Pubdate: Wed, 29 Oct 2014
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2014 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Note: Rarely prints out-of-state LTEs.
Author: Alice O'Leary Randall
Note: Guest columnist Alice O'Leary-Randall of Sarasota is the widow 
of Robert C. Randall, the founder of the medical cannabis movement. 
She is a retired hospice nurse.
Page: A13

AFTER ACCIDENTAL START, MEDICAL MARIJUANA BECOMES A MOVEMENT

Floridians have been bombarded with press coverage of Amendment 2. 
Yet, for all the noise, there are important aspects of this 
discussion that have barely been touched upon, including the 
beginning of the medical-marijuana movement. How many Floridians are 
aware that a native son of the Sunshine State is the father of this 
movement? His name was Robert C. Randall - my late husband.

Robert was born and raised in Sarasota. He was diagnosed with 
glaucoma at a young age. In the early 1970s, he accidentally 
discovered that his vision improved when he used cannabis. In those 
days, not many people knew about the medical uses of cannabis. We 
were convinced Robert had made a singular discovery. Imagine our 
surprise when, just a few weeks after our arrest in August 1975, we 
obtained a document from the National Institute on Drug Abuse titled 
"Marihuana[sic] and Health." It was an annual report that was sent to 
Congress, and inside we found a small section called "Therapeutic 
Uses." Glaucoma was prominently featured.

We decided to fight the misdemeanor charges against us, even though 
doing so was risky and expensive. Paying a fine would make the 
charges go away, but Robert's glaucoma would remain.

We set out on a journey that became a lifetime. We began by securing 
legal access for Robert through a dual process of fighting the 
criminal charges and administratively petitioning for permission to 
legally use federal supplies of marijuana. Both actions were 
successful. Robert was found not guilty by reason of medical 
necessity. He began receiving federal supplies of marijuana in 
November 1976. He became "One in 213 million" - the only individual 
allowed to use marijuana medically. And he began to speak out about 
marijuana's medical utility to whoever would listen, and plenty of people did.

For the next 20 years, we did everything we could to remove the 
federal prohibitions against marijuana's medical use. We were 
remarkably successful. Between 1977 and 1980, working with patients 
in other states, we helped enact 34 state laws that recognized 
marijuana's medical utility. (Florida was among the first states.) 
These laws ultimately fell into disuse after federal authorities 
released synthetic delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, now marketed as Marinol.

But the movement was only slowed, not stopped. In the late 1980s, we 
convinced the chief administrative law judge of the Drug Enforcement 
Administration that marijuana has accepted medical use. His ruling 
was overturned by the administrator of the DEA. In the 1990s, we 
created a program called Marijuana AIDS Research Service and helped 
hundreds of AIDS patients, with the cooperation of their local 
doctors, apply for permission to medically use federal supplies of cannabis.

The federal government's response was brutal, shutting down the only 
program in the country that allowed patients to use cannabis, the 
so-called compassionate-use program that was created in 1978.

It was this action that led to passage of the nation's first ballot 
initiative in 1996. Citizens in California, frustrated by federal 
intransigence and maliciousness, took it upon themselves to help the 
seriously ill of their state. California voters overwhelmingly 
enacted Proposition 215. The federal agencies watched helplessly as 
state after state passed medical-marijuana laws. The DEA tried to 
shut things down, but it was too late. Too many people knew the 
truth: Cannabis has medical value. It is confirmed in history dating 
back 5,000 years and in modern research that is exploding in volume.

Today, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis 
for medical use. Ten states, including Florida, allow the use of one 
cannabis ingredient, cannabidiol, derived from strains such as 
Charlotte's Web or Mary's Healing Heart.

On Tuesday, Floridians will have the opportunity to expand legal 
access to the whole of the cannabis plant. I encourage them to do so 
as much for the future potential of this drug as for its current use 
by patients with multiple sclerosis, autoimmune disorders, chronic 
pain and other ailments. Free this plant of the stigma that has 
stymied our efforts to learn about its vast resources. Just say know.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom