All steem dollars made from this post will be donated to Dr. Galt to continue his mission.

In recent years there have been a growing number of people willing to risk rape cages and even death to get people, who are suffering, outlawed natural medicines. Lately, I have had a few conversations with someone who has taken this risk and is supplying people, who are suffering, with these outlawed natural medicines. He agreed to be interviewed if I kept his identity anonymous. For this interview, I will refer to him as Dr. Galt.

But first, some background

I have known Dr. Galt for some years but never knew he was a cannabis caregiver until recently. We both currently live in states that do not have medical cannabis laws and I wanted to get to know what he does, why he does it, and if it’s worth the risk. The following is the transcripts from that interview:

PB: For the purpose of this interview I will refer to you as Dr. Galt since you are protecting your anonymity. Is that OK?

DG: I wouldn’t call myself a doctor but OK.

PB: So what the fuck man, I’ve known you for numerous years and I’m just finding out that you do this.

DG: (smirks) I keep this kind of close, but you seemed concerned about your Uncle, so I offered to help.

PB: Yea, thanks. I wish I wouldn’t have hesitated, maybe he would still be around.

DG: Hey, my condolences on your loss. You never know, but you didn’t even know if he would have taken it, let alone if it would have helped. He went pretty quickly.

PB: I know, but I feel like I flinched. That indoctrinated fear kicked in, that fear of being busted or the “what will my family think of me,” shame game. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to interview you. Like how do you overcome that fear?

DG: Hey, I still flinch every once in a while. Don’t be so hard on yourself.

PB: Yea, thanks, but how do you do it? What keeps you going even if you flinch?

DG: For me, it’s a moral thing. Whether it’s illegal or not, the moral thing to do is to help those who are suffering. In the end, I’d rather be moral than legal.

PB: So you think people have positive moral obligations to others?

DG: Maybe moral isn’t the right word, maybe it’s ethics. I get confused. But no, I don’t think you have an obligation to help others, but I do think that prohibiting people from freely helping each other is immoral, or unethical, or whatever. It’s wrong. To use force to prohibit people from freely or voluntarily interacting with each other is wrong and I am tired of watching people needlessly suffer. I know in my heart that I am doing the right thing, the moral thing, the ethical thing.

PB: Cool…so what got you started? What event triggered this moral crusade?

DG: It wasn’t just one thing for me. It was a series of steps, I guess you’d call them. It’s kind of a long story.

PB: I have time.

DG: OK. Well, around 2003, my father was diagnosed with a certain form of leukemia and he began chemotherapy and for the first few years it seemed to keep it in check. Then he kind of plateaued and they upped his treatment to try to get in into remission which made him very sick and nauseous to the point he wasn’t holding down food and lost his appetite. Even though he was on various anti-nausea medicines, he was losing weight rapidly and still couldn’t keep food down.

One of my siblings and I decided to get my father some canna-butter. During our teenage stoner days, we had always heard that cannabis was good for glaucoma and nausea. We procured some from a friend of a friend. My father was so desperate that he decided to give it a try. He would spread some on a piece of toast, wait an hour or two then eat. It worked like a charm. He gained back his weight and strength. His leukemia improved a bit, the doctors backed off on the chemo and his appetite returned. He stopped using the butter regularly but kept it for the occasional bout of nausea.

About the same time, I was diagnosed with COPD and an inflammatory disease that was affecting 90% of my joints. My doctor started me on methotrexate, which made me feel like I had the flu. I would begin to feel better the day before I had to take my next dose. It was like getting the flu every week for six months straight. It also was doing nothing to improve my condition. He wanted to put me on injectables, but because of my COPD and the greater risk of lung infections, this was not an option. So then he doubled the dose of methotrexate, which made me feel even sicker. When that didn’t work we started on remicade, which was given intravenously every month to month and a half. Again, I did not respond to the treatment and felt like I constantly had the flu and would get headaches. He doubled the dose and when that didn’t work he added methotrexate. At the same time, to manage the pain I was in constantly, I was on ever increasing doses and stronger painkillers. I went from acetaminophen to ibuprofen to naproxen, then we tries Cymbalta, which only made me suicidal, then it was prednisone and finally the opiates such as Vicodin and oxycodone. While the painkillers did help with the pain, I never responded to the other treatments. This went on for seven years.

In the meantime, my father’s condition slowly deteriorate until he made the decision to stop his treatment altogether. He was in his late seventies and he felt that it was his time. My mother and I were there when he passed in his home as he wanted. I sang him a song that he used to sing to me before I went to sleep when I was a kid, “You Are My Sunshine” while my mother recited the rosary. I watched his last breath, felt his last pulse and wiped his last tear. I’m sorry. I need a minute.

PB: It’s Ok. Take your time.

DG: (Deep breath) Thank you. Anyways, it was about this time that I started searching for natural remedies for my condition and I ran across a post on some forum saying that this guy was using Rick Simpson Oil to treat the same condition I had. I was a bit skeptical. I had been seeing a lot of supposed cures for my condition: fish oils, other plant extracts, vitamins, and supplements. None of them had worked. So I began researching RSO and reading through all the forums. I was reading about all these different kinds of cancer that were being cured and a host of other conditions that this cannabis extract was helping to manage and then I ran across someone who claimed to have been cured of the same leukemia that my father had. I began to cry. I flashed back to when my father was using the canna-butter and how he began to get better and stronger. I didn’t think twice when he stopped using it since, as far as I knew, it did its job warding off the nausea so he could eat. I got so angry that this use as a cancer treatment wasn’t common knowledge. Even if it didn’t cure his cancer but just gave him an extra year or two, or gave him a better quality of life, at least it should have been an option. It pissed me off and still does to this day.

That was when I decided to try it for myself. I started a closet grow with some bag seed I got from a friend of a friend. I didn’t tell any of my family. I just did a quiet grow in a closet while my condition kept deteriorating. There were times when I would have flare up and I could not stand long enough to take a shower, so I would sit in the tub, but then I would need a family member to lift me up because it was too painful to stand. It was embarrassing. I needed people to dress me in the morning so I could go to work. I would only take enough painkillers to be able to function. Every day, I would secretly check on my grow, it was my only hope. I also researched a lot on how to grow, life cycle, light and dark cycles. Cannabis is a fascinating plant.

PB: Yea, it is. Why were you keeping it a secret?

DG: Well, women are pretty risk adverse, at least mine was, and we had kids. I thought it would make her too nervous and I didn’t need to deal with all that worry, plus everything I was going through. It’s not like I wasn’t worried too. I heard all the horror stories of SWAT raids and busts. Also, it’s not like we could afford an ounce of top shelf chronic, let alone a pound of it. I just thought if I could get through this grow, make the RSO and if it improved my condition, then I would have a better leg to stand on with my family.

PB: So then what happened?

DG: Well, harvest came and I dried and cured. I even kept the sugar leaf. It wasn’t the best grow, low yield, fluffy buds, but not bad for a first grow with the limited space, lack of ventilation, and money. I harvested a bit early too, but there was a lot I still needed to learn. Anyways, I took small amounts and tried different ways of making RSO with what I had on hand. I couldn’t afford a separate rice cooker or a coffee warmer. We were poor. I could no longer work and had applied for disability. Some of my flare ups left me pretty much bedridden for a week at a time, sometimes two, and my soon to be ex had gotten a job and left me with the kids.

PB: Wait, your wife bailed on you? Left you with the kids?

DG: Yes, it’s complicated. When you’re in constant pain and you don’t feel like other people are stepping up like they should, your temper gets a little short. I mean, I took care of her for ten years. She didn’t work, she was a stay-at-home mom and… anyways, I don’t want to get into it right now.

PB: Fair enough.

DG: So eventually I figured out a way to do it with what I had on hand.

PB: And did it work? Did it help?

DG: Oh yea. I had just gotten both my kids to school and I went home and pulled out what I had made. I put a little bit on my finger, just the size of a grain of rice, like they tell you to start with, and put it in my mouth then swallowed. I sat on the couch and waited. Just when I thought I might have failed again, it started kicking in and soon I was couch locked. It was the first time I felt way too high. I started to have a panic, but I worked my way through it. I also have PTSD and I am prone to panic attacks. Anyways, I started getting pain relief. My joints hadn’t felt that good in years, especially my hands. There were times in the past when I just wanted to chop off my hands so I wouldn’t have to deal with the pain.

One of the problems I had was how long I’d be high; it would be like a solid eight to ten hours. I have kids, man. I need to be a functioning parent. So I would take a dose around 8pm, get the kids to bed, it would kick in around 10pm and I would be good to go by 6am when I needed to get up and get the kids to school. It was better than nothing and the relief lasted most of the day. It even began clearing up my psoriasis, which nothing else ever did.

PB: Wow, that sounds incredible. So is that when you started being a caregiver to others?

DG: I wish but no. I was still very cautious and I was also having trouble with panic attacks while on it. I don’t know if you have ever had a panic attack but they are horrible. So when I would get one, it would put me off the RSO for a couple of days till the pain was too unbearable and I would get back on it. I yo-yoed for a while and then I ran out.

PB: Well that sucks.

DG: Well, yea, and stupid me was waffling about doing another grow. The fear of getting busted and losing my children was tremendous. You know, people all the time come home from work have a few beers or a couple of glasses of wine and get tipsy around their kids, but be high around your kids and you are the worst parent ever. It took a while to get over that fear but eventually I did.

PB: What did it for you?

DG: Time and experience, really. When I got off the RSO and all the pain came back and I compared how I was functioning then to when I was on the RSO, I figured my children needed a parent who was able to be up and around all the time, even if he was a little high, than a parent who was bedridden and couldn’t dress himself.

PB: Ok, so you decided to do another grow and then what happened?

DG: Well, I was still concerned about the panics I would have while on RSO so I began researching other strains and different techniques and recipes. I eventually found a couple of strains that work well together and I don’t get the panic attacks any more.

PB: Hey, that’s great!

DG: Yea, I still do it around my kids’ schedule and sometimes I run out because I will give it away to someone else who is suffering, but all-in-all my quality of life have been improving.

PB: Wait, you run out?

DG: Yea, sometimes it’s because I have to find a good block of time to make it without my kids around. The recipe I use now takes about 10 hours start to finish. It’s rare that I am without my kids for that long. Then I will get a notice that someone needs some and I will give them what I have on hand then try and figure out when I can make some more for myself.

PB: Do you make money doing this?

DG: No. I…and this is just me…I can’t charge people who are suffering for the medicine they need. At first, I wouldn’t take anything, even why they tried to pay me, but now I will take a donation, but I never even suggest a price. It’s just not who I am. Maybe it’s because I had suffered for so long and put off or didn’t care for myself because I couldn’t afford it or there were things that my family needed the money for, like food or clothes or school, that I would rather them take the medicine and not worry about the financials. I’d rather see them get better than line my pockets.

PB: Yea, but it cost you to grow this and to extract it and the time it takes to do so. There are legitimate expenses to cover.

DG: I know, that’s why I started taking donations to offset those expenses. I even have some farmers who donate their trim and popcorn to the cause. There are other things I do to keep the expense down. It’s all good. I just wish I could help more people.

PB: Well, how did you actually start helping people? Did you reach out or did they find you?

DG: Actually, I had confided in a friend about what I was doing and some months later an acquaintance of theirs posted on a message board that she was looking to try some cannabis oil but didn’t know where to get some and a little rant about how unfair it was to live in a state that prohibited people from taking care of themselves, etc. My friend saw the post and asked if I wanted to help.

PB: and so you helped.

DG: I was hesitant. I had kept this pretty close to my heart and I was still very afraid of getting busted, but after hearing her story and what she was going through, I got angry again, angry at the injustice and decided to help. I still kept things anonymous. To this day she doesn’t know who supplied her.

PB: what did she have?

DG: She had some brain tumors and the chemo and radiation weren’t shrinking them. They were actually growing and she began having seizures. They had to stop the treatment until they got the seizures under control but the anti-seizure medication wasn’t helping. That’s when she made the post. I couldn’t just do nothing, I had to help.

PB: Aw, man, now I’m feeling worse about my Uncle.

DG: Yea, well, that’s why I approached you. I don’t know if it would have helped him, but I wanted you to know that there was an option.

PB: Fuck…

DG: Don’t be hard on yourself, there is a lot of indoctrination and real fear that comes into play.

PB: Yea, I know…I just…anyways, I take it everything turned out well.

DG: Yea, after a month…well, the seizures stopped immediately, but after a month, when she saw her oncologist, one or two of the tumors had disappeared and the others had shrunk by half and after three months they were all gone. After the first appointment, she told her oncologist what she had been taking and he said, “Whatever you are doing, keep doing it.”

PB: Wow, that is amazing…and I’m feeling like a shit now.

DG: Sorry, I’m not trying to make you feel like shit. I don’t know if it would have worked with your Uncle, Maybe next time this will give you or anyone listening, more courage to do something even if it’s to just make the suggestion to someone who is suffering.

PB: I definitely will next time, at least bring the option up. Have you had more successes?

DG: Um, yea. I’ve been lucky. I haven’t lost anyone yet. I still remind myself that nothing is a cure all. Not everyone responds to even conventional treatments. I just think everyone should have this option to try.

PB: So how many have you cured?

DG: I prefer to think of it as helping. I haven’t been doing this long. Even the girl with the brain tumors has only been tumor free for about two years. They don’t say you have been cured of cancer till after you have been cancer free for five years, so I avoid the term ‘cured’.

PB: Fair enough.

DG: But I have helped a handful of people these past two years. One of the farmers, who donates his popcorn and trim, does so because I helped his father who had throat cancer. He is very grateful that his father’s cancer is gone. I wouldn’t be able to help those I do without his donations.

PB: doesn’t he grow his own? Why didn’t he just make it himself?

DG: A couple of reasons. One, there is a learning curve and he didn’t want to waste time getting his dad some medicine. He knew my stuff worked. He wanted to give his dad the best shot he could. Two, there’s a reason farmers farm and processors process. There are different skill sets and some people don’t want to learn or just don’t have the time or skills to learn it.

PB: So brain tumors and throat cancer. What else?

DG: Well, three people with throat cancer, one with lung cancer, two women with breast cancer, three people with arthritis, one woman with neuropathy, a child who has seizures, and three or four people with PTSD. They have all had varying degrees of success.

PB: what do you mean?

DG: Well, the guy with lung cancer became clear in a month, but he was caught early and only had the one tumor. One of the three throat cancer people cleared in three months the second took six and the third one just started treatment. One of the women with breast cancer cleared in a month and a half, the other actually had the lump removed but they were also supposed to remove a lymph node but didn’t since it returned to normal. The rest have disorders don’t really go away, although we are experimenting with some other substances for those with PTSD.

PB: Other substances? Such as…

DG: (Laughs) Yea, things that are even more frowned down upon than mary jane. It’s a much bigger risk that I don’t want to get into right now.

PB: Understood, understood. So about, what, fifteen people in the last two years?

DG: Yea, fifteen, sixteen, around that. I’d love to help more, but most are either on full dosage or on a maintenance dose and I only have so much material and time. As I said before, sometimes I go without so they are covered. Also, I’m trying to keep this on the down low.

PB: But there are a lot of people out there who are very vocal about what they are doing and post youtube videos and have websites…

DG: …and get busted and have legal trouble. Listen, I get it, but if everyone becomes a martyr, then no one gets helped. I think it’s great that there are vocal in-your-face people out there and there are some advocates who live in states who have medical cannabis laws. I’m trying to help people where it is still illegal under state law let alone federal law. Obama, at least, has said to leave those alone in states where they have passed medical cannabis laws. It’s still dangerous on both levels in at least half the states.

Listen, I’d love to set up a network that will match suffering people with caregivers, and caregivers with farmers who will donate materials so that anyone anywhere can get the treatment that they need. Not all the people that I have help have lived in my state, but they all live in states where even medical cannabis is illegal at the state level. I’d love to see a place that people in need could contact caregivers through some encrypted messaging app and people could donate anonymously, like bitcoin or monero to help the caregivers to get the material to make the medicine and maybe pay people to make blind drops to get the medicine back to the sufferer. I don’t know, some decentralized, charity, underground dispensary. Fuck, I don’t know. I just wish I could help more people.

PB: I hear you, brother, like some charity, underground, Kickstarter for sick people to get the medicine they need while minimizing the risk for everyone.

DG: Yea, something like that. I’m not very tech savvy, but I’d think with all this decentralized shit and the dark web and cryptography and cryptocurrency that someone could create a network that would minimize the individual risk, maximize the number of people helped and do it in a way that even if one person gets busted, it doesn’t take the whole system down and would be so prohibitively expensive to destroy that the feds would just give up.

PB: Sounds like a dream.

DG: Yea, but we can dream can’t we?

PB: True, very true. I think I’m out of questions right now. Did you have anything to say in closing?

DG: Um, well, thanks for having me. I’m not sure if this is what you were looking for but it was a nice chat. I hope it helps or maybe inspires someone to take that step to reach out and maybe try some cannabis extract for their health concerns. It’s a shame that health care has to be so black market sometimes. I hope your listeners get something out of it.

PB: I think they will. Thanks again for being on with me and answering my questions. Next time I have a need or see a need for cannabis extracts, I will not hesitate to seek out a caregiver.

DG: Well good. I am glad to hear that. Take care.

PB: You too. Stay safe.

UPDATE: Since this interview, Dr. Galt has successfully treated another little girl with epilepsy. She no longer needs her seizure medications.

All steem dollars made from this post will be donated to Dr. Galt to continue his mission.

A not-so-brief history of human interaction with cannabis (and my snarky commentary):

• 2900 BC - Chinese Emperor Fu Hsi references cannabis as a popular medicine that possessed both yin and yang. (Ancient Chinese secret, huh?)
• 2700 BC - Chinese Emperor Shen Nung, considered to be the father of Chinese medicine, said to discover healing properties of cannabis along with ginseng and ephedra. (Apparently Shen Nung was so stoned he forgot Fu Hsi knew of this 200 years earlier. Stoner buddies need to listen.)
• 1500 BC - Earliest written reference to medical cannabis in Chinese Pharmacopeia, the Rh-Ya. (We’ve been using it before we could write.)
• 1450 BC - Book of Exodus references Holy Anointing Oil made from cannabis or kaneh-bosem in Hebrew. (You know Jesus was an “anointed one”)
• 1213 BC - Egyptians use cannabis for glaucoma, inflammation, cooling the uterus, and enemas. (Cooling the uterus…hmm… I thought it heated it up.)
• 1000 BC - Bhang, a drink of cannabis and milk, is used in India as an anesthetic and for other human maladies. (A nice warm glass before bed.)
• 700 BC - Medical use of cannabis in the Middle East recorded in the Vendidad, lists cannabis as the most important of 10,000 medicinal plants. (If it’s good enough for Zoroaster…)
• 200 BC - Medical cannabis used in ancient Greece for earache, edema, and inflammation. (non-medical cannabis used for everything else…)
• 1 AD - Ancient Chinese text, the Pen Ts'ao Ching, recommends cannabis for more than 100 ailments. (It cures what ails ya.)
• 70 - Roman medical text, De Materia Medica, cites cannabis to treat earaches and suppress sexual longing. (Not my experience with the latter…)
• 79 - Pliny the Elder in Rome writes about medicinal properties of the cannabis plant in Naturalis Historia. (I have a vewy gweat fwiend in Wome named, Biggus Dickus…)
• 200 - Chinese surgeon Hua T'o uses cannabis resin and wine, ma-yo, as anesthetic to perform surgeries. (I hope he used in on his patients too…)
• 1538 - Cannabis used during Middle Ages, William Turner, considered the first English botanist, praises it in his New Herball, published in 1538. (I wish they would go back to calling potheads ‘botanists’)
• 1600s - William Shakespeare may have smoked cannabis, pipes excavated from the garden of William Shakespeare shown to have cannabis residue. (To toke or not to toke…)
• 1611-1762 - Jamestown settlers bring cannabis to North America, penalties imposed on those who did not produce it. (Coined the term ‘bogart’ for those who would not share.)
• 1621 - Popular English mental health book, The Anatomy of Melancholy, recommends cannabis to treat depression. (Best emo band name ever!)
• 1799 - Napoleon's forces bring cannabis from Egypt to France. (Unfortunately, France does not mellow out but ravages Europe looking for munchies)
• 1840 - Medical cannabis comes to United Kingdom via William O'Shaughnessy and reportedly used by Queen Victoria for menstrual cramps. (The Queen is not amused…she’d baked! Also, TMI!)
• 1850 - Cannabis added to US Pharmacopeia and listed as treatment for numerous afflictions, including: neuralgia, tetanus, typhus, cholera, rabies, dysentery, alcoholism, opiate addiction, anthrax, leprosy, incontinence, gout, convulsive disorders, tonsillitis, insanity, excessive menstrual bleeding, and uterine bleeding, among others. (That’s quite the list.)
• 1906 - Pure Food and Drugs Act requires labeling of medicine, including cannabis. (Thank you, Progressives. It’s all downhill from here.)
• 1911 - Massachusetts becomes first state to outlaw cannabis, followed by Maine, Wyoming and Indiana in 1913; New York City in 1914; Utah and Vermont in 1915; Colorado and Nevada in 1917. (Thank you, Progressives.)
• Jan. 1915 - President Wilson signs Harrison Act, the model for future drug regulation legislation. (Thank you, Progressives.)
• 1915-1927 - Ten states pass cannabis prohibition laws, Utah and Wyoming (1915), Texas (1919), Iowa (1923), Nevada (1923), Oregon (1923), Washington (1923), Arkansas (1923), and Nebraska and New York (1927). (Thank you, Progressives.)
• Feb. 19, 1925 - League of Nations sign multilateral treaty restricting cannabis use to scientific and medical only. (Thank you, Progressives.)
• 1928 - Cannabis added to the UK's "Dangerous Drugs Act". (Way to go, UK.)
• 1930s - Use of the word "Marijuana" increases in the US. (Got to make it sound ethnic so we can denigrate it.)
• 1930s - American pharmaceutical firms, Parke-Davis and Eli Lily, sell extracts of cannabis as medicines. (Now you can be put in jail.)
• 1930 - Harry J. Anslinger appointed commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. (By his wife’s uncle…This won’t be good.)
• 1933 - William Randolph Hearst plays role in denouncing cannabis. (From the man who brought you the Spanish-American War.)
• 1936 - Bureau of Narcotics urges federal action to control cannabis. (We need more shit to do since alcohol prohibition ended.)
• 1936 - Reefer Madness, originally titled Tell Your Children, cautions against “Marijuana”. (“Cautions” by spreading lies and misinformation. Propaganda that would make Goebbels proud.)
• May 4, 1937 - American Medical Association opposes the proposed Marihuana Tax Act and supports research on medical cannabis. (Then the Feds buy them off and they become turncoats.)
• Oct. 1937 - "Marihuana Tax Act" leads to decline in cannabis prescriptions. (Anti-drug activists can’t decide if it should be spelled with an ‘h’ or a ‘j’. ‘h’ won this battle, but ‘j’ won the war.)
• Oct. 2, 1937 - First cannabis seller convicted under US federal law is arrested, Samuel R. Caldwell, convicted on October 5th, was sentenced to four years of hard labor in Leavenworth Penitentiary, plus a $1,000 fine. (First Prisoner of War, served every day of his sentence. Can’t have people engage in voluntary exchange…)
• 1938 - Canada prohibits cannabis cultivation. (But did it very politely.)
• 1938-1944 - LaGuardia Report concludes cannabis less dangerous than commonly thought. (Bullshit indoctrination not strong enough.)
• 1951 - Boggs Act establishes minimum prison sentences for simple possession, two to five years for first offense. (Let’s ruin people’s lives!)
• 1956 - Inclusion of “marijuana” in Narcotics Control Act leads to stricter penalties for cannabis possession, two to ten years for first offense and up to a $20,000 fine. (Yea! Let’s ruin people’s lives some more.)
• 1964 - THC, main psychoactive component of cannabis, first identified and synthesized. (Because the natural stuff wasn’t good enough…)
• 1968 - University of Mississippi becomes official grower of cannabis for federal government. (Enrolment skyrockets, only to disappoint students come fall)
• Apr. 8, 1968 - President Johnson creates Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD). (BeNDDover)
• Nov. 1, 1968 - UK Wootton Report finds cannabis is less dangerous than alcohol, other drugs. (Stoners less likely to hurt themselves when they can’t get off the couch.)
• 1970 - Controlled Substances Act classifies cannabis as a drug with "No Accepted Medical Use". (It’s not like the Feds will ever get a patent for medical uses of cannabis…)
• 1970 - NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) founded. (yea!)
• May 1, 1971 - Nixon says he will not legalize cannabis despite Shafer Commission. (Apparently a mind reader since the Shafer Commission didn’t finally weigh in until a year later.)
• June 17, 1971 - President Nixon declares War on Drugs. (But not lying or breaking and entering…)
• 1972 - National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse ("Shafer Commission") recommends decriminalizing cannabis. (Not that it will mean anything.)
• 1972 - NORML Petitions DEA to reschedule cannabis. (Let’s see how long this takes.)
• 1973 - Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) established, BNDD and ODALE merged. (Streamlining the alphabet soup.)
• 1976 - Cannabis decriminalized in the Netherlands. (Gives tourists another reason to visits besides dikes and bikes.)
• 1978 - New Mexico passes first state law recognizing medical value of cannabis. (And a mere 29 years later, they legalized medical cannabis.)
• 1980 - Marinol, a synthetic version of THC, and smoked cannabis tested on cancer patients. (actual cannabis found safer and more effective, but let’s green light Marinol instead. Fed logic.)
• 1981-1985 - US government sells Marinol patent to Unimed and FDA approves it for treatment of nausea. (Because cannabis has no medicinal value, right.)
• 1986 - Anti-Drug Abuse Act increases penalties for cannabis possession and dealing, requiring life sentences for repeat drug offenders, and providing for the death penalty for "drug kingpins”. (yea! A life time in a rape cage or maybe even death for having a plant! Thank you Mr. Reagan.)
• 1990 - Scientists discover cannabinoid receptors. (After lighting up a fattie.)
• Nov. 5, 1991 - First medical marijuana initiative passed in San Francisco. (yea!)
• 1992 - Scientists discover first endocannabinoid, called 'anandamide,' from the Sanskrit word 'ananda,' which means 'eternal bliss' or 'supreme joy’. (Thank your god, I’m not a plant or the government would make me illegal.)
• Feb. 18, 1994 - Final decision in 1972 court battle over cannabis rescheduling keeps cannabis in Schedule I. (Only took 22 years of government dragging their feet to finally find out that the government will do what it wants.)
• July 10, 1995 - Second petition to reschedule cannabis filed. (Let’s see how long this one takes to be heard.)
• Nov. 5, 1996 - California becomes first state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• Jan. 30, 1997 - New England Journal of Medicine publishes editorial calling for cannabis to be rescheduled. (Wow, an editorial, such a ballsy move.)
• Sep. 1998 - Congress prevents implementation of medical marijuana law in DC. (Screw what the people want…)
• Nov. 3, 1998 - Alaska, Oregon, and Washington become 2nd, 3rd, and 4th states to legalize medical marijuana. (Yea! Yea! And Yea!)
• Nov. 11, 1998 - UK House of Lords committee recommends legalizing medical marijuana. (Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords.)
• July 1999 - Marinol moved to Schedule III to increase availability to patients. (Fed maintains that cannabis has no medicinal value.)
• Nov. 2, 1999 - Maine becomes fifth state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• June 14, 2000 - Hawaii becomes sixth state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• Nov. 7, 2000 - Colorado and Nevada become seventh and eighth states to legalize medical marijuana. (Yea! Yea!)
• May 14, 2001 - Supreme Court rules "There is no Medical Necessity Exception to the Controlled Substances Act". (Government says that government can throw out hundreds of years of common law and do what it wants)
• Sep. 2002 - DC court blocks proposed medical marijuana initiative. (Again.)
• Oct. 29, 2002 - Court rules in Conant v. Walters that gov't cannot revoke physician licenses solely for recommending medical marijuana. (It will also need some other bullshit excuse…)
• July 23, 2003 - US House of Representatives rejects amendment to stop federal raids on medical marijuana patients. (Fuck those sick and suffering people!)
• Sep. 1, 2003 - Dutch pharmacies to supply medical marijuana. (yea!)
• Oct. 7, 2003 - US government receives cannabinoids patent for the therapeutic use of "cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants”. (Maintains that cannabis has no medicinal value. SMH.)
• 2004 - UK moves cannabis to Class C, with lower penalties. (Let’s see how long this lasts.)
• May 26, 2004 - Vermont becomes ninth state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• Nov. 2, 2004 - Montana becomes 10th state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• June 6, 2005 - US Supreme Court rules Congress may ban cannabis use in Gonzalez v. Raich. (Government says government can do what it wants.)
• Dec. 12, 2005 - Federal agents execute widespread raid on medical marijuana dispensaries in California. (Bush needs distraction from the other wars he’s fighting. Looking for easy win, makes another blunder.)
• Jan. 3, 2006 - Rhode Island becomes 11th state to legalize medical marijuana after legislature overrides Governor's veto. (double yea!)
• Mar. 16, 2006 - DEA busts marijuana-laced candy manufacturers. (But liquor candy is fine.)
• June 21, 2006 - Presbyterian Church approves resolution to support medical marijuana. (Cudos, but why aren’t all churches doing this? Matthew 14:14 - When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.)
• Mar. 13, 2007 - New Mexico becomes 12th state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea! Took you long enough)
• Feb. 15, 2008 - Nation's 2nd largest physician group, the American College of Physicians (ACP), calls for cannabis reclassification and supports non-smoked forms of medical marijuana. (Needs to make pot brownies for frat party.)
• May 2008 - Cannabis returned to Class B in the UK. (Ah, the whims of government.)
• Sep. 2008 - Two pounds of cannabis found buried in 2,700-year-old Chinese tomb. (Corpse says he was just holding it for a friend.)
• Nov. 4, 2008 - Michigan becomes 13th state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea! Lucky number 13. Now if you could just do something about Detroit…)
• Feb. 25, 2009 - US Attorney General says raids on medical marijuana clinics will not continue. (We pissed too many people off, part I)
• Oct. 19, 2009 - US Attorney General announces that DOJ will not prioritize prosecution of legal medical marijuana patients. (We pissed too many people off, part II)
• Nov. 10, 2009 - AMA softens position on scheduling of cannabis. (What, the Feds not paying you off enough?)
• Jan. 11, 2010 - New Jersey becomes 14th state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• July 27, 2010 - Medical marijuana becomes legal in DC. (yea! Finally, third times the charm.)
• Nov. 2, 2010 - South Dakota voters reject medical marijuana measure. (The second time they gave the middle finger to those who suffer.)
• Nov. 2, 2010 - Arizona becomes 15th state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• May 13, 2011 - Delaware becomes 16th state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• Mar. 23 - May 16, 2011 - US attorneys send threatening letters to states with legal medical marijuana. (The whims of the Feds have shifted.)
• July 8, 2011 - DEA denies 2002 request to reclassify cannabis out of restrictive Schedule I category. (Wow, that only took nine years…)
• Aug. 7, 2011 - Israeli government arranges to supply medical marijuana. (Illuminati confirmed!)
• Nov. 2011 - Study finds legal medical marijuana reduces fatal car accidents. (Stoners have hard time getting off couch and into car.)
• Feb. 28, 2012 - Federal judge dismisses lawsuit against government for its raids on medical marijuana clinics. (Government decides government did nothing wrong.)
• May 31, 2012 - Connecticut becomes 17th state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• July 24, 2012 - LA city council bans medical marijuana dispensaries in unanimous vote. (Well, except for 170 of them because…favoritism.)
• Nov. 6, 2012 - Massachusetts becomes 18th state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• July 23, 2013 - New Hampshire becomes 19th state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• Aug. 1, 2013 - Illinois becomes 20th state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• Aug. 8, 2013 - Dr. Sanjay Gupta comes out in favor of medical marijuana, says “We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that." (Apology accepted.)
• Aug. 29, 2013 - Justice Department will not challenge state cannabis laws. (Justice department does not want to lose an appeal and appear impotent.)
• Feb. 14, 2014 - New federal guidelines allow banks to provide financial services to legal cannabis sellers. (Feds will now have database for asset forfeiture when whims change after election.)
• Apr. 14, 2014 - Maryland becomes 21st state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• May 29, 2014 - Minnesota becomes 22nd state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• July 5, 2014 - New York becomes 23rd state to legalize medical marijuana. (yea!)
• Oct. 28, 2014 - US Justice Department will not enforce federal cannabis laws on Native American reservations. (And if anyone can trust the government’s word, it’s the Native Americans.)
• Dec. 17, 2014 - New law bans Justice Department from using funds against medical marijuana in states where it is legal. (Now if it could just do that for the rest of the states…)
• May 3, 2015 - Governor of Puerto Rico legalizes medical marijuana in the US territory. (Have to do something to keep the population from leaving.)
• June 22, 2015 - Federal government removes obstacle to cannabis research. (The obstacle being themselves.)
• Aug. 11, 2016 - DEA declines to reschedule cannabis but opens door to research. (How mighty white of them.)

For more in depth commentary on these events, please visit the source at procon.org: http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.timeline.php?timelineID=000026