experience a
greater annual decline in lung functions than non-smokers. Their study,
published in Volume 155 of the American Journal of
Respiratory and Clinical Care Medicine (Jan. 1997), states: "No
differences were noted between even quite heavy marijuana smoking and
nonsmoking of marijuana." |
P | |
|
| 1997 |
The Food and Drug
Administration Modernization Act passes. It re-authorizes the Precription Drug User Fee Act of 1992 and
mandates wide-ranging reforms in FDA practices. |
|
N | |
| 1997 |
Denis Petro, M.D. publishes "Pharmacology and Toxicity of Cannabis" which
states; "The respiratory effect of a single dose of inhaled cannabis is
significant to induce bronchodilatation. Bronchitis and asthma have been
reported in chronic cannabis smokers. This observation is not unexpected
due to the presence of tars in marijuana smoke and the tendency of
recreational smokers to inhale deeply." |
|
|
C |
| 1997 Jan. 9 |
Responding to public opposition over
the Clinton administration's proposal to arrest physicians who recommend
or prescribe marijuana, the ONDCP commits nearly one million dollars to
fund a comprehensive review by the National Academy of Sciences' (NAS)
Institute of Medicine of the existing scientific literature regarding
marijuana's medical potential. |
P | |
|
| 1997 Jan. 14 |
A group of California physicians and
patients file a class action suit (Conant v.
McCaffrey) in federal court in San Francisco seeking an injunction to
prevent federal officials from taking any punitive action against
physicians who recommend the medical use of marijuana to their patients in
compliance with state law. |
P | |
|
| 1997 Jan. 21 |
Senator Lauch Faircloth (R-NC)
introduces legislation in Congress (S. 40) to severely sanction physicians
who prescribe or recommend the medical use of marijuana. That same day,
Senator Orrin Hatch includes similar provisions in a Republican-backed
anti-crime bill (S. 3) |
|
|
C |
| 1997 Jan. 22 |
The Massachusetts Department of
Health issues regulations to create an affirmative medical defense for
patients who use marijuana for a legitimate medical need. The Department
also begins developing a blueprint for a state-run medical marijuana
research project. Governor William Weld endorses the action and states
that he has "no problem" with the use of marijuana as a therapeutic agent.
|
P | |
|
| 1997 Jan. 30 |
Dr. Jerome Kassirer, editor of the
New England Journal of Medicine, opines that
the federal policy that prohibits physicians from prescribing marijuana to
seriously ill patients is "misguided, heavy-handed, and inhumane." He
argues that the federal government should immediately reschedule marijuana
to allow for its legal use by prescription. |
P | |
|
| 1997 Feb. 27 |
A letter to medical organizations by
Jo Ivy Boufford, MD, Acting Asst. U.S. Secretary for Health, and Mark M.
Richard, Esq., Acting Asst. U.S. Attorney General, state that nothing in
federal law prevents a physician in the context of a legitimate
patient-physician relationship from discussing with a patient the risks
and alleged benefits of the use of marijuana to alleviate symptoms. |
P | |
|
| 1997 Feb. 27 |
Physicians, the letter to medical
organizations notes, cannot intentionally provide their patients with oral
or written statements to enable them to obtain controlled substances in
violation of federal law. |
|
|
C |
| 1997 March 6 |
A group of physicians, health
organizations, and patients file a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court
for the District of Columbia challenging the federal government's refusal
to allow physicians to prescribe marijuana in states that permit them to
do so. |
P | |
|
| 1997 March 14 |
A letter, released jointly by the
American Medical Association and the California Medical Association, and
delivered to the U.S. Department of Justice, supports “free and unfettered
exchange of information” between patients and physicians. The letter notes
“free disclosure apply even if the effectiveness of a potential treatment
or modality is not yet fully proven.” |
P | |
|
| 1997 March 24 |
The American Medical Association, in
a letter to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, urges the NIH to
consider the institution of policies designed to facilitate well designed
clinical research into the medical utility of marijuana. |
P | |
|
| 1997 April 15 |
A study by Kaiser Permanente,
"Marijuana Use and Mortality", published in the American Journal of Public Health concludes;
"Relatively few adverse clinical effects from the chronic use of marijuana
have been documented in humans." |
P | |
|
| 1997 April 15 |
The Arizona Legislature guts medical
marijuana provisions included in Proposition 200 by approving a law
mandating that state licensed physicians may only prescribe marijuana
after it has been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration
(FDA). Backers of Proposition 200 announce that they will file a
referendum to block the Legislature's action. |
|
|
C |
| 1997 April 21 |
Federal DEA agents raid Flower
Therapy, a medical marijuana sales operation in a converted warehouse,
seizing 331 marijuana plants but leaving its supply of dried medical
marijuana behind. In addition to the marijuana plants, agents take 15
ultraviolet ``grow'' lights, five small plastic irrigation pools, nine
ventilation fans and a variety of other gear used to grow the marijuana.
There were no arrests. This was the first federal action since California
passed Proposition 215 in 1996. |
|
|
C |
| 1997 April 24 |
San Jose becomes the first city in
the United States to pass zoning laws regulating cannabis buyers' clubs.
|
P | |
|
| 1997 April 30 |
U.S. District Court Judge Fern Smith rules that
federal officials may not sanction California doctors who recommend
marijuana to their patients in compliance with state law. Plaintiffs'
attorney Graham Boyd hails the ruling as a "tremendous victory." |
P | |
|
| 1997 June 3 |
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) introduces H.R. 1782 in
Congress to provide for the medicinal use of marijuana in the states. The
legislation eliminates the federal restrictions which currently interfere
with an individual state's decision to permit the medical use of
marijuana, and mandates the federal government to provide marijuana for
medical research purposes to all FDA approved scientific protocols. |
P | |
|
| 1997 June 16 |
Nevada state prosecutors drop felony marijuana
possession charges against a California cancer patient after the district
attorney concedes that the marijuana was purchased in San Francisco and
was for medicinal purposes only. Legal analysts claim that this is the
first interstate proceeding involving medical marijuana imported from
California. |
P | |
|
| 1997 July 2 |
The British Medical Association (BMA) overwhelmingly
calls for the legalization of marijuana for medical use at a conference in
Scotland. |
P | |
|
| 1997 July 29 |
Los Angeles County Sheriffs raid a mansion in
Bel-Air, seizing over 4,100 plants, which the cultivators claim are for
medical patients. Todd McCormick and Renee Boje are arrested. |
P | |
|
| 1997 Aug 7 |
In the New England Journal of
Medicine, Dr. George Annas of the Boston University School of Medicine
demands that seriously ill patients be given immediate legal access to
medical marijuana. Annas writes: "Research should go on, and while it
does, marijuana should be available to all patients who need it to help
them undergo treatment for life-threatening illnesses." |
P | |
|
| 1997 Aug 8 |
After an almost five month delay, the NIH releases a
promised report on the therapeutic potential of marijuana. The NIH report
concludes that marijuana "looks promising enough [in the treatment of
certain serious illnesses] to recommend that there be new controlled
studies done," and urges the federal government to play an active role in
facilitating clinical evaluations of medical marijuana. |
P | |
|
| 1997 Aug 8 |
White House spokesman Mike McCurry
tells the Associated Press that the administration continues to oppose the
use of marijuana to treat sick people despite the NIH findings. |
|
|
C |
| 1997 Sept 16 |
Federal officials provide a $170,000
grant to Washington state anti-drug coordinators to fund a full,
state-wide anti-marijuana effort. Proponents of Initiative 685 immediately
file a complaint with the Public Disclosure Commission and state Ethics
Board alleging that the federal funds are being used illegally to campaign
against the "Drug Medicalization and Prevention Act of 1997." Federal and
state laws prohibit tax dollars from being used to fund a political
campaign. |
|
|
C |
| 1997 Sept 18 |
NIDA officially announces that Dr. Donald Abrams of
UC-San Francisco will receive his full grant request of $978,000 for a
study of the use of smoked marijuana, oral dronabinol, and a placebo, in
HIV-positive patients. The aim of the revised protocol is to determine
whether marijuana has serious short-term side effects on the health of
HIV-positive patients. Only if the findings of this initial study --
scheduled to take nearly 18 months to complete -- are negative, would
Abrams then be permitted to research safety and efficacy of the chronic
use of marijuana for HIV-associated anorexia and weight loss. |
P | |
|
| 1997 October |
A Medical Marijuana Providers’ Conference is held in
Santa Cruz, California. Organized by The Los Angeles Cannabis Resource
Center, it is the first such conference of the so-called “cannabis clubs.”
It is attended by over 100 individuals and organizations. |
P | |
|
| 1997 October |
Witnesses on both sides of the
medical marijuana issue testify before Congress at a hearing before the
House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Crime. Proponents liken
marijuana's medical utility and safety to drugs such as penicillin and
urges the federal government to support legislative efforts to allow
physicians to prescribe the drug, while opponents urge federal officials
to take a more vocal stance opposing pending state marijuana initiatives.
|
|
N | |
| 1997 October |
Federal law enforcement officials
raid a medical marijuana farm in Lake County, California, run by Dennis
Peron, former director of the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers' Club. 150
plants seized, no arrests. The farm is replanted the next day. |
|
|
C |
| 1997 Nov |
Americans for Medical Rights (AMR), the
California-based group that spearheaded the successful passage of
Proposition 215 in California, announces that it will coordinate medical
marijuana initiatives for 1998 in Colorado and Maine. |
P | |
|
| 1997 Nov |
The NIH rejects a research proposal
to study the use of marijuana in acute migraine treatment. |
|
|
C |
| 1998 Jan. 9 |
Suit filed in federal court against
six clubs, S.F. Cannabis Cultivators Coop, Flower Therapy, Oakland
Cannabis Buyers' Coop, Santa Cruz Cannabis Buyers' Club, Marin Alliance,
Ukiah Cannabis Club. - U.S. Atty Michael Yamaguchi |
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C |
| 1998 Nov 3 |
Alaskan voters pass Ballot Measure 8, which removes state-level criminal penalties for medical marijuana use, possession and cultivation. Oregon voters pass Measure 67, which removes state-level criminal penalties for medical marijuana use, possession and cultivation. Washington state voters approve
Measure 692, which removes state-level criminal penalties for medical
marijuana use, possession and cultivation. |
P | |
|
| 1999 May 21 |
The National Inst. of Health (NIH)
and U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) release guidelines for
performing studies on the medical efficacy of marijuana. Medical Marijuana
advocates are angered that the HHS has made no provisions for patients who
have no other medical access to marijuana while the research is being
conducted. |
|
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C |
| 1999 June 20 |
Prominent physicians from the British Medical
Association's (BMA) Scottish Regional Health Committee urge legalizing
marijuana for medical and recreational purposes. George Venters, M.D., the
committee chairman, states; "I think more than half the population would
support legislation if you laid out the evidence." |
|
|
C |
| 1999 Nov 2 |
Maine voters pass Question 2, which removes
state-level criminal penalties for medical marijuana use, possession and
cultivation. |
P | |
|
| 2000 Feb |
Dr. Manuel Guzman of Complutence
University in Madrid, Spain, releases a study that shows the active
chemical in marijuana, THC, "destroys tumors in lab rats." |
P | |
|
| 2000 March 2 |
A study presented at the American Hearth Association's 40th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention by Murray A. Mittlemen, M.D. found that marijuana use "increases the heart rate by about 40 beats per minute. It also causes the blood pressure to increase when the person is lying down, and then abruptly fall when the person stands up, often causing dizziness. These effects may pose significant risk, especially in people with unrecognized coronary disease." The researchers noted that they
"still aren't sure whether it's the marijuana itself that causes the
increased risk of heart attack, or whether it's other components in the
smoke." |
|
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C |
| 2000 June 14 |
The Hawaii state legislature passes
SB 862, which removes state-level criminal penalties for medical marijuana
use, possession and cultivation. This is the first law of this nature
enacted by a state legislature. |
P | |
|
| 2000 July |
A study by researchers from the
University of California, San Francisco finds that patients with HIV
infection taking protease inhibitors "do not experience short-term adverse
virologic effects from using cannabinoids." According to Donald Abrams,
M.D., lead author of the study and professor of clinical medicine in the
UCSF Positive Health Program at San Francisco General Hospital Medical
Center, "this was the first attempt to study the effects of marijuana in
people with HIV and one of the most comprehensive studies about the
effects of marijuana on the immune system." |
P | |
|
| 2000 July 27 |
Washington, D.C. moves marijuana
from Schedule V to Schedule III in 2000, which means "The substance has
currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States or the
District of Columbia." The move is symbolic in nature. |
P | |
|
| 2000 Nov 7 |
Nevada voters approve ballot
Question 9, which removes state-level criminal penalties for medical
marijuana use, possession and cultivation. Colorado voters approve ballot
Amendment 20, which removes state-level criminal penalties for medical
marijuana use, possession and cultivation. |
P | |
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| DATES | EVENTS | POSITION: Pro, Neu or Con | ||
| 2001 |
The Journal
of Cannabis Therapeutics publishes an article by Guy A. Cabral, PhD,
which states; "The cumulative data obtained through cell culture studies
using various immune cell populations extracted from animals or humans,
together with those obtained using animal models of infection, are
consistent with the proposition that marijuana and cannabinoids alter
immune cell function and can exert deleterious effects on resistance to
infection in humans."
The Journal
of Cannabis Therapeutics publishes an article by Donald P. Tashkin,
MD, which states; "Frequent marijuana use can cause airway injury, lung
inflammation and impaired pulmonary defense against infection. The major
potential pulmonary consequences of habitual marijuana use of particular
relevance to patients with AIDS is superimposed pulmonary infection, which
could be life threatening in the seriously immuno-compromised patient.” |
|
|
C |
| 2001 Jan 17 |
U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, on reviewing a petition by Jon Gettman to reschedule
marijuana, forwarded to them by the U.S. DEA in 1997, recommends that
marijuana “continue to be subject to control under Schedule I.” |
|
|
C |
| 2001 March |
The Journal
of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology reports (Pages 339-344):
"This complex regulation of CYP1A1 by marijuana smoke and the Delta-9-THC
that it contains has implications for the role of marijuana as a cancer
risk factor.” |
|
|
C |
| 2001 March 20 |
U.S. DEA denies a petition by Jon
Gettman to reschedule marijuana. |
|
|
C |
| 2001 Spring |
A study by the Multidisciplinary
Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and California NORML releases
preliminary findings that "medical marijuana patients may be able to
protect themselves from harmful toxins in marijuana smoke by inhaling
their medicine using an electric vaporizer." The study noted; "The
vaporizer produced THC at a temperature of 200 degrees Celsius (392
degrees F.) while completely eliminating three measured toxins - benzene,
a known carcinogen, plus toluene and naphthalene." |
P | |
|
| 2001 May 14 |
The United States Supreme Court in the case of United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyer’s Cooperative, rules;
Syllabus of United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers’
Cooperative ET AL. |
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C |
| 2001 June 19 |
The American Medical Association
(AMA) House of Delegates rejects a committee report that urges the
organization to consider the compassionate use of medical marijuana for
cancer patients and others. |
|
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C |
| 2001 Sept 7 |
England’s GW Pharmaceuticals
presents its first data to the American Academy of Pain Management in
Arlington, Virginia, which states: "Active [cannabis] treatments provide
superior benefit to placebo in key outcomes (pain, overall symptom relief,
sleep duration). The data shows clear trends which support the clinical
improvements experienced by patients whose conditions have been considered
intractable in the face of standard therapy. In some cases, the
improvements have been sufficient to transform lives.” |
P | |
|
| 2001 Oct 25 |
The U.S. DEA raids the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource
Center, which had the reputation of being the tightest run medical
marijuana patients’ center in the country. Nine individuals are held for 6
hours, hundreds of plants are cut and seized, along with several pounds of
cut and dried marijuana, computers, cultivation equipment, and thousands
of patient files. No arrests are made, and no charges are filed at that
time. |
|
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C |
| 2002 Jan |
The January, 2002 edition of the Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics publishes a
study by Ethan Russo, MD, "Chronic Cannabis Use in the Compassionate
Investigational New Drug Program: An Examination of Benefits and Adverse
Effects of Legal Clinical Cannabis," which states: "Despite the obvious
opportunity to generate data on the use of cannabis and its possible
sequelae in these patients, neither NIDA, other branches of the National
Institutes of Health, nor the FDA has published an analysis of information
from this cohort. An examination of the contents of the National Library
of Medicine Database (PubMed), and search engines of NIDA employing
multiple combinations of key words failed to retrieve a single
citation." |
|
N | |
| 2002 Jan |
The Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics publishes an article by Ethan Russo, MD, that states that a study of 4 of the remaining 7 legal medical marijuana patients who have been receiving marijuana from the U.S. government since the 1970s and 1980s “demonstrate clinical effectiveness in these patients in treating glaucoma, chronic musculoskeletal pain, spasm and nausea, and spasticity of multiple sclerosis. All 4 patients are stable with respect to their chronic conditions, and are taking many fewer standard pharmaceuticals than previously. These results would support the
provision of clinical cannabis to a greater number of patients in need. We
believe that cannabis can be a safe and effective medicine with various
suggested improvements in the existing Compassionate IND program.” |
P | |
|
| 2002 March 5 |
Harrison Pope of Harvard Medical
School questions whether memory and attention problems of habitual
marijuana users are long-lasting. “The safest thing to say at this point
is that the jury is still out on the question of whether long-term
marijuana use causes lasting impairment in brain function.” |
|
N | |
| 2002 March 5 |
Nadia Solowij, University of South
Wales, publishes a study in the Journal of the
American Medical Association which relates her findings that "heavy,
chronic marijuana use causes memory loss and attention problems." |
|
|
C |
| 2002 March 21 |
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia refuses to hear arguments regarding whether Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials improperly rejected a 1995 rescheduling petition to reclassify marijuana under the federal Controlled Substances Act. "The court declined to hear
discussion [regarding] the merits of our case and instead raised the
procedural obstacle of whether petitioners had sufficient standing to
bring their dispute with the DEA to the federal courts." |
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C |
| 2002 April 6 |
Peter Fried, PhD, professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, publishes a study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that reports that smoking marijuana more than five times a week "can lower a person’s IQ by an average of four points." “The most intriguing finding, certainly, is the recovery of function in these individuals,” said study author Peter Fried. He added that the study doesn’t show the complete picture of how marijuana affects the brain. “IQ is a relatively insensitive
measure of drug effects. Thus, I do not know whether things like memory,
attention, or information processing speed would in fact recover,” said
Fried. |
|
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C |
| 2002 May |
A preliminary report is released by
the Canadian government which finds; Marijuana is not a gateway drug,
marijuana users are unlikely to become addicted, marijuana prohibition has
little impact on marijuana use, marijuana use does not lead to the
commission of crime, and marijuana is not a serious health risk. |
P | |
|
| 2002 May |
U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer rules, “on advice from the government,” that the Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative has no constitutional right to provide marijuana to sick people. “With or without medical authorization, the distribution of marijuana is illegal under federal law,” says Breyer. In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled that the Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative did not have the
authority to sell marijuana for medical purposes under California’s 1996
medical-marijuana law. The Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative was hoping
to reopen the case with new legal arguments. Robert Raich, the attorney
for the cooperative, said he would appeal Breyer’s ruling. |
|
|
C |
| 2002 May 29 |
The U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration raids the Aiko Compassion Center in Santa Rosa, a medical
marijuana dispensary. “Tight-lipped DEA men told local reporters two
people were arrested and marijuana, cash, a car and a weapon were
seized.” |
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C |
| 2002 May 31 |
In a forfeiture action filed May 31 against the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center (LACRC) in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, federal prosecutors argue that Proposition 215, the ballot initiative that legalized medical marijuana in California, was invalidated by federal law and did not provide a defense against asset forfeiture proceedings under federal law. The LACRC launches a Hunger Strike in protest. |
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C |
| 2002 June 6 |
Reform activists hold demonstrations
in 55 cities at DEA offices across the United States "to protest their
continued prosecution of community-based marijuana dispensaries, growers
and patients." Oakland protestors say forcing
Federal Protective Service officers to seal most of the building’s
entrances is a moral victory, and they promise that any DEA raids from now
on will be met with coordinated grass-roots resistance and civil
disobedience. |
P | |
|
| 2002 June 6 |
Special Agent Richard Meyer, of the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) tells the press; “It is the
right of all American citizens to demonstrate peacefully in support of
their beliefs. As far as we are concerned, federal law remains the same
and our mission has not changed.” |
|
|
C |
| 2002 June 13 |
Federal U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco issues a permanent injunction, blocking three northern California medical marijuana clubs from distributing to patients. In his ruling, Breyer said, "In the absences of an injunction, the defendants (the clubs) are likely to resume distributing marijuana in violation of the Controlled Substances Act." Keith Stroup, executive director of
the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) stated,
"By targeting these dispensaries, the federal government is forcing
seriously ill Californians to obtain their medicine on the street and from
the black market. While the government's actions may result in driving the
use of medicinal marijuana underground, they will do nothing to stop the
use of medical cananbis by those who require it and have a legal right to
it under state law." |
|
|
C |
| 2002 June 27 |
Vermont Governor Howard Dean (D)
signs legislation setting up a state task force to study how Vermont
should go about protecting medical marijuana patients from arrest.” |
P | |
|
| 2002 July 10 |
The British government announces
plans to reduce penalties for cannabis possession, downgrading marijuana
from a Class B to a Class C, "putting it on a par with steroids and
sleeping pills." |
P | |
|
| 2002 July 10 |
Researchers at Okayama University in
Japan (Hiroshi Ujike, et al.) release a study that finds "similarities
between the brain dysfunctions in schizophrenic patients and the
disruptions in brain activity caused by marijuana use." The researchers
say that those individuals who are genetically predisposed to
schizophrenia can have the disease triggered by marijuana use. For
non-schizophrenics, "…it may be [developing schizophrenia from marijuana
use] a very small risk factor. For most people it won't happen." |
|
|
C |
| 2002 July 11 |
Brian Epis, 35, who helped the
start-up of a cannabis buyers' club in Chico, California, is found guilty
of conspiracy and manufacturing of marijuana. In the prosecution of "the
first federal criminal case involving such an organization to reach a
jury," the judge instructed the jury to "disregard medicinal-use evidence
and argument." He is sentenced on 10/7/02 to 10 years in jail. |
|
|
C |
| 2002 July 17 |
An NIH State-of-the-Science
conference on Symptom Management in Cancer reported; “Currently,
cancer-related pain, depression, and fatigue are undertreated and this
situation is simply unacceptable – there are effective strategies to
manage these symptoms and all patients should have optimal symptom
control.” |
|
N | |
| 2002 July 18 |
The California Supreme Court votes
unanimously to uphold Proposition 215, ruling that the medical marijuana
initiative "renders possession and cultivation of marijuana non-criminal
for a qualified patient or primary caregiver." |
P | |
|
| 2002 July 24 |
Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA),
Ron Paul (R-TX), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Janice Schakowsky (D-IL)
joins former Ronald Reagan presidential aide Lyn Nofziger and seriously
ill patients in a first-ever Capitol Hill press conference calling on
Congress to allow the state-sanctioned use of medicinal marijuana. |
P | |
|
| 2002 July 24 |
A study by Giovanni Marsicano et al.
from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry (Munich, Germany) published in
Nature (No. 418, pages 530-534) proposes that
"endocannabinoids facilitate extinction of aversive memories." This is the
first time that a function for the natural cannabinoids in the brain is
proposed. |
|
N | |
| 2002 Aug. 28 |
A report released by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), based on data obtained from the National Household Survey, states that "the younger someone is when first trying marijuana, the more likely he or she is to become dependent on illegal drugs later in life." The report also noted that "18
percent of adults who said they first tried pot before the age of 15 met
the criteria for either dependence or abuse of alcohol or illicit drugs,
compared to 2.1 percent of adults who said they had never used marijuana."
|
|
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C |
| 2002 Sept. 4 |
A Canadian parliamentary committee
calls for legalizing marijuana use among adults. The report by the Senate
Committee on Illegal Drugs recommends that Canada adopt a system that
regulates marijuana the same way as alcohol, and expunge criminal records
for marijuana possession. |
P | |
|
| 2002 Sept. 5 |
The U.S. DEA raids the medical
marijuana group Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical
Marijuana (WAMM) in Santa Cruz, California, a non-profit collective
serving 300 seriously ill patients. WAMM Directors Valerie Corral and Mike
Corral are arrested, and their garden is destroyed. Two dozen medical
marijuana users are so incensed that during the raid they blocked the DEA
from leaving with the seized medicine, demanding that the DEA hand over
the seized cannabis. The DEA called the local Santa Cruz Sheriff's
Department (who were not notified or involved in the raid) to "disperse
the angry crowd." |
|
|
C |
| 2002 Sept. 6 |
California Attorney general Bill Lockyear requested a meeting with United States Attorney General John Ashcroft and DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson, to discuss the federal government's "unprecedentad attacks on locally-authorized medical marijuana operations." In a letter formally requesting the
meeting, Lockyer stated: "I must also question the ethical basis for the
DEA's policy when these raids are being executed without apparent regard
for the likelihood of successful prosecution. Whether or not the U.S.
Attorney decides to file in the Santa Cruz case, my Department is aware of
other recent DEA-initiated raids involving as few as six marijuana plants
in which no charges were ever filed, and no convictions obtained.
Conversations with DEA representatives in California have made it clear
that the DEA's strategic policy is to conduct these raids as punitive
expeditions whether or not a crime can be successfully prosecuted." |
P | |
|
| 2002 Sept. 17 |
More than 1,000 people gather in
Santa Cruz, California at City Hall to "send the federal government a loud
message about what Santa Cruz wants for its sick and dying residents: the
right to smoke medical marijuana." They did this by distributing marijuana
to patients on the steps of City Hall. "City leaders attended the
distribution to support giving sick people marijuana and to let the DEA
know it's not welcome in this coastal town." For the first time ever, California
Governor Grey Davis endorsed the medical use of marijuana in a radio
interview. He said; "Well, I'm going to work with our Attorney General,
Bill Lockyer. I have compassion for people who are sick and are properly
using marijuana under our law. Nine states have a law that allow for
marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes. So I'm going to work with
Attorney General Lockyer to see if we can't find a way to get on the same
page with the Federal Government. They're entitled to have a different
scheme at the federal level, but clearly we ought to find some way to have
an accommodation. I mean, both the State and Federal Governments work for
the same people, the American people, and we have to find a way to get on
the same page." |
P | |
|
| 2002 Sept. 17 |
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) issues a press release, announcing that "an 'Open Letter to Parents About Marijuana' will appear in nearly 300 newspapers nationwide." Signed by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and 17 national organizations, the letter warns parents that marijuana is a serious drug with serious consequences for young users. Representatives of these
organizations appear at a press conference with the Drug Czar and the
Surgeon General and urge parents to learn more about marijuana and give
their kids the facts. |
|
|
C |
| 2002 Sept. 19 |
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reverses a ruling by the U.S. District Court, which declared unconstitutional a congressional amendment that prevented the city [Washington, D.C.] from spending money to put a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot. The three appellate justices (David
S. Tatel, Merrick B. Garland and Stephen F. Williams) said their decision
"will be more fully explained in an opinion to be filed at a later date."
|
|
N | |
| 2002 Sept. 19 |
A federal agent approached Steve
McWilliams, operator of the Shelter From the Storm
Collective in San Diego, and handed him a letter notifying him that he
faced federal prosecution if he did not shut down his garden. |
|
|
C |
| 2002 Sept 23 |
Hundreds of protesters from all over
California gather "to make a stance against the federal government's
recent raids of medical marijuana suppliers." Nearly 30 advocates for
medical marijuana are arrested and cited for public disturbance during a
protest at the federal courthouse in Sacramento. Two dozen demonstrators gather at
the White House, "holding signs and chanting slogans demanding an end to
what they see as Bush administration interference with state laws
governing marijuana use." Two people are arrested "after handcuffing
themselves to the White House fence to protest recent federal government
raids on 'medical marijuana' cooperatives in California." |
P | |
|
| 2002 Sept 23 |
John Walters, director of the National Drug Control Policy, in a speech in Daytona, Florida, said his immediate focus is battling "the lie of medical marijuana." As for campaigns in some states to
legalize the drug for treating medical conditions, such as glaucoma and to
stop nausea, Walters said, "It's not going to happen, not on my watch." |
|
|
C |
| 2002 Sept 24 |
The Wo/Men's Alliance For Medical Marijuana, Santa Cruz, CA, went on the offensive asking a federal judge to order the return of 167 pot plants seized in a 9/5/02 raid by federal DEA agents. The motion, filed in San Jose, was based on a states' rights constitutional defense of California's medical marijuana law that is expected to find its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The federal government will fight
the motion "tooth and nail," said Richard Meyer, spokesman for the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration, who said he believed the request to be
the first of its kind. |
P | |
|
| 2002 Sept 24 |
Drug Task Force agents with a federal warrant raid the San Diego home of the medical marijuana clinic Shelter From The Storm and Steve McWilliams and uproot his garden of 26 plants, also seizing "about 10 pounds of loose marijuana." No arrests are made at this time. Charges are later filed against McWilliams. After pleading guilty, he is sentenced on 4/28/03 to six months home detention. DEA spokesman Donald Thornhill Jr.
tells the press "He claims this is medicine. From our perspective, there's
no medical use for this. This has been on the agenda for a while. It's the
politics of the time." |
|
|
C |
| 2002 Sept. 30 |
DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson replies to a letter from California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, which criticized recent DEA raids on medical marijuana dispensories, and requested a meeting. The letter from the DEA
Administrator agreed to a meeting "at a mutually convenient time and
place," but noted: "As long as marijuana remains a schedule I controlled
substance, DEA will continue in its enforcement efforts targeting groups
and individuals involved in its distribution." |
|
|
C |
| 2002 Oct 2 |
"New research by the Centre for Hunter Mental Health Services and the University of California has revealed that smoking cannabis can create the same effects on the brain as a schizophrenic episode." Dr. Martin Cohen, the Centre's Sr.
Registrar in Psychiatry, told ABC News "People who use cannabis heavily
develop cognitive deficits, thinking problems, which are really similar to
the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. It's suggesting that there's a
common underlying pathology and that is then translated into an increased
risk of adolescents that use cannabis developing schizophrenia." |
|
|
C |
| 2002 Oct 4 |
Reversing a lower court ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled the Constitution gives Congress exclusive power to define the district's legislative authority, giving Congress the right to block District of Columbia residents from voting on whether to legalize marijuana for medical use. Voters had passed a referendum
legalizing marijuana in 1998, but Congress, which appropriates money for
district elections, blocked the effort through legislation. The Marijuana
Policy Project then challenged the constitutionality of the act by suing
the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics. |
|
|
C |
| 2002 Oct 8 |
Jon Gettman announced the formation of The Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis, "the largest coalition in the history of drug policy reform," which launched an extensive legal and scientific challenge to the Drug Enforcement Administration's prohibition of medical cannabis use in the United States.The Coalition's petition argues that
"in their review of the Gettman petition neither DEA nor HHS gave any
consideration to marijuana's accepted medical use in the United States,
its safety for use, its relative abuse potential or its relative
dependence liability, as called for by the Controlled Substances Act
(CSA)." This new cannabis rescheduling petition addresses all of these
issues with new scientific findings that have not been reviewed in prior
proceedings. |
P | |
|
| 2002 Oct 9 |
Two medical marijuana users file suit against federal authorities "in an effort to try to stop government raids on pot used by sick patients." The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland, argues U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Drug Enforcement Administration director Asa Hutchinson are violating the Fifth, Ninth and 10th amendments as well as a commerce clause by cracking down on medical marijuana use. Plaintiffs Angel McClary Raich of Oakland and Diane Monson of Oroville say they require medical marijuana to help ease the pain of their illnesses. Raich suffers from wasting syndrome, nausea and a brain tumor, and Monson endures chronic pain and spasms, said attorney Robert Raich, who is Angel's husband. Robert Raich said he will seek an
injunction prohibiting the federal government from bothering medical
marijuana patients and their growers. The suit charges federal raids on
medical marijuana growers are threatening people's health and their lives.
It also argues the federal government has no jurisdiction for crackdowns
within California, since the pot is grown and distributed within the state
and does not involve interstate commerce. |
P | |
|
| 2002 Oct 9 |
San Jose Police Chief William Lansdowne "yanked his officers off the Drug Enforcment Administration [DEA] task force that raided a Santa Cruz medicinal marijuana club a month ago. Lansdowne said his four officers and one sergeant have better things to do -- such as tackle the methamphetamine epidemic -- than harass local pot clubs, which are operating within state law. 'I think the priorities are out of
sync at the federal level,' said Lansdowne, who said he agress the state's
voters made the right decision in legalizing marijuana for medical use
under regulated circumstances." |
P | |
|
| 2002 Oct. 29 |
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals rules 3-0 that "the federal government may not revoke a doctor's
license to dispense medications, or investigate a physician, for
recommending marijuana to sick patients." |
P | |
|
| 2002 Nov. 5 |
“San Francisco voters passed
Proposition S by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. Placed on the ballot by four
members of the city Board of Supervisors after a wave of federal raids on
medical marijuana dispensaries, the measure asked voters if the city
should explore growing and distributing marijuana for seriously ill
patients.” |
P | |
|
| 2002 Nov. 5 |
Two state propositions that
attempted to meld the medical marijuana issue with general use
decriminalization failed. Nevada Question 9, which attempted to
decriminalize up to 3 oz. of cannabis was defeated 61% to 39%. Arizona
Proposition 203, which would have “replaced criminal penalties for
possession of small amounts of marijuana with a civil fine, set up a
state-run distribution system to provide free medical marijuana to
patients, and made a number of other changes in the state’s drug laws” was
defeated 57% to 43%. |
|
|
C |
| 2002 Nov. 5 |
A report by the British Lung Foundation concluded that “there is an increased negative impact on those who smoke cannabis compared to those who do not smoke at all.” The report also concluded that “3-4 Cannabis cigarettes a day are associated with the same evidence of acute and chronic bronchitis and the same degree of damage to the bronchial mucosa as 20 or more tobacco cigarettes a day.” The Foundation issued a
recommendation “that further research is undertaken to take into account
the increased potency of today’s cannabis and to establish what link (if
any) there is between COPD and cannabis smoking.” |
|
|
C |
| 2002 Nov. 5 |
A report by the British Lung Foundation was questioned in a press release issued by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup stated in the release “The bottom line is that there exists no epidemiological or aggregate clinical data showing higher rates of lung cancer in people who smoke marijuana.” Stroup also noted in the release
“Any risk presented by marijuana smoking falls within the ambit of choice
we permit the individual in a free society. We do not suggest that
marijuana is totally harmless or that it cannot be abused. That is true
for all drugs, including those that are legal.” |
P | |
|
| 2002 Nov. 19 |
"The Sonoma County, CA, city of
Sebastopol wants the DEA to stop interfering with medical marijuana. It
took action to achieve that goal Tuesday [Nov. 19], when the city council
passed a resolution making it police department policy not to report such
cases to the DEA and affirming the city's support of patients and
providers operating under the state's medical marijuana law. Under Sonoma
County medical marijuana guidelines, patients or their caregivers can grow
up to 99 plants per year in a 100 square foot space." |
P | |
|
| 2002 Nov. 22 |
The California Supreme Court ruling "that enhanced medical marijuana users' and growers' rights has, for the first time in this county, resulted in dismissal of a court case," after the two-year-old marijuana cultivation case against Whale Gulch, CA residents Bill Matthews and Kathy Honzik was dismissed. The July Supreme Court ruling, People vs Mower, shifted the burden of proving whether or not marijuana possession is legitimate to the prosecution, making such cases much more difficult to prosecute. The ruling 'changed the whole
dynamic of this case,' said Public Defender Jeff Thoma. 'Until Mower came
down, the D.A.'s Office wanted to go ahead.' Assistant District Attorney
Myron Sawicki agreed the Supreme Court ruling made a difference, which was
why his office did not file an argument in response to the Mower motion."
|
P | |
|
| 2002 Nov. 24 |
"Canadian doctors have refused to
support Canada's Medical Marijuana Access Regulations (MMAR) applications
after provincial colleges of physicians and surgeons across the country
told doctors not to sign the required forms." |
|
|
C |
| 2002 Nov. 29 |
A report released by the U.S.
General Accounting Office said that in four of the states that allow
medical use of marijuana "the laws have had a minimal impact on
crime-fighting. The report also noted "only a small fraction of the people
[0.05% of the population] in Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska used marijuana for
medical purposes." |
|
N | |
| 2002 Dec. 10 |
Valerie and Mike Corral, operators of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, raided by the DEA in September, were deputized today by the city of Santa Cruz. Attorney Ben Rice, who represents the couple, told the San Jose Mercury News that the "deputy" status allows the Corrals to carry a controlled substance "because they are enforcing local drug laws -- in this case, the city of Santa Cruz's ordinance regulating the way medicinal marijuana can be distributed." Richard Meyer, a DEA spokesman, said
after the council's vote; "No one in the United States is allowed to
distribute illegal drugs -- period." |
P | |
|
| 2002 Dec. 19 |
A Quebec judge ended a drug trafficking trial today, dropping all charges against two activists who dispensed the drug for medical use at a Montreal Compassion Club. Quebec Court Judge Gilles Cadieux, who had postponed making a decision on the case a number of times, said the absence of a legal source of marijuana takes away the right to life and liberty. Marijuana activists in Montreal
announced the start-up of a medical marijuana website delivery system
shortly afterwards. |
P | | |
| 2003 Jan. 9 |
The Canadian court ruling of Hitzig v. Canada declared Canada's Medical
Marijuana Access Regulations unconstitutional. An appeal was filed on
2/10/03. |
P | |
|
| 2003 Jan. 31 |
The so-called "guru of pot,"
columnist Ed Rosenthal, was convicted of growing cannabis. Evidence that
he was deputized by the City of Oakland was dis-allowed at trial. 7 of the
12 jurors apologized, stating they would not have convicted him had they
known the "full story." He is later fined $1,000 and sentenced to one day
in jail (time served) and three years Probation. |
|
|
C |
| 2003 Feb. 4 |
Medical Marijuana regulations
permitting 48 plants (for caregivers) or 24 plants (for patients) was
passed 6-3 by the San Diego City Council. |
P | | |
| 2003 Feb. 27 |
Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative director Jeff Jones was sentenced today to 3 months in jail on federal charges of jury tampering. He was ordered to report to jail on March 3, 2003. Jones was arrested for distributing
literature outside the federal courthouse during jury selection for the
medical marijuana cultivation trial of Bryan Epis. |
|
C | |
| 2003 March 3 |
Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative director Jeff Jones was ordered to report to court today, where U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Nowinski, who had sentenced Jones to 3-months in jail for jury tampering in a medical marijuana case, recanted and vacated the three-month sentence, sentencing him instead to 3 years of unsupervised probation. Judge Nowinski said he had given the
matter "a great deal of thought" over the weekend, and concluded that
Jones should be resentenced. "Passions are very high on this issue," said
the Judge, "frankly, way too high." |
P | |
|
| 2003 May 22 |
"Maryland Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich signed medical marijuana legislation into law today, marking the first time that a Republican governor has signed a bill to protect medical marijuana patients from jail. The action came despite enormous pressure from White House Drug Czar John Walters to veto the measure. Maryland law presently provides
penalties of up to a year in state prison and a $1,000 fine for marijuana
possession. Under the new law, patients using marijuana to treat the
symptoms of serious illness such as cancer, AIDS, and Crohn's disease will
be able to use 'medical necessity' as a defense against marijuana
possession charges. If successful, the most severe punishment they could
receive would be a $100 fine." |
P | |
|
| 2003 June 4 |
Ed Rosenthal, convicted 1/31/03 for
cultivating marijuana, received "the lightest possible sentence, a day in
jail [plus three years Probation and fined $1,000], which Rosenthal had
already served after his February 2002 arrest. Saying Rosenthal had
believed -- erroneously, but reasonably -- that he was acting legally,
[judge] Breyer concluded that the 'extraoradinary, unique circumstances of
this case' justified an exemption from the usual five-year minimum term
and federal sentencing guidelines." |
|
N | |
| 2003 July 3 |
"The U.S. attorney's office filed notice with the federal appeals court in San Francisco that it intends to appeal U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer's decision to spare Rosenthal from a prison term for his federal cultivation and conspiracy convictions last month. The notice was dated last Thursday [July 3, 2003] and was obtained by reporters Monday. Prosecutors did not explain the grounds on which they intend to appeal. The notice was filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco." [Ed Rosenthal was convicted 1/31/03
for cultivating marijuana, and sentenced June 4, 2003 to one day in jail
time served, three years Probation, and fined $1,000.] |
|
|
C |
| 2003 July 23 |
Despite the vote [that allowed the
DEA to continue raiding and arresting seriously ill medical marijuana
patients and caregivers], "patients and advocates were cheered by the
growth in the number of congressional allies since the last House vote on
medical marijuana in 1998 -- and by the fact that more than two thirds of
House Democrats voted to protect patients." |
P | |
|
| 2003 July 23 |
"The U.S. House of Representatives
voted today to allow the Bush administration's Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) to continue raiding and arresting seriously ill
medical marijuana patients and caregivers in states that allow the medical
use of marijuana. The overall vote was 152 in favor, 273 opposed, and 10
not voting." |
|
|
C |
| 2003 Aug. 22 |
Researchers publish a study in the
Annals of Internal Medicine which concluded
that there is "no major short-term harmful effects, and possibly some
beneficial effects" from using marijuana medically in HIV-infected
patients taking protease inhibitors. |
P | |
|
| 2003 Aug. 26 |
Canadian HIV-patient Jari Dvorak
(62) became the first Canadian patient to receive government-grown
marijuana. He is "one of several hundred Canadians authorized to use
medical marijuana for pain, nausea and other symptoms of catastrophic or
chronic illness." Qualified patients are approved through Health Canada,
and the marijuana is distributed through the patients' physicians. |
P | |
|
| 2003 Sept. 1 |
Pharmacies in the Netherlands become
legally obliged to stock and dispense medical cannabis, as well as
advising users on the merits of brewing the mixture of cannabis into a
tea. |
P | |
|
| 2003 Oct. 7 |
The Ontario Court of Appeals issues
a ruling that expanded the ability of patients to obtain medical marijuana
but affirmed that possession by non-patients remains a crime. |
P | |
|
| 2003 Oct. 12 |
California Gov. Grey Davis signs
S.B. 420 into law, which will create an ID card for medical marijuana
users to show law enforcement officers. The measure is designed so police
can sort out legitimate users from those taking advantage of the law for
recreational use. It is a voluntary program. |
P | |
|
| 2003 Oct. 14 |
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an
appeal of the 9th Circuit Courts decision in Conant v. Walters, turning down "the Bush
administration's request to consider whether the federal government can
punish doctors for recommending or perhaps even talking about the benefits
of the drug [medical marijuana] to sick patients." The Supreme Court's
refusal to hear the appeal keeps the permanent injunction in place. |
P | |
|
| 2003 Nov. 5 |
"A resolution on the medical use of marijuana was approved in November 2003 by the Union for Reformed Judaism (formerly Union of American Hebrew Congregations). The resolution stated: "THEREFORE, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations resolves to:
|
P | |
|
| 2003 Nov. 24 |
"A federal judge cited a 'lesser harm doctrine' when he ruled Monday [11/24/03] that three men who pleaded guilty to running a West Hollywood medical marijuana center [Scott Imler, Jeff Yablan, Jeffrey Farrington] would receive no prison time. U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz
expressed admiration for the men's work in helping sick patients during
the sentencing hearing in which he ordered they serve only one year of
probation and up to 250 hours of community service." (Click here to read more.) |
P | |
|
| 2003 Nov. 26 |
"A confidential poll of the Deans of
all 126 medical schools accredited by the Association of American Medical
Colleges [AAMC] found that over 60% of the Deans who responded
believed that physicians should have the legal right to recommend or
prescribe smoking marijuana to relieve symptoms. |
P | |
|
| 2003 Dec. 5 |
A study presented at a meeting of
the British Thoracic Society in London found that "smoking cannabis on a
regular basis actually depletes your lung of protective antioxidant
substances...and this may have chronic long-term implications for young
individuals. |
|
|
C |
| 2003 Dec. 16 |
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, ruled that people who use marijuana for
medical purposes cannot be prosecuted by the federal government so long as
they grow their own or obtain it from other growers without charge. To
read more, click here. To see the full ruling
in pdf format, click here |
P | |
|
| 2004 Jan. 13 |
"Two medical marijuana patients were
seized by federal agents in a California state courtroom after the local
prosecutor “lured” the couple’s defense counsel into the judge’s chambers
to dismiss the state charges filed against them. The government has
accused them of conspiracy to manufacture more than 1,000 plants." |
|
|
C |
| 2004 Feb. 26 |
"The federal appeals court here [San Francisco] has refused to reconsider its ruling that allows Californians to grow and use marijuana to treat their illnesses. The Bush administration had asked the court, for the Ninth Circuit, to hold a new hearing on that ruling, issued by a three-judge panel in December on a lawsuit filed by two women with chronic illnesses. But in an order issued Wednesday [2/25/04] and made public on Thursday [2/26/04], the court denied the request." [Editor's Note: The U.S. government
has 90-days to appeal this case to the U.S. Supreme Court.] |
P | |
|
| 2004 March 22 |
"Canada plans to make
government-certified marijuana available in local pharmacies, a move that
would make it only the second country in the world to allow the direct
sale of medical marijuana. Officials are organizing a pilot project in the
British Columbia province modeled on a year-old program in the
Netherlands." |
P | |
|
| 2004 April 20 |
The U.S. government's Department of
Justice filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of the 9th Circuit
Court's decision in Raich v. Ashcroft. A
decision about whether or not it will hear this case is expected during
the summer of 2004. |
|
|
C |
| 2004 April 21 |
"A Santa Cruz medical marijuana collective shut down by federal agents two years ago can grow and distribute marijuana for its patients while its civil lawsuit against the federal government is decided by the courts, a federal judge ruled Wednesday [4/21/04]. The ruling by U.S. District Judge
Jeremy Fogel in San Jose marks the first time a court has granted a
medical marijuana organization the right to grow the federally outlawed
herb without interference from federal drug agents." |
P | |
|
| 2004 May 7 |
"The Medical Board of California marked a milestone for California consumers and physicians by adopting a statement clarifying that the recommendation of medical marijuana by physicians in their medical practice will not have any effect against their physician's license if they follow good medical practice. 'The intent of the statement is to
clearly and succinctly reassure physicians that if they use the same
proper care in recommending medical marijuana to their patients as they
would any other medication or treatment, their activity will be viewed by
the Medical Board just as any other appropriate medical intervention,'
said Hazem Chehabi, M.D., immediate past president of the board. 'This is
consistent with the board's mission to protect and advance the interests
of California patients.'" |
P | |
|
| 2004 May 24 |
Vermont passes S.76, which is
allowed into law by its Governor. This makes Vermont the 10th state in the
U.S. to decriminalize marijuana for medical purposes - joining Alaska,
California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, and
Washington - and only the second to do so legislatively, with Hawaii being
the first. |
P | |
|
| 2004 June 28 |
The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will take the medical marijuana case known as Raich v. Ashcroft. "The court agreed to hear the Bush administration's appeal of a case it lost last year involving two California women who say marijuana is the only drug that helps alleviate their chronic pain and other medical problems. The high court will hear the case
sometime next winter. It was among eight new cases the court added to its
calendar for the coming term. The current term is expected to end this
week." |
|
N | |
| 2005 June 6 |
"Federal authorities may prosecute sick people who smoke pot on doctors' orders, the Supreme Court ruled Monday [6/6/05], concluding that state medical marijuana laws don't protect users from a federal ban on the drug. The decision is a stinging defeat for marijuana advocates who had successfully pushed 10 states to allow the drug's use to treat various illnesses. Justice John Paul Stevens, writing
the 6-3 decision, said that Congress could change the law to allow medical
use of marijuana." |
C | ||