THE HISTORY OF CANNABIS MEDICINES IS INTERTWINED WITH THE WAR ON DRUGS, THE EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY & DRUG DEVELOPMENT & THE MOVE AWAY FROM (& BACK TO) HERBAL MEDICINES
1804: First active ingredient to be isolated from a plant, Sertürner isolates morphine from opium
1848: Drug Importation Act was enacted to control spurious and adulterated articles coming into the US.
1850: Cannabis Added to 3rd edition US Pharmacopeia
1856: William Henry Perkin synthesizes mauveine, the first synthetic dye, leading to the development of the coal tar dye industry and the discovery of synthetic pharmaceuticals.
1888: The first issue of the National Formulary (NF) published by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA)
1889: Article in The Lancet Outlines Use of Cannabis for Opium Withdrawal
1899: The concept of structure activity relationships (SAR) is introduced, laying the foundation for the systematic design of drugs based on their chemical structure.
Late 1800s: Commercialization of medicinal plants into patent medicines.
Early 1900s Recognition of microorganisms as disease agents, the development of sanitation procedures that prevented infections, and the formulation of Sulphur drugs that fought infections
1905: John Newport Langley proposes the concept of receptors, suggesting that drugs and toxins act through specific "receptive substances" on cells.
1906: Paul Ehrlich proposes the "magic bullet" concept, leading to the development of targeted therapies and the first chemotherapeutic agent, Salvarsan, for syphilis.
1906: Pure Food and Drugs Act: created FDA & prohibited interstate commerce in adulterated & misbranded food & drugs.
1910: Flexner Report of 1910 by Abraham Flexner, commissioned by the Carnegie Foundation, only trained physicians should be allowed to prescribe medicines. & discouraged the use of medicinal plants in medical practices.
1913: Eli Lily’s Cannabis tincture on market
1916: Merck’s Oxycodone on market
1916: 40% of official medicinal preparations in U.S. Pharmacopeia were crude plant extracts (299 preparations)
1918: US Pharmaceutical Farms Grow 60,000 lbs of Cannabis a yr
1930: Harry J. Anslinger Appointed Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics
1937: American Medical Association Opposes the Proposed Marihuana Tax Act and Supports Research on Medical Cannabis
1937: "Marihuana Tax Act" Leads to Decline in Marijuana Prescriptions maintained the right to use marijuana for medicinal purposes but required physicians & pharmacists who prescribed or dispensed register with federal authorities & pay an annual tax or license fee
1938: U.S. Congress passed the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. This law, which legally mandated quality and identity standards for foods, drugs, cosmetics and medical devices, prohibited false therapeutic claims and enabled government inspection of manufacturing facilities.
1938: Last school specializing in botanical medicine, what is now considered complimentary or alternative medicine had closed, leaving only A.M.A. approved schools in operation
1942: Cannabis removed 12th Edition US Pharmacopeia
1950: 9% of official medicinal preparations in U.S. Pharmacopeia were crude plant extracts
1952: First use of paper chromatography for metabolic profiling, an early attempt at analyzing metabolic pathways
1961: UN Convention: adopts Single Drug Treaty of 1961
1962: Kefauver-Harris Drug Amendments Proof of efficacy to FDA before marketing
1964: THC, Main Psychoactive Component of Cannabis, First Identified and Synthesized
1966: First report of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for metabolic profiling by Dalgliesh et al., marking the beginning of mass spectrometry-based metabolomics
1967: US Signs on the UN Single Drug Treaty
1971: The Controlled Substances Act is enacted in the United States, regulating the manufacture, distribution, and use of psychoactive drugs; Classifies Marijuana as a Drug with "No Accepted Medical Use"
1972: The National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse ("Shafer Commission") Recommends Decriminalizing Marijuana
1972: 1st Rescheduling Petition filed by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
1974: NIDA Established, Placed in Charge of Contracts to Grow Marijuana for Research Purposes
1975: Scientist discover "enkephalin" 1st endorphin: endogenous opioid peptides.
1976: Federal Court Rules Robert Randall's Use of Marijuana a "Medical Necessity"
1978: New Mexico Passes First State Law Recognizing Medical Value of Cannabis
1978: Federal Government IND Compassionate Use Program Supplies Patients with Cannabis
1978: The first recombinant human insulin is produced using genetically modified bacteria by Genentech, marking the advent of biotechnology derived pharmaceuticals.
1981: Bob Randall and Alice O'Leary form the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics (ACT) to help patients navigate the government maze for access to medical marijuana.
1981: Newt Gingrich bill to require the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to maintain a supply of cannabis to meet the medical, research, scientific, and export needs of the United States.
1985: Marinol Approved by FDA, a Synthetic Version of THC
1986: AntiDrug Abuse Act Increases Penalties for Cannabis Possession and Dealing
1988: DEA's Chief Administrative Law Judge, Francis L. Young, ruled in 1988 that "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known... It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance” and recommends Marijuana Be Placed in Schedule II
1989: DEA rejects Judge Young’s opinion and published its denial in the Federal Register, creating a five part test to determine whether a drug has a “currently accepted medical use.”
1990: < 1% of official medicinal preparations in U.S. Pharmacopeia were crude plant extracts
1991: First Medical Marijuana Initiative Passed in San Francisco
1991: Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics (ACT) petitioned the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to challenge the DEA’s petition denial
1991: Federal Government Suspends IND Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Program
1992: Scientists Discover First Endocannabinoid Twenty eight years after discovering THC, Dr. Mechoulam, along with Dr. William Devane and Dr. Lumir Hanus, identified the brain's first endogenous cannabinoid (or endocannabinoid) the brain's natural version of THC which they called 'anandamide,' from the Sanskrit word 'ananda,' which means 'eternal bliss' or 'supreme joy.'
1992: DEA issued a final order in 1992 underscoring the agency's opinion that cannabis has no accepted medical use.
1994: D.C. Court of Appeals finally affirmed the DEA Administrator's power to overrule Judge Young's decision (Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics v. DEA. 15 F.3d 1131).
1994: Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) passed·established medicinal botanicals as dietary supplements, an adjustment that categorized herbal medicinal products as foods, limiting the power of the FDA to restrict sales but also limiting their integration into mainstream medicine
1994: Final Decision in 1972 Court Battle over Marijuana Rescheduling Keeps Marijuana in Schedule I
1995: The first complete genome of a free-living organism, Haemophilus influenzae, was sequenced, demonstrating the feasibility of whole-genome sequencing
1995: 2nd Petition to Reschedule filed by Jon Getman focus on whether abuse potential is significant enough to justify its current Schedule I status
1996: California Passes First Medical Cannabis Law
1996: In the wake of state laws authorizing the use of cannabis in accordance with a recommendation from a physician, federal officials threatened to revoke the prescribing privileges of any physician who provided a recommendation to their patients for medical use & A.G. Janet Reno threats to prosecute them
1997: New England Journal of Medicine Publishes Editorial Calling for Marijuana to Be Rescheduled.
1997: The FDA Modernization Act is signed into law, accelerating the drug approval process and increasing access to experimental drugs for patients with serious or life-threatening conditions.
1998: Alaska, Oregon, and Washington voters pass the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th Criminal Exemption Medical Cannabis Laws
1998: Presidents Ford, Carter, and Bush Urge Voters to Reject Medical Cannabis.
1998: Congress Prevents Implementation of Medical Cannabis Law in DC.
1998: U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution Fiscal Year 1999 omnibus appropriations legislation expressing the sense of Congress is "marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug and should not be legalized for medicinal use.”
1998: Professors Shimon Ben-Shabat introduces concept of the “entourage effect” (Ben-Shabat et al., 1998).
1999: Marinol Moved to Schedule III to Increase Availability to Patients.
1999: Maine voters pass the 5th Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law.
1999: The Institute of Medicine (IOM) Conducts a Comprehensive Study on the Medical Effects of Cannabis
2000: Hawaii Legislature Passes the 6th Criminal Exemption Medical Cannabis Law.
2000: Colorado and Nevada voters pass the 7th & 8th Criminal Exemption Medical Cannabis Laws.
2000: Conant v. McCaffrey-The ruling states that physicians have a First Amendment right to make recommendations, but may not aid or abet patients in actually obtaining cannabis (Upheld 2002 Conant v. Walters)
2001: U.S. v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative (OCBC) a person in federal court may not argue that distribution of cannabis to those with a recommendation is a medical necessity.
2001: Supreme Court Rules "There Is No Medical Necessity Exception to the Controlled Substances Act": USA v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers'
2001: DEA Denies 2nd Petition
2001: Getman files an appeal with the DC circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals
2002: Only Study on IND Patients Finds That Medical Cannabis Improves Their Quality of Life
2002: The term metabolomics was first introduced, expanding omics beyond genomics and proteomics
2002: Americans for Safe Access is launched
2002: 3rd Petition to Cannabis (20022011) filed by the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC). The CRC was an association of public interest groups, individuals who use medical cannabis, and advocates who support removing cannabis from Schedule I.
2002: DC circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals denies appeal based on lack of standing
2002: American ginseng root reentered the USP
2002: Supreme Court grants cert to Conant v. Walters That Government Cannot Revoke Physician Licenses Solely for Recommending Medical Marijuana: The ruling protects physicians who recommend medical marijuana from federal penalties.
2003: Dutch Pharmacies to Supply Medical Marijuana: Over 2,000 pharmacies in the Netherlands begin legally supplying medical cannabis.
2003: US House of Representatives Rejects Amendment to Stop Federal Raids on Medical Marijuana Patients: The amendment aimed at stopping federal raids on state legal medical marijuana patients is rejected.
2003: US Government Receives Cannabinoids Patent: The Department of Health and Human Services receives a patent for the therapeutic use of cannabinoids (expired 2019).
2003: The Human Genome Project is completed, providing a comprehensive map of human genes and accelerating the development of personalized medicine.
2004: ASA Files Data Quality Act Petition with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to correct misinformation published in the Federal Register about the accepted medical value of cannabis. ASA's petition asserts that the information HHS provided in the Federal Register was inaccurate and did not consider all the scientific evidence available.
2004: Senate Bill 420 California Creates an ID Card and Allows Cities and counties to create regulations for dispensaries
2004: St. John's wort, Echinacea, and Saw Palmetto were added back to the U.S. Pharmacopoeia.
2004: Vermont Legislature Passes the 9th Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law.
2004: FDA issues Guidance for Industry on Botanical Drug Products
2004: Montana voters pass the 10th Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law.
2004: AARP Poll Finds That 72% of Seniors Support Medical Cannabis
2005: Raich v Ashcroft the U.S. Supreme Court rules that federal law enforcement officials may prosecute individuals who use medical cannabis, even if they cultivated their own cannabis and even if they reside in a state where such activity is protected under state law.
2005: HHS denied the ASA’s DQA petition, citing concerns that accepting the petition would set the preconditions for rescheduling cannabis and the agency was already engaged in a scientific review of the literature in response to the 2002 rescheduling petition.
2005: US Supreme Court Rules Congress May Ban Marijuana Use in Gonzalez v. Raich: The ruling confirms that federal law supersedes state medical marijuana laws.
2005: The first Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology, 454 sequencing, was introduced, revolutionizing DNA sequencing
2006: Rhode Island Legislature Passes the 11th Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law.
2006: The first vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV), Gardasil, is approved, reducing the risk of cervical cancer.
2006: Congress passed the Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription Drug Consumer Protection Act
2007: Raich v. Gonzales , the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals resolved the remaining issues raised in Raich v. Asshcroft (1) could not obtain a preliminary injunction to bar enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) based on common law medical necessity, although she appeared to satisfy the factual predicate for such claim; (2) application of the CSA to medical cannabis cultivators and users did not violate substantive due process guarantees; and (3) the Tenth Amendment does not bar enforcement of the CSA.
2007: Garden Grove v. Superior Court Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District required trial courts to order the return of medical marijuana that was improperly seized by the police. The court stated that medical marijuana patients are not criminals and, like other aggrieved citizens, are entitled to the return of their lawfully possessed property. Furthermore, the court reminded the police that it is not their job to enforce the federal drug laws.
2007: FDA released Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) specific to herbal products
2007: DEA Administrative Law Judge Recommends Allowing New Source of Marijuana for Research: Mary Ellen Bittner rules in favor of allowing Lyle E. Craker to grow marijuana for medical research.
2007: New Mexico Becomes 12th State to Legalize Medical Cannabis Access
2008: Black cohosh returns to USP after being removed in 1930
2008: Michigan Passes the 13th Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law.
2008: San Diego v. NORML, et al the Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District held that federal law does not preempt the state medical marijuana card program, nor does it constitute an unconstitutional amendment of Proposition 215
2009: Fourth Rescheduling Petition filed
2010: New Jersey Becomes 14th State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2010: Arizona Becomes 15th State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2011: The DEA denied the 3rd Petition for Rescheduling
2011: Delaware Becomes 16th State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2012: ASA meets standing requirements for the court in Americans for Safe Access v. DEA
2012: American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), the principal U.S. trade association and voice of the herbal products industry, created supply chain wide product safety protocols for commercial cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, and laboratory testing of medical cannabis products for human consumption.
2012: ASA appeals 3rd petition's denial Americans for Safe Access v. DEA
2012: Connecticut Becomes 17th State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law.
2012: Massachusetts Becomes 18th State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2013: The first gene therapy drug, Glybera, is approved in Europe, treating a rare inherited disorder.
2013: American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP) issued the Cannabis Inflorescence Monograph, a comprehensive description of the plant’s botany, constituent components, analysis, and quality control. This monograph, authored by the world’s leading experts on the plant, provides scientifically valid methods of testing the identity, purity, potency, and quality of cannabis products.
2013: New Hampshire Becomes 19th State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2013: Illinois Becomes 20th State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2013: Court stands by DEA Scheduling decision in 3rd petition's denial
2013: Proteomics advanced with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HR-MS), improving protein identification and quantification
2014: Utah becomes the first state to pass a CBD medical cannabis law
2014: Maryland Becomes 21st State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2014: The first Ebola vaccine, rVSVZEBOV, is shown to be effective, highlighting the importance of rapid vaccine development.
2014: Minnesota Becomes 22nd State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2014: The Medical Cannabis amendment to the Commerce Justice Science (CJS) Appropriations bill, meant to be a triage measure to stop raids and prosecutions while Congress dealt with federal medical cannabis policies, stops federal raids & prosecutions.
2014: New York Becomes 23rd State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2014: 10 more states pass CBD medical cannabis laws: Alabama, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Tennessee, Iowa, South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina, and Missouri
2015: Governor of Puerto Rico Legalizes Medical Cannabis
2015: Federal Government Removes Obstacle to Marijuana Research: The Department of Health and Human Services eliminates the Public Health Service review for nonfederally funded marijuana research, streamlining the application and approval processes.
2015: Louisiana legislators pass limited State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2015: Virginia, Georgia, and Texas pass low-THC medical cannabis laws
2015: Oklahoma, Wyoming passes CBD medical cannabis bill
2015: Multi-omics approaches became mainstream, integrating genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics for disease research
2016: DEA issues Denial of Rescheduling referring to both 4 & 5 Rescheduling Petition: “Denial of Petition to Initiate Proceedings to Reschedule Marijuana,”
2016: Pennsylvania Becomes 24th US State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2016: Ohio Becomes 25th US State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2016: ASA files Information Quality Act Petition with DOJ & DEA: Request For Correction Of Information Disseminated By DEA Regarding Marijuana (Cannabis); ASA found 25 violations under the IQA where the DEA website contained inaccurate which were refuted by the DEA itself in the “Denial of Petition to Initiate Proceedings to Reschedule Marijuana,”
2016: FDA issues update Guidance for Industry on Botanical Drug Products general approach to botanical drug development has remained unchanged since that time; however, based on improved understanding of botanical drugs and experience acquired in the reviews of NDAs and INDs for these drugs, specific recommendations have been modified and new sections have been added to better address late phase development and NDA submission for botanical drugs.
2016: Arkansas, Florida, North Dakota Vote for Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2017: DEA Removes “Gateway Theory “ References and psychosis reference
2017: West Virginia Becomes 29th US State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2017: CART cell therapy, a revolutionary cancer treatment that reprograms a patient's immune cells, is approved by the FDA.
2018: The 21st Century Cures Act, passed by the U.S. Congress, aims to accelerate the discovery, development, and delivery of new treatments and cures by modernizing clinical trial designs and facilitating the use of realworld evidence.
2018: Oklahoma, Missouri, and Utah Pass Comprehensive Medical Cannabis Laws
2018: FDA Approves Epidiolex
2018: Indiana passes CBD medical cannabis bill
2018: Kansas passes CBD medical cannabis bill
2018: The Hemp Authorization of the 2018 Farm Bill removed cannabis with <.03% THC from the CSA and tasked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with regulating these products.
2018: US Attorney General Ends Obama Era Marijuana Guidelines: Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinds the policy that barred federal enforcement of marijuana laws in states where it is legal.
2020: United Nations reclassifies cannabis recognizing its medical benefits in drug treaties
2020: 60 Botanical Drug Monographs in USP
2020: AI-driven omics analysis became widely used for drug discovery, biomarker identification, and personalized medicine
2020: The first mRNA vaccines for COVID19, developed by Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna, receive emergency use authorization, showcasing the potential of mRNA technology.
2020: South Dakota Voters Pass the 36th Comprehensive Medical Cannabis Law
2021: Alabama Becomes 36th State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2022: The first CRISPR based therapy, targeting genetic disorders such as sickle cell disease, shows promising results in clinical trials, opening new avenues for gene editing treatments.
2022: President Biden request of Health and Human Services (HHS) & the Department of Justice (DOJ) to revisit the scheduling of cannabis under the Controlled Substance Act (CSA)
2022: The Medical Marijuana & Cannabidiol Research Act Becomes Law
2022: CRS Issues Guidance on scheduling options for Congress
2022: Mississippi Becomes 37th State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2022: Minnesota Department of Health issues “Dosing and Chemical Composition Report: A Review of Medical Cannabis Studies Relating to Chemical Compositions and Dosages for Qualifying Medical Conditions.”
2023: Kentucky Becomes 38th State Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Law
2023: DEA in letters expresses THCO, THC delta8, & THC(a) are Schedule I Substances
2023: FDA announces that they can’t regulate CBD (21 U.S.C. § 321(ff)(3)(B). 1998 FDA determined that Cholestin is excluded from the definition of dietary supplement under § 321(ff)(3) because it includes an article, lovastatin, which was approved as a new drug under 21 U.S.C. § 355 and because lovastatin was not "marketed as a dietary supplement or as a food" before FDA approved lovastatin as a new drug in 1987) (2001 Pharmanex, Inc. v. Shalala)
2023: Health and Human Services (HHS) finds cannabis has currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States and reccomends a Schedule III classification.
2023: American Nurses Associate (ANA) Officially Recognizes Cannabis Nursing as a Specialty Nursing Practice
2024: According to USP ot their nearly 5,000 monographs, 300 include botanical ingredients, botanically derived compounds, and their dosage forms. FDA: 20,000 different prescription drugs
2024: DOJ posts Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to move Cannabis to Schedule III
2024: Nebraska Voters Pass the 39th Comprehensive Medical Cannabis Law
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