Project 50 Is Launched

“It Didn’t Start with California”

New Project Seeks to Set Record Straight
 About Medical Cannabis Laws and History
 

Contact: Alice O’Leary Randall
cannabisproject50@gmail.com
(813) 360-1713
 

TAMPA, FL .... June 1, 2023. Most people think the reform of medical cannabis laws began in California in 1996. That’s incorrect. The first state with a medical cannabis law was 18 years earlier. In February 1978, New Mexico enacted a novel marijuana-as-medicine law at the urging of a young cancer patient, Lynn Pierson, authorizing the state to establish a state-wide research program using federal supplies of marijuana for glaucoma and cancer patients. By 1982 this law had been adopted by an additional 33 states. Federal authorities, however, thwarted the intent of these laws thus beginning a long and arduous march to California’s Prop 215.

A new project, initiated by medical cannabis pioneer Alice O’Leary Randall, would like to set the record straight and preserve the history and memory of the many patients and lawmakers from the first two decades of the medical cannabis movement.

Project 50 is a three-year project that will culminate in November 2026, the 50th anniversary of the birth of the medical cannabis movement when Robert C. Randall became America’s first and only legal medical cannabis patient in November 1976. Randall, then 28 years old, had glaucoma. He died in 2001 at the age of 53.

“These critical years are getting lost in today’s world. I believe it has a lot to do with the emergence of the world wide web,” says Randall’s widow Alice. “The years we are celebrating— 1976 to1996— were either completely, or primarily, analog. As a result, it can be hard to find information on specific events or even to know what events to look for.”

The history also reveals a sad fact: federal policy remains stuck in the Reefer Madness era. “The states have done a wonderful job of listening to the needs of the patients but federal policy remains remarkably draconian. What my husband said almost five decades ago is still true: the federal government has no interest in advancing our knowledge of medical cannabis.”

Alice has already established archives at the Wisconsin Historical Society and has placed numerous tapes from the period on her YouTube channel. These include Robert Randall’s first appearance on national TV (Good Morning America, 1977) and his last (Tomorrow with Tom Snyder, 1996).

“Newsprint, dense books, and grainy video is the legacy of that era when it comes to preservation,” Alice continues. “Robert and I dreamed of the type of information access that people have today. I want the history of the medical cannabis movement to move into the 21st century.”

For the next three years, Alice and a small group of volunteers are acquiring, scanning, re-typing, editing, organizing, and uploading the record of the medical cannabis movement in the U.S. “I don’t want Americans to forget about the brave and selfless people who gave their last good days fighting for legal access to cannabis, nor the lawmakers and medical professionals who earnestly sought a compassionate solution to this public health issue.”

Project 50 is also making available memorabilia from the era via its patreon.com account. Items include historical tee shirts, canisters and plastic cases that once held Robert Randall’s federal cannabis, books, and more. “To handle these items truly brings history alive,” Alice noted.

Interest in the history of medical cannabis is increasing and Project 50 is just one of several projects aimed at securing the legacy of the first two decades of the movement. “The Movement to End Marijuana Prohibition: An Oral History”, which covers five decades of cannabis law reform, is being created by the former communications director for the ACLU Loren Siegel, retired Queens College professor Harry Levine, and former NORML executive director Allen St. Pierre. It will be hosted by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. ”There is a hunger for this history and we must capture it before all the principal players are gone,” says Siegel. “We wish Alice good luck and look forward to working with her.”

Project 50 is planning a regular series of press releases highlighting past events in the medical cannabis movement. “For many in the movement, this decades-old information will seem like breaking news,” Alice said. I hope it will bring them to our websites to learn even more.”