Cannabis has been used as a medicine all over the world for thousands years.
In the 19th Century, cannabis found great popularity as a medicine. It only fell out of fashion with the development of injectable opiates and synthetic drugs.
There are millions of people world-wide who illicitly treat themselves with cannabis, risking the loss of their livelihood and liberty.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration held hearings in 1987 to determine whether cannabis should be permitted for medicinal use. After thousands of hours of legal deliberations, the judge in charge accepted that cannabis was "...capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people" and that it would be safe to use cannabis as a medicine under doctors' supervision. He recommended that the DEA should allow cannabis as a medicine; its Administrator refused to accept this ruling.
The US Virginia Nurses Association (VNA) was the first nurses association to support the medical use of cannabis. At their October 1994 meeting they resolved to support "all reasonable efforts" to make cannabis available for legitimate medical uses.
Thanks to the tireless campaigning of people such as Dennis Peron, great steps forward in the medicinal use of cannabis are currently being taken in the United States.
