Celebrating 420 and Project 50
Medical Marijuana Memory Blog #37
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Happy 420, everyone! It’s the high (ahem) holy day of marijuana tokers. Why? It’s a long story that dates back to the 1970s, which, as it happens, so does the medical cannabis movement. So, that made it seem like a good day to revisit the beginnings of the medical cannabis movement and the goal of Project 50, especially since there are many new subscribers to the Medical Marijuana Memory Blog here on Substack.
People are always amazed when they hear I have been involved in the medical cannabis issue for almost 50 years. In August 1975, my late husband, Robert Randall, and I were busted for marijuana cultivation and possession. Thankfully, it was only a misdemeanor charge. We could have paid a fine and been done with it. But there was a complication. Robert had glaucoma, and cannabis was saving his sight. Undoubtedly, we would break the law and possess marijuana again. With the proverbial target on our backs, the odds were good for a second arrest, a third, and then…. We realized we had to stand and fight. The die was cast. We didn’t know it at the time, but the medical marijuana movement was conceived with that decision.
Using the novel defense of medical necessity, Robert was found not guilty of marijuana possession. He also managed to secure access to the federal government’s marijuana to treat his glaucoma. He was the only—yes, the only—person in the country allowed to use marijuana legally. It was a huge news story because at that time, there was no medical marijuana in the U.S. A lexicographer once told me it was Robert who coined the term “medical marijuana.” Before 1976, it did not exist. The federal government had removed cannabis from the U.S. Pharmacopeia in 1942, and by the mid-1970s, it had been removed from America’s memory.
Robert’s unique status as America’s only legal medical marijuana patient lasted for a couple of years as we slowly but surely began to build the medical cannabis movement. Others using marijuana medically, albeit illegally, found their way to us, patients with glaucoma, cancer, multiple sclerosis (MS), Crohn’s disease, and more.
In New Mexico, a young cancer patient, Lynn Pierson, single-handedly lobbied for the nation’s first law that recognized the medical utility of cannabis in treating cancer and glaucoma. That law was overwhelmingly passed in February 1978. It authorized the state Department of Health to secure federal marijuana for a statewide program of compassion and research. It was a reasoned step in the right direction. In other states, legislators introduced similar bills and quickly started passing laws. By 1981, thirty-four states had enacted the New Mexico-style bill. The federal government efficiently blocked the implementation of all but five.
Now, if you’re thinking, “Wow! I never knew that,” you are not alone. Medical cannabis reform between 1976 and 1996 has been somewhat forgotten. There is no sinister plot involved in this oversight. It’s a matter of timing. The first two decades of medical cannabis reform— 1976 to 1996 —occurred before the World Wide Web emerged. As a result, most news from that period was hard copy newsprint and VHS videotape. When the internet burst on the scene around 1992, everything started to shift to digital, and by 1996, the year California’s Prop 215 passed, the internet was well-established and growing exponentially. Online information about the medical cannabis movement was contemporary, while its history was packed in boxes of faded, yellowing paper and deteriorating tape. Key aspects of this critical public health issue were simply not available.
This became apparent to me during the COVID pandemic. I was writing an article and wanted a quote from U.S. v Randall, Robert’s case from 1976. When I tried to find it online, the only complete copies were behind paywalls. Then, I searched for information on Lynn Pierson and others from those early days. It was painfully unrewarding. I realized the history of the medical cannabis movement was in grave danger of being forgotten.
That led me to establish Project 50: Celebrating 50 Years of the Medical Cannabis Movement. The goal is to organize and digitize as much information as possible from those early days before the medical marijuana movement's 50th anniversary, which will be in November 2026.
I started with our 1998 autobiography, Marijuana Rx: The Patients’ Fight for Medicinal Pot, reworking it into Marijuana Rx: The Early Years (1976-1996). It is entirely digital with links to documents, news articles, videos, and more. It is available for free on my website. So, Happy 420, everyone. Please stop by my website and get your free 420 gift, a gift of history that keeps on giving. And stay tuned. There’s more coming! ❧
Thanks for your expertise! I’ve been looking for more information since receiving my medical marijuana card.
Found this cute book called Bud Buds Cannabis Handbook with fun illustrations and what each strain helps with.