The Government Buried the Truth About Medical Cannabis. We Have the Receipts
For decades, the U.S. government has maintained that cannabis has “no currently accepted medical use.” That statement—engraved in federal law under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act—is a lie. And we can prove it.
We have the affidavits.
We have the testimony.
We have the receipts.
In 1976, a man named Robert C. Randall became the first American to legally receive medical cannabis from the federal government. Diagnosed with advanced glaucoma, he discovered that smoking marijuana controlled the intraocular pressure (IOP) threatening to blind him. When conventional medications failed, Randall turned to the courts—and won.
In Randall v. United States, the federal court ruled in his favor under the doctrine of medical necessity. And it wasn’t just a one-off case. Supporting affidavits from board-certified physicians—including experts at UCLA and Howard University—confirmed what patients had been saying for years: cannabis works. Not in theory. Not in mice. In actual human beings, under real clinical pressure.
But instead of embracing these findings, the federal government buried them. The very same institutions that oversaw Randall’s treatment—the DEA, the FDA, other alphabet agencies with a “vested interest”—shifted into full-scale damage control. Rather than admit that cannabis could help people, they buried the research, denied access, and used red tape to keep desperate patients at bay.
One patient in West Virginia—who we'll call John Toe—underwent six eye surgeries, suffered debilitating side effects from prescription medications, and finally found relief in cannabis. He tried to access it legally. He contacted the DEA. The FDA. His Congressman. But no physician would dare get involved. Instead, he turned to the black market—because the government wouldn’t listen.
Another patient, a U.S. veteran, received cannabis grown by the federal government at the University of Mississippi and distributed through the Audie L. Murphy VA Hospital. He is the only known veteran to have received federal cannabis through the VA system. And still today, veterans are labeled with “Cannabis Use Disorder” for using the same plant that the government quietly gave others.
These stories are not conspiracy theories or stoner folklore. They are part of the official record—sworn affidavits, court decisions, meeting transcripts from the FDA and the Drug Abuse Research Advisory Committee (DARAC). All pointing to the same truth:
The federal government knew cannabis was medicine. And it chose to suppress that truth.
Worse, this suppression continues. Today, veterans who use cannabis for PTSD, chronic pain, or anxiety are still denied treatment, stigmatized in the system, or disqualified from VA services. Cancer patients still have to jump through hoops to access relief. And researchers still face barriers to studying a plant that the government’s own scientists validated nearly 50 years ago.
We are told to “wait for more research.” But the research has been done. The problem isn’t scientific—it’s political. It’s institutional. And it’s personal.
I am a veteran. I’ve been through the VA system. I’ve seen firsthand how bureaucracy can override compassion. And I’ve spent years gathering the buried history of cannabis in America—because if we don’t tell these stories, they’ll stay in the shadows, locked away in dusty archives and forgotten courtrooms.
It’s time to tell the truth.
It’s time to acknowledge the damage.
It’s time to act.
The government has a lot of explaining to do. And thanks to these records, it no longer has the luxury of pretending otherwise.
We have the receipts.
🗂️ Source Integrity Statement
Every summary, breakdown, and historical analysis published in this series is rooted in authenticated primary documents archived within the Project 50 directory. These materials include—but are not limited to—official correspondence, press clippings, federal filings, FOIA records, and scanned mono series from the original medical cannabis pioneers.
If you have questions about the origin of any document, you are encouraged to:
Visit the Project 50 directory, where the source material is maintained and curated.
Verify descriptions and timelines against the original scans, filenames, and archival order.
Engage respectfully if you spot a gap—this is a living library, and contributions or corrections are welcomed with good intent.
This archive is built not for gatekeeping, but for guardianship. We share because the truth was buried—and now it’s time to unearth it together.
