The chronology of cannabis hemp

Cannabis referred to as a "superior" herb in the world's first medical text, or pharmacopoeia, Shen Nung's Pen Ts'ao, in China.

Cannabis-smoking Scythians sweep through Europe and Asia, settling and inventing the scythe.

Cultural and religious use of ganga or cannabis, and charas or hashish (resin) recorded used by Hindus in India.

Zend-Avesta, Indian scripture, speaks of hemp's intoxicating resin.

Gautama Buddha said to have survived by eating hempseed. Cannabis used in Germany (Hochdorf Hallstatt D wagon burial site). First botanical drawings of cannabis in Constantinopolitaus.

Herodotus records Scythians and Thracians as consuming cannabis and making fine linens of hemp.

Carthage and Rome struggle for political and commercial power over hemp and spice trade routes in the Mediterranean.

Chinese make paper from hemp and mulberry.

Roman Emperor Nero's surgeon, Dioscorides, praises cannabis for making the stoutest cords and for its medicinal properties.

Jesus teaches: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man (Matthew 15:11). The Gospels refer to the New Wine and declare that it is best when the clusters are ripe.

Roman surgeon Dioscorides names the plant cannabis sativa and describes various medicinal uses. Pliny reported industrial uses and wrote a manual on farming hemp.

Cannabis cultivated for the first time in the UK at Old Buckenham Mere.

First botanical drawing of hemp in Constantinopolitanus.

Germans, Franks, Vikings etc. all use hemp fibre.

Mohammed allows cannabis but forbids the use of alcohol.

The English word "hempe" first listed in a dictionary. Moslems produce hashish medicine and social use.

Moslems use hemp to start Europe's first paper mill. Most of the paper is made from hemp for the next 750 years, including Bibles.

Emir Soudon Sheikhouni of Joneima prohibits cannabis consumption amongst the poor, destroys the crops, and punishes offenders by pulling out their teeth.

Inquisitor Pope Innocent VIII outlaws hashish.

Hemp paper industry starts in England.

Hemp agriculture arrives in China.

The Spanish grow hemp in Peru.

English Queen Elizabeth I decrees that land owners with more than 60 acres must grow hemp or be fined 5 pounds.

King Philip of Spain orders hemp grown throughout his empire from modern Argentina to Oregon.

Dutch achieve the "Golden Age" through hemp commerce. Explorers find "wilde hempe" in North America.

The British take cannabis to Canada for maritime uses.

The British start growing cannabis in Virginia.

Virginia colony makes hemp cultivation mandatory, followed by most other colonies. Europe pays hemp bounties.

The Anatomy of Melancholy claims cannabis is a treatment for depression.

Hemp used as money throughout American colonies.

The Pilgrims take cannabis to New England.

The General Court at Hartford, Connecticut, orders that all families plant one teaspoon of cannabis seeds.

Massachusetts Courts follow Hartford.

Cannabis Sativa classified by Linnaeus.

New English Dictionary says cannabis root applied to skin eases inflammation.

Declaration of Independence drafted on hemp paper.

President Washington sets duties on hemp to encourage domestic industry. "Make the most of the Indian Hemp Seed" — President George Washington. President Jefferson calls hemp a necessity and urges farmers to grow hemp instead of tobacco.

Cotton gins make cheaper fibre than hemp. Napoleon prohibits his men in Egypt from using cannabis, but to little effect.

The Club de Hashichines is founded.

Homeopathy journal 'American Provers' Union' publishes first report on effects of cannabis.

"Prohibition... goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control mans' appetite through legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not even crimes... A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our Government was founded" — attributed on the original page to Abraham Lincoln (December 1840).

Dr. W. B. O'Shaughnessy, "On the Preparation of the Indian Hemp or Ganja", introduces cannabis to western science.

Psychologist and inventor of modern psychopharmacology and psychotomimetic drug treatment, Jacques-Joseph Moreau de Tours, documents physical and mental effects of cannabis.

Petrochemical age begins. Toxic sulphite and chlorine processes make paper from trees; steamships replace hemp sails; tropical fibres introduced. USA census records 8,327 hemp plantations of over 2,000 acres each.

Bayard Taylor essay Visions of Hashish.

Fitz Hugh Ludlow publishes "The Hasheesh Eater".

Smith Brothers of Edinburgh market cannabis indica extracts.

First governmental commission study of cannabis and hashish conducted by Ohio State Medical Society. It catalogues conditions for which cannabis was then reported beneficial, including neuralgia, nervous rheumatism, mania, whooping cough, asthma, chronic bronchitis, muscular spasms, epilepsy, infantile convulsions, palsy, uterine hemorrhage, dysmenorrhea, hysteria, alcohol withdrawal and loss of appetite.

The Emir of Egypt makes the possession of cannabis a capital offence.

Tales of Hashish by A. C. Kimmens.

Cannabis listed in US Pharmacopoeia as a medicine.

South Africa, worried about cannabis use among Indian workers, passes a law forbidding the smoking, use or possession of hemp by Indians.

Hashish served at American Centennial Exposition.

The Sultan of Turkey makes cannabis illegal, to little effect.

British Indian Hemp Drugs Commission studies social use of cannabis and comes out against prohibition.

First known use of the name "marijuana" for smoking, by Pancho Villa's supporters in Sonora, Mexico.

Shanghai Conference: first international meeting on drugs is held to discuss opium. The USA passes an act to prohibit the buying or selling of opium for non-medicinal purposes.

African-American "reefer" use reported in jazz clubs in New Orleans, said to be influencing white people. Mexicans smoking marijuana in Texas. South Africa prohibits cannabis.

Hindus reported to be using ganja in San Francisco.

South Africa bans cannabis.

"Essay on Hasheesh" by Victor Rolson. Possibilities of putting controls on cannabis use are raised.

Hague Conference; second international meeting on drugs. 46 nations discuss opium, morphine, cocaine, heroin and cannabis. The Hague Convention for the Suppression of Opium and Other Drugs was drawn up; cannabis was not included in its core controls.

First suggestions that cannabis should be banned internationally, at the First Opium Conference.

Utah State, then California and Texas outlaw cannabis. Cocaine banned in the USA.

USDA Bulletin 404 calls for a new program of expansion of hemp to replace uses of timber by industry.

Texas outlaws cannabis. Alcohol is prohibited throughout the USA. Cannabis is still legal in most states.

DuPont experiments with petrochemicals. Gang war takes over the alcohol industry; homicides increase drastically.

South African delegate at League of Nations calls for international controls on cannabis, claiming that it makes mine workers less active. Britain insists on further research.

Louisiana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington outlaw cannabis.

At the Second International Opiates conference an Egyptian delegate claims serious problems are associated with hashish use and calls for international controls. Cannabis is treated as a narcotic in the emerging control system.

New York outlaws cannabis.

UK Dangerous Drugs Act controls cannabis and makes its unauthorised possession/supply illegal.

The Panama Canal Zone Report concludes that there is no evidence that cannabis use is habit-forming or deleterious, recommending no action be taken against cannabis use or sale.

South West states make cannabis illegal as part of a move associated on the original page with hostility to Mexican immigrants.

Henry Ford experiments with agricultural materials and alternative fuels. New machines are developed to break hemp, process fibre and convert hurds into paper and other materials. The original page also records around 1,200 hash bars in New York City and racialised campaigns for prohibition.

New mechanised hemp harvesting methods invented.

Louis Armstrong arrested in Los Angeles for possession of cannabis.

Federal Bureau of Narcotics formed with Harry Anslinger at the head. By now many US states have banned non-prescription cannabis.

The original chronology records racist language attributed to Anslinger in official correspondence.

South Western states call for federal action against cannabis.

Marihuana Tax Act imposes federal taxation and registration controls that effectively suppress much cannabis and hemp activity in the United States.

DuPont files patents for nylon, plastics and new paper-bleaching processes. Anslinger testifies to Congress against marijuana. The American Medical Association objects to aspects of the Marihuana Tax Act.

Birdseed, rope and cordage receive specific treatment/exemptions under the tax regime.

LaGuardia Report research begins.

Cannabis dropped from the US Pharmacopoeia.

Henry Ford's experimental car is associated with agricultural composite materials and alternative fuels in later hemp campaigning literature.

Hemp for Victory program urges US farmers to grow hemp to help the war effort.

US military medical literature discusses marijuana use among service personnel.

New York Academy of Medicine publishes the LaGuardia Committee's report on marijuana use in New York City.

The report concludes, among other findings, that marijuana smoking did not lead to addiction in the medical sense, was not associated with juvenile delinquency, and that catastrophic publicity about marijuana in New York was unfounded.

Newsweek reports over 100,000 Americans use cannabis.

Anslinger changes elements of his public argument about marijuana during the early Cold War period.

United Nations adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Hollywood star Robert Mitchum is arrested for cannabis.

UN Bulletin of Narcotic Drugs states over 200 million cannabis users in the world.

First UK cannabis arrest recorded by the original chronology at Number 11 Club, Soho, London.

Hemp farming outlawed again in the account preserved by the original chronology.

Hippies, Vietnam Veterans and pop fans adopt cannabis.

UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs brings cannabis into the modern international drug-control treaty system.

President Kennedy removes Anslinger from leadership of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. The original chronology also says Kennedy used cannabis for pain relief.

Kennedy assassinated.

Thelin Brothers open first US 'Head Shop'.

THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, first isolated and characterised in modern cannabinoid research.

Donovan becomes first UK celebrity noted by the chronology as being arrested for cannabis.

SOMA Times petition in the UK urges legalisation of cannabis. The Beatles sign it. Around 3,000 people hold a smoke-in in Hyde Park. Keith Richards and Mick Jagger are arrested; a Times editorial asks 'Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?'.

The chronology records 2,393 UK cannabis arrests and a Yippie publicity action in the United States.

John Lennon arrested for cannabis possession.

UK Government Wootton Report recommends substantially reducing penalties for cannabis possession and reviews evidence from earlier commissions.

Campaigns to stop US soldiers in Vietnam from using cannabis are followed in the chronology by reports of some switching to heroin.

Home Secretary James Callaghan rejects key recommendations of the Wootton Report.

George Harrison arrested for cannabis.

Social use of cannabis receives widespread attention despite illegality; decriminalisation debates expand in the USA and Britain.

Canadian LeDain Commission examines non-medical cannabis use and recommends major changes to possession policy.

R. Keith Stroup founds NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, in the USA.

US Marihuana Tax Act had been declared unconstitutional; federal Controlled Substances Act replaces the previous tax framework.

British Misuse of Drugs Act creates the modern classification framework and places cannabis in Class B.

UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances.

US President Richard Nixon says he is against legalising marijuana.

Baan Commission presents a report to the Dutch Minister of Health suggesting differentiated treatment of cannabis.

Oregon considers and adopts major reform of penalties for small amounts of cannabis.

US Shafer Commission recommends decriminalising personal possession and casual distribution of small amounts for no or insignificant remuneration.

US Senate report on Marijuana-Hashish Epidemic and its Impact on US Security makes claims about brain, motivation, genetic and reproductive effects that became part of the period's political debate.

Hundreds of US doctors call for more research on cannabis.

Alaska legalises private possession in the home through a state constitutional privacy ruling; later law changes alter the position.

Marco Pannella conducts public civil-disobedience campaigning for drug-law reform in Italy.

Jamaica studies are cited by the original chronology as reporting good health among long-term cannabis users.

The Netherlands adopts a formal toleration approach distinguishing cannabis from higher-risk drugs; coffeeshops later become central to the model.

New York Times coverage reflects the era's scientific debate over marijuana harms.

Federal restrictions limit some US cannabis research; Robert Randall becomes the first US patient to receive federal cannabis under an Investigational New Drug arrangement.

President Carter supports removing criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Australian Senate Standing Committee on Social Welfare recommends treating drug use more as a social/medical issue and replacing some criminal sanctions for cannabis possession.

New Mexico creates a medical cannabis research program.

New South Wales parliamentary inquiry recommends eliminating criminal sanctions for personal cannabis use while retaining trafficking penalties.

Paul McCartney arrested for cannabis and spends 10 days in prison in Japan.

Costa Rica study cited by the chronology reports good health in cannabis users.

10 May: Smokey Bears in Hyde Park.

The Coptic Study is cited by the chronology as reporting no harm to brain or intelligence through cannabis use.

An Analysis of Marijuana Policy, National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, evaluates alternatives to prohibition.

In the UK over 20,000 convictions for possession are recorded by the chronology.

The original page states that the Reagan/Bush government ordered US universities to destroy cannabis research from 1966–76.

The chronology cites Winters and DiFranza on radioactive material in tobacco.

8 July: UK Drug Trafficking Offences Act introduced to enable confiscation of assets from drug dealers.

The Merck Manual is quoted in the original chronology discussing cannabis dependence and the political/moral dimensions of opposition.

6 September: DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis Young recommends allowing medicinal use of marijuana; the DEA does not adopt his recommendation.

20 December: UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances adopted in Vienna.

UK: 23,229 people arrested for cannabis offences, according to the original chronology.

Reagan/Bush-era drug-war policies include paraphernalia restrictions, drug testing, property seizure and large-scale enforcement. Secretary of State James A. Baker is quoted saying the global war on narcotic production is 'clearly not being won'.

Jack Herer, in The Emperor Wears No Clothes, offers a $10,000 reward connected with his arguments for hemp's environmental potential.

Alaska recriminalises cannabis possession after a ballot measure, modifying the position created by earlier privacy case law.

US voters begin passing state and regional measures allowing medicinal cannabis. Industrial-hemp and medical-use campaigns add support to broader legal-reform movements.

Cannabinoid receptors had been identified and research into the endocannabinoid system expands.

UK: 40,000 people arrested for cannabis, according to the original chronology.

'Mr Marijuana' Howard Marks is arrested, extradited from Spain to the USA and later imprisoned for cannabis trafficking.

UK Judge James Pickles advocates legalisation of drugs.

UK MP Tony Banks advocates legalisation of cannabis.

US Investigational New Drug cannabis program is closed to new applicants.

22 January: California Research Advisory Panel is cited as reporting that prohibition can have harmful effects on society and individuals.

19 February: UK Government issues licences to grow cannabis for industrial uses or scientific research.

The Economist, 28 March 1992, is quoted: "Medicines often produce side effects... Cannabis too has discomforting side effects, but these are not physical they are political."

USA: over 340,000 cannabis arrests recorded by the chronology.

Australia licenses a hemp farm.

US Investigational New Drug program closes to new cannabis patients.

President Clinton says he smoked cannabis but did not inhale; Howard Marks jokes that he smoked but never exhaled.

Seventeen European cities sign the Frankfurt Resolution/Charter promoting alternative urban drug policies.

Jim Montgomery, a paraplegic medical cannabis user, receives an extremely long Oklahoma sentence, later becoming a reform cause célèbre.

Britain eases restrictions on industrial-hemp farming. Hemcore is among the first British companies licensed; hemp clothes appear in High Street shops.

Commander John Grieve of the Metropolitan Police calls for decriminalisation of cannabis.

Raymond Kendall, then head of Interpol, is reported by the chronology as supporting decriminalisation.

Lord Woolf calls for legalisation of cannabis.

Groups of British MPs call for a Royal Commission on cannabis/drug policy.

German Constitutional Court proceedings contribute to debate over small-quantity cannabis possession and proportionality.

British MPs call for cannabis to be recognised and allowed for treatment of multiple sclerosis.

Home Secretary Michael Howard announces tougher drug policy and increases the maximum fine for possession of cannabis.

Over 72,000 UK citizens arrested for cannabis offences, according to the chronology.

Canada permits a hemp farm in Ontario province.

The Netherlands lowers the tolerated possession/sale quantity associated with coffeeshop policy from 30 grams to 5 grams.

UK Channel 4 Pot Night (March) and BBC Panorama's High Risk (April).

Home Secretary Michael Howard increases penalties for cannabis offences.

Clare Short MP calls for a Royal Commission on cannabis and is reprimanded by Labour party leadership.

European Cannabis Consumers' Union founded in Amsterdam.

Dennis Peron develops the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club for medical users.

European institutions commission comparative work on drug legislation and practice.

16 September: first CHIC (Cannabis Hemp Information Club) conference in London.

The chronology cites more than 1.4 million cannabis arrests during the Clinton administration to that point, most for possession.

The Lancet publishes an editorial containing the sentence: "The smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health"; a later 1998 editorial explicitly qualifies that wording.

Henrion Commission, a French state commission on drug policy, supports decriminalisation and proposes a trial of regulated cannabis retail; the French Government rejects the proposals.

Victoria (Australia) State Council urges decriminalisation of cannabis.

17 May: Sow the Seeds Day, London. CLCIA announces parliamentary candidates for the forthcoming General Election.

UK Liberal Democrats call for a Royal Commission on cannabis.

Lord McCluskey calls for consideration of decriminalisation in the UK.

Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence Drug Notes says cannabis use often precedes other illegal-drug use but does not necessarily, or usually, lead to it.

Janet Paraskeva, magistrate and director of the National Youth Agency, calls for 'legalisation and not decriminalisation'.

George Howarth MP is quoted saying Labour did not want a Royal Commission that might recommend legalisation.

Luxembourg parliament passes a motion calling for common measures for liberalisation of cannabis and harmonisation of Benelux drug laws.

UK Cannabis Awareness Month (September), marking the anniversary of cannabis prohibition.

Ireland explores hemp as a possible biomass crop alongside declining peat resources.

Delfzij town council develops a municipal coffeeshop proposal; the Netherlands continues to reduce the number of coffeeshops under domestic and international pressure. The Canton of Zurich debates legalisation.

UK Crown Prosecution Service drops some possession/cultivation cases involving seriously ill people where prosecution is judged not in the public interest.

California and Arizona pass medical-cannabis ballot measures; federal authorities threaten sanctions against doctors who prescribe or recommend cannabis.

A Swiss man, Zimmermann, receives a life sentence in the Maldives after cannabis seeds are found in his luggage.

Legalise Ganja Jamaica formed.

New Zealand Legalise Cannabis Party receives votes in the general election but no parliamentary seat.

Italian MPs call for legalisation of cannabis.

The Sunday Times reports that 16 of 45 UK judges questioned wanted cannabis legalised.

CLCIA offices are destroyed by fire.

Scottish National Party conference votes for cultivation for personal use and research into medical uses of cannabis.

An eight-year UCLA School of Medicine study reports on long-term marijuana smoking and lung function. The original chronology quotes the researchers as finding no significantly different annual rate of decline in lung function among continuing marijuana smokers compared with non-smokers.

A Texas court sentences medical marijuana user William J. Foster to 93 years imprisonment for cultivation; the sentence is later reduced after appeals.

Two Swiss cantons move towards permitting possession of small amounts and ask the national government to reform policy.

German state-level policy and court decisions continue to reduce penalties for small amounts of cannabis in some regions.

After appeals for clemency, the Maldives releases Zimmermann, previously given a life sentence after cannabis seeds were found in his luggage.

Norwich City Council disputes a CLCIA stall after cannabis seeds had been distributed as fishing bait; the council later allows the stall with conditions.

A US animal toxicology study of THC is cited in the chronology as failing to show the cancer outcome prohibition advocates had expected.

Paul Flynn MP introduces an Early Day Motion calling for recognition of medicinal cannabis and congratulating voters in California and Arizona.

US federal drug authorities resist state medical-cannabis reforms in California and Arizona and threaten action against doctors.

UK Legalise Cannabis Party, sponsored by CLCIA, nominates Howard Marks in four constituencies in the General Election; the chronology reports an average vote around 1.3%.

A new Labour Government is elected and Prime Minister Tony Blair says cannabis will not be legalised.

The Church of Scotland is reported as supporting debate on legalising cannabis.

Rob Christopher, founder of CHIC, changes his name to Free Rob Cannabis and distributes cannabis cookies on the steps of the Department of Health as a protest.

US Marines use helicopters to destroy marijuana crops in Hawaii despite local objections.

Kaiser Permanente study "Marijuana Use and Mortality" is cited as finding relatively few adverse clinical effects documented from chronic marijuana use while also noting social harms linked to criminalisation.

A plaque is placed on a park bench in Chapelfield Gardens, Norwich, commemorating Howard Marks standing as a Legalise Cannabis candidate.

British Medical Association recommends allowing cannabinoids/cannabis-derived medicines to be researched and used medically under appropriate controls.

New South Wales reforms penalties for young cannabis offenders; contemporary reporting describes strong public support for decriminalisation.

After a drug-related shooting in Bolton, Labour MP Brian Iddon calls for a Royal Commission on drugs with a view to decriminalisation. A Sun poll reports more than 40% support for decriminalisation.

Marco Pannella is sentenced in Rome for distributing hashish during a civil-disobedience action.

Paul McCartney reconfirms his call to decriminalise cannabis.

The Independent on Sunday launches a sustained campaign to decriminalise personal cannabis use, backed by public figures, doctors and academics.

A Norwich picnic marks the anniversary of cannabis prohibition; in Hyde Park, London, campaigners distribute cannabis cakes to medical users and stage civil-disobedience protests.

Lord Bingham of Cornhill backs calls for a public debate on cannabis legalisation.

European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties discusses liberalisation of laws concerning cannabis/soft drugs.

French Secretary of State for Public Health Bernard Kouchner is reported supporting medical cannabis and wider harm-reduction approaches.

Independent on Sunday holds its "Should cannabis be decriminalised?" conference in Westminster.

DEA asks the US Department of Health and Human Services for a scientific and medical evaluation in a marijuana rescheduling proceeding.

Home Secretary Jack Straw's son William is reported to have sold a small amount of cannabis to a newspaper reporter; he later receives a caution.

At an International Symposium on Cannabis and the Brain in Madrid, scientists debate medical cannabis, cannabinoids and dependence.

Victoria Police Commissioner Neil Comrie says conventional drug enforcement has failed and develops a plan to keep some drug users out of court.

Conservative MP David Prior becomes another British MP to acknowledge having smoked cannabis while opposing legalisation.

More than 100 French artists and intellectuals sign a petition admitting use of soft drugs and offering themselves for prosecution.

About 20,000 people march from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square in the Decriminalise Cannabis March organised by the Independent on Sunday, CLCIA and others.

Speakers in Trafalgar Square include Howard Marks, Rosie Boycott, Paul Flynn MP and Caroline Coon.

Rosie Boycott addresses the Trafalgar Square rally on the Independent on Sunday campaign.

A Nottingham judge gives a liver-transplant patient a conditional discharge after accepting that cannabis cultivation was motivated by pain relief.

Czech President Václav Havel vetoes a law criminalising drug possession for personal use and returns it to Parliament, citing rights and public-policy concerns.

Alan Blythe, who grew cannabis for his wife Judith, an MS sufferer, is acquitted on several cultivation/supply charges but fined for possession.

Belgium announces a policy under which possession for personal use receives much lower enforcement priority; later laws formalise aspects of this approach.

A San Francisco medical marijuana club reopens under another name after a court order closes its predecessor.

Italy continues reforms reducing criminal penalties for personal drug possession and debates the position of small-scale cultivation.

Danny Tungate polls 7.6% as a Legalise Cannabis candidate in Catton Grove ward, Norwich.

UK Government grants GW Pharmaceuticals a licence to grow and possess cannabis for medical trials.

Oakland officials develop legal strategies to protect medical-cannabis providers amid federal enforcement pressure.

German medical-cannabis campaigners submit petitions to Berlin and federal authorities seeking legal access.

Colin Davies is acquitted of cultivation after telling a jury about his medical need; the chronology links this to discussion of jurors' rights.

Welsh cannabis campaigners attempt private/public prosecutions against politicians and officials over cannabis prohibition.

Release and the Lindesmith Institute organise the symposium 'Options for Control in the 21st Century' in London.

CLCIA chairman challenges a local judge on cannabis safety.

House of Lords Science and Technology Committee publishes Cannabis: The Scientific and Medical Evidence, recommending urgent clinical trials and changes to permit medical use while opposing recreational legalisation.

The Lancet qualifies its 1995 editorial and states that, on the evidence available at the time, "moderate indulgence in cannabis has little ill-effect on health", while identifying recognised risks.

Prince Charles tells an MS sufferer that he has heard cannabis can help.

USA: medicinal-marijuana advocate Steve Kubby and his wife are arrested.

UK: a 55-year-old arthritis sufferer is jailed for using cannabis to relieve pain.

Alaska's medical marijuana law takes effect.

A US federal judge allows a medical-marijuana-related case to proceed.

US Institute of Medicine report is widely reported as finding potential medical uses for cannabinoids and recommending further research.

Contemporary reports note that only a small number of US patients still receive federal cannabis through the Investigational New Drug program.

Germany: Health Minister is reported supporting medical marijuana research/access.

Canada: a study is reported comparing driving risk among cannabis users and drinkers.

USA: farmers lobby for legal cultivation of industrial hemp.

Florida Supreme Court hears a medical-marijuana case.

The Legalise Cannabis Alliance becomes an official political party in the UK.

UK: pro-cannabis lobby announces plans to stand in Norwich.

Switzerland: political debate continues over legalising cannabis.

Many thousands march for legalisation around the world.

UK local elections: Legalise Cannabis Alliance candidates stand in local contests and the chronology records an average vote around 3.5%.

Nevada Assembly considers legislation easing marijuana penalties.

UK Government objects to a cannabis bill; MPs support medical-cannabis reform. Eric Mann's parole case is also noted in the original chronology.

Canada: two patients receive federal permission connected with medical cannabis.

Kentucky: a hemp museum opens, highlighting the history of the crop.

New Zealand: advice to review cannabis law is repeated.

UK: cannabis inhalers/extracts enter early legal health testing.

Canada: compassion-club model expands for medical cannabis.

Scotland: doctors are reported backing legal access to cannabis for medical use.

Jamaica: an official encourages cultivation of hemp.

UK: prison authorities debate drug-testing policy.

UK: MS patients recruited to test cannabis-based medicine.

Jamaican Senate unanimously approves a resolution establishing a commission to explore decriminalisation of marijuana.

Legalise Cannabis Alliance candidate Colin Paisley gains 141 votes in the Kensington and Chelsea by-election.

Canada: hepatitis C patient wins a legal ruling connected with medical cannabis.

UK: first conference of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance.

UK: an inquiry calls for a softer line on drugs; Prime Minister Blair rejects major liberalisation.

Switzerland: parliament moves towards cannabis-law reform.

Malaysia: a man receives a life sentence for growing cannabis.

Malawi: minister campaigns for legalisation of marijuana/hemp.

Legalise Cannabis Alliance fields candidates in Norwich and Peterborough local elections; Derrick Large also stands in the Romsey by-election.

Cannabis-law reform marches take place in cities around the world.

Canada: medical-cannabis grower is cleared in court.

Netherlands: parliamentary cannabis vote creates tensions within government policy.

California: federal judge clears the way for an Oakland medical-cannabis club to distribute to seriously ill patients under specified conditions.

California: appeals court issues an important medical-marijuana ruling.

Dutch, Swiss and German governments continue to debate cannabis policy reform.

California: doctors' free-speech rights in recommending medical cannabis receive judicial protection.

Guam: high-court ruling addresses a Rastafarian religious-use claim involving cannabis.

US federal courts continue to protect doctors' ability to discuss or recommend cannabis under state medical laws.

UK: an MS sufferer is cleared of a cannabis charge.

Canadian Government announces plans to formalise legal medical-marijuana use.

UK: a scientist is reported comparing cannabis risks with aspirin and other legal medicines.

California: a study of cannabis benefits for AIDS patients receives federal approval.

Canada: legal medical-marijuana production operation opens.

Canada: a company grows medical cannabis in a mine shaft under federal contract.

Belgium moves towards decriminalising low-level cannabis possession.

Switzerland: further proposals to legalise or regulate cannabis.

Mexico: political leaders debate legalisation of drugs.

UK: House of Lords members urge legal medical use of cannabis.

Canada: gravely ill patients are to receive legal medical cannabis access.

USA: New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson urges legalisation of marijuana.

A study of cannabis users' health is reported in the press.

UK: Home Secretary praises a policing scheme that gives lower priority to cannabis possession while targeting more serious crime.

UK: former drug-policy officials reject a simple 'gateway' claim that cannabis inevitably leads to heroin.

Canada: authorised medical-marijuana users are to receive photo identification cards.

UK: Lambeth policing experiment gives lower priority to cannabis possession to target other crime.

Fiji: marijuana becomes an election issue amid harsh rhetoric from some political figures.

France: Health Minister Bernard Kouchner criticises aspects of existing drug law.

Netherlands: government plans to make standardised medicinal cannabis available by prescription.

Indonesia: marijuana trafficker receives a death sentence.

UK: a study is reported as finding no simple causal link from cannabis use to harder drugs.

Norway: commission is reported preparing to call for decriminalisation.

Kenya: hashish traffickers receive long prison sentences.

UK Liberal Democrats back major drug-law reforms.

Canada: doctors call for marijuana decriminalisation.

UK: an official report recommends reclassifying cannabis.

Mexico: Chihuahua considers cannabis-law reform.

Philippines: severe penalties, including death-penalty provisions, remain part of drug-law debate.

Home Secretary David Blunkett announces plans to reclassify cannabis; Conservative spokesman Oliver Letwin replies in Parliament.

Australia: police close a cannabis cafe.

UK Drugs Tsar Keith Hellawell resigns amid disagreement over plans to reclassify cannabis.

Canada: judge issues a ruling affecting the legal status of medical cannabis.

Israeli Government approves cannabis use for some terminally ill patients.

Colin Davies, who opened the Dutch Experience cannabis cafe in Stockport, is sentenced to three years in prison for cannabis offences.

Kenya considers legalising bhang/cannabis.

UK doctors report encouraging results from cannabis-extract trials involving MS and pain patients.

US research is reported as challenging a simple gateway theory linking cannabis use inevitably to harder drugs.

Canadian judge orders police to return medical cannabis.

Oakland city authorities' earlier deputisation of medical-marijuana club founders becomes relevant to later federal litigation.

US jurors in the Ed Rosenthal cultivation trial become angry after learning they were not told of his relationship with Oakland authorities.

UN International Narcotics Control Board questions aspects of Canada's medical-marijuana policy.

US police arrest suppliers of cannabis paraphernalia in a federal enforcement operation.

Pharmacies in the Netherlands begin selling standardised medical cannabis; contemporary reports compare prices with coffeeshops.

Danish drug dealers stage a strike/protest reported in the international press.

Jamaica: bill proposed to reform law on private ganja use.

Russia: a small town places a cannabis/hemp image on its flag, according to the contemporary news report cited by the original chronology.