Title: Robert C. Randall and Alice O'Leary-Randall Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1965-2006

Creators:

• Randall, R. C. (Robert Carl), 1948-2001
• O'Leary-Randall, Alice M.

Call Number: M2014-074

Quantity: 5.4 cubic feet (5 records center cartons and 1 archives box), 42 negatives (1 folder), and 18.68 megabytes

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers, 1965-2006, of Robert C. Randall and his wife Alice O'Leary-Randall, documenting legal efforts for the use of medical marijuana in the treatment of Robert's glaucoma. Included are the records of the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics (ACT), jointly operated by the couple; legal and subject files; and books written or edited by Robert Randall and Alice O'Leary-Randall. Also included are materials on Paralyzed Americans for Legal Medical Marijuana (PALM), Quilt Weekend, Marijuana AIDS Research Service (MARS), and the Therapeutic Use of Marijuana Official States Reports Index.

Note:

There is a restriction on access to and use of this material; see the Administrative/Restriction Information portion of this finding aid for details.

Forms part of the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy Archives collection.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-m2014074

Robert Carl Randall was born on January 23, 1948 in Sarasota, Florida, to Carl and Thelma Randall. Randall received a B.A. in Speech in 1969 and a M.A. in Rhetoric and the Oral Interpretation of Literature in 1971 from the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. In 1972, Randall moved to Washington, D.C. to find work as a speechwriter. Unable to find work in his field, he drove a taxi for the Red Top Cab Company. After suffering for years with “eyestrain,” Randall at 24 years old was diagnosed with glaucoma and told that he would be blind within five years. After the eye-drops made Randall almost blind and unable to drive, he went on disability and food stamps. In 1973, Randall first found that smoking marijuana helped his eyesight. In February of 1974, Randall and Alice O'Leary moved to a large apartment on Capitol Hill. Randall had found work as a speech teacher at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Maryland, and wrote theater reviews for suburban weekly newspapers. While on vacation with O'Leary in 1975, marijuana plants were found on Randall's patio during a raid of a neighboring apartment. A search warrant for their apartment was left on the kitchen table along with a request from the D.C. police to turn themselves in.

Randall began his search for help to prove his medical need for the illegal drug by going to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), headquartered on M Street NW in Washington, D.C., and received a copy of the Director's file labeled “medical use” and the telephone numbers of several people in the government who had information. One sent Randall the most recent edition of “Marijuana & Health: Report to Congress” that gave an overview of the history of medical use and provided a list of ongoing investigations into marijuana's medical utility. To help his lawyer and the Court accept this idea, Randall found supporting research and went through a battery of tests run by a UCLA researcher to corroborate his claim. They presented the court with the innovative claim that his glaucoma was alleviated by smoking marijuana. In 1976, Randall opted for a non-jury trial and after deliberating four months, D.C. Superior Court Judge James Washington ruled that Randall had established his defense and found him not guilty of possession of marijuana by reason of medical necessity. Randall's attorneys successfully petitioned the FDA to include him in a research program that gave him ten marijuana cigarettes a day to treat his glaucoma. The federal marijuana was grown on a University of Mississippi farm, made into cigarettes at a facility in North Carolina and mailed to pharmacies near Randall enabling him to fill his prescription. This made Randall the first legal medical marijuana smoker in the United States since 1937. In 1978, when his eye doctor moved out of state, Randal successfully sued the federal government for dropping him from the FDA program using a pro-bono lawyer from Steptoe & Johnson. After winning the case, Randall was reinstated in the program in 1978. The case addressed two fundamental concerns: 1) it established a reasonable means of legally obtaining federal supplies of marijuana under a doctor's supervision; 2) it virtually guaranteed Randall the right to speak freely about marijuana's therapeutic utility.

In 1980, Randall and O'Leary, with the help of Steptoe, formed the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics (ACT). ACT was an organization that lobbied hard for federal legislation, drafted by Steptoe, to establish a program of federal access to marijuana for those with life- or sense-threatening diseases. The bill, H.R. 4498, was introduced in 1981 by four Republicans including a young Representative from the state of Georgia named Newt Gingrich. The bill would eventually have 110 co-sponsors. Hearings were not held because Committee Chairman Henry Waxman perceived the bill as a Republican effort and also worried that the bill would detract from his own interests in re-establishing heroin as a legitimate therapeutic agent. Late in the mid-1980s, Steptoe attorneys took over the long-languishing NORML effort to re-schedule marijuana. It was their commitment to the issue that allowed the hearing before DEA Administrative Law Judge Frances Young to become the single most comprehensive hearing on marijuana's therapeutic application since the India Commission of 1893.

Throughout the years, Randall wrote several articles and six books including Marijuana Rx: The Patient's Fight for Medicinal Pot, documenting his experience and co-written with his wife Alice O'Leary. In the 1990s Randall started the Marijuana AIDS Research Service (MARS), which helped AIDS patients apply for the FDA program providing marijuana for medical use. Despite initial approval for the program it was ultimately cut. Closing this program led activists to shift gears and sponsor various State ballot initiatives including California's Proposition 215, allowing for medical use of marijuana. In 2001, the United States Supreme Court ruled it was illegal under federal law to distribute marijuana regardless of medical necessity.

Robert Randall died of AIDS complications on June 2, 2001 in Sarasota, Florida. He was survived by a brother, Dick Randall; sister, Susan Randall; and his wife Alice O'Leary-Randall. The efforts of ACT are currently managed by Mary Lynn Mathre and Al Byrne who have taken a further step by organizing the scientists and members of the medical profession who are key in resolving the issue of medical marijuana and legitimizing this therapy by developing new delivery methods. In 2012, the Robert C. Randall Memorial Wellness Center opened in Lansing, Michigan. In 2014, Alice O'Leary completed the book, Medical Marijuana in America: Memoir of a Pioneer.

The Robert C. Randall and Alice O'Leary-Randall Papers document legal efforts for the use of medical marijuana in the treatment of Robert's glaucoma. The papers are organized in five series: ALLIANCE FOR CANNABIS THERAPEUTICS (ACT), LEGAL FILES, SUBJECT FILES, WRITINGS, and VISUAL MATERIALS.

The ALLIANCE FOR CANNABIS THERAPEUTICS (ACT) series includes Advisory Board materials, Board minutes, articles of incorporation, by-laws, policies and procedures, press releases, reports, communiques with members, brochures, editorials, news briefs, and articles on legalizing medical marijuana, Paralyzed Americans for Legal Medical Marijuana (PALM) materials, Quilt Weekend materials and Marijuana AIDS Research Service (MARS) information.

The LEGAL FILES series consists of evidence, testimony, and transcripts surrounding the Randall case, ACT, and other state and national challenges to the law.

The SUBJECT FILES series includes articles and correspondence about legalizing drugs for medical use, articles about medical marijuana, interviews of and an article about Robert Randall, FOIA materials, information about marijuana and health, Political Action materials, promotional flyers, copies of State studies and laws, and the Therapeutic Use of Marijuana Official States Reports Index.

The WRITINGS series includes two theses and books written or edited by Robert Randall and Alice O'Leary-Randall.

The VISUAL MATERIALS series consists of negatives from Quilt Weekend, a public awareness event about medical marijuana.

Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics (ACT) collection, Wellcome Library, London, England

Access Restrictions

Box 1 Folder 14 in accession M2014-074 contains confidential medical records and is restricted according to the privacy rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Consult electronic records archivist for access to electronic files.

Use Restrictions

The donor, Alice O'Leary-Randall, retains copyright until the time of her death at which time copyright and renewal rights to the donated materials are granted to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Alice O'Leary-Randall, November 1, 2013. Accession Number: M2014-074

M2014-074	Series: Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics (ACT)
Box   1 Folder   1	ACT Advisory Board, 1980-1982, 1995
Box   1 Folder   2	ACT Advisory Board memos, 1980-1982
Box   1 Folder   2	ACT brochures with articles and information, 1980-1983
Box   1 Folder   2	Articles about Medical Marijuana, IND (Investigational New Drug) process for Schedule I Drugs, and the Controlled Substances Therapeutic Research Program, 1975-1983
Box   1 Folder   3	Articles on legalizing medical marijuana, 1976-1984
Box   1 Folder   4	ACT articles of incorporation and by-laws, 1980
Electronic	Administrative, 1991-1993
Box   1 Folder   5	Cartoons, 1988-1990
Box   1 Folder   5	Marinol, Nida, 1990-1992
Box   1 Folder   6	Compassionate IND legal issue, 1991-1992
Box   1 Folder   7	Consroe, 1994-1995
Box   1 Folder   8	ACT contributions, 1995
Electronic	Correspondence, 1991-1994
Electronic	Documents, 1990-1995
Box   1 Folder   9	Drug Policy Fund, 1988-1992
Box   1 Folder   10	ACT early stuff, 1981-1983
Box   1 Folder   11	Editorials, 1977-1992
Box   1 Folder   12	Endorsements, 1982, 1991-1994
Box   1 Folder   13	Federal policy on state legislation, 1978-1980
Box   1 Folder   14	IND application information, 1990-1991 Access Restrictions: Folder contains confidential medical records and is restricted according to the privacy rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
	IND archives
Electronic	AIDS, 1990
Electronic	Cancer, 1990-1991
Electronic	Epilepsy, 1991
Electronic	Glaucoma, 1988-1992
Electronic	Pain, 1990-1992
Electronic	Patients, 1992
Electronic	Spasticity, 1989-1991, undated
Electronic	IND model chapters, 1991-1995
Box   1 Folder   15-17	Legal papers, loose, 1976-1991
Box   1 Folder   18	ACT mailings, clippings, etc., news briefs and history, 1982-1983
Box   1 Folder   19	MARS (Marijuana: AIDS Research Service)--A Project of the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics and Richard J. Dennis, 1990-1992
Electronic	Media, 1991-1995
Box   1 Folder   20	ACT Board minutes, 1980-1994
Box   1 Folder   21	DEA case miscellaneous items, 1978-1986
Box   1 Folder   22	Model protocols, 1988
Box   1 Folder   23	Stationery, brochures, mailers, etc., 1981-1982, 1994-1995
Box   1 Folder   24	PALM (Paralyzed Americans for Legal Medical Marijuana), 1991-1993
Box   1 Folder   25	ACT policy and procedures, reports, flyers and communiqués with members, 1991-1995
Box   1 Folder   26	PHS (Public Health Services of Department of Health and Human Services?) decision, 1991-1993
Box   1 Folder   27-29	ACT press releases, 1980-1995
Box   2 Folder   1	ACT product sales, 1995
Box   2 Folder   2	Quilt Weekend, 1988, 1991-1993
Box   2 Folder   3	ACT receipts, 1993-1997
Box   2 Folder   4	ACT reports, 1993-1997
Box   2 Folder   5	San Francisco resolution, 1989-1992
Box   2 Folder   6	Santa Cruz initiative, 1992-1993
Box   2 Folder   7	ACT and Steptoe, 1980-1984
Box   2 Folder   8	Steptoe & Johnson, 1978-1988
Box   2 Folder   9-10	ACT submission to American Society of Clinical Oncologists, 1978-1984
	Series: Legal Files	⇧
	Robert Randall Cases
Box   2 Folder   11	Randall medical necessity case, 1976
Box   2 Folder   12	Robert Randall testimony, 1980-1982
Box   2 Folder   13	Robert Randall testimony, résumé, and glaucoma, marijuana and public policy, 1977, 1980
Box   6 Folder   5	Robert Randall testimony, 1980-1982
Box   6 Folder   5	Article, Sunday Oregonian, 1979
Box   6 Folder   1-2	Civil trial materials for Robert C. Randall v. United States of America, 1976-1978
Box   2 Folder   14	Criminal trial, 1975-1976
Box   2 Folder   14	Randall case, 1975-1981, 1992
Box   2 Folder   14	U.S. v. Randall, 1972-1979
Box   6 Folder   3-4	Criminal trial materials for cases for and against Randall, 1975-1980
Box   2 Folder   15	Fine, Ben S. M.D. v. Randall, Robert, 1976-1979
	ACT Cases
Box   2 Folder   16-19	ACT v. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) - Court of Appeals proceedings, 1991-1993
Box   2 Folder   20	DEA decision, 1988-1990
Electronic	DEA brief, 1988
Electronic	DEA rebuttal brief, 1988
Box   2 Folder   21	FDA hearings and rescheduling, 1982
Box   2 Folder   22-23	Re-scheduling marijuana (MJ) information, 1971-1986
Box   2 Folder   24-26	ACT submission to FDA, 1980-1984
	Other Cases
Box   2 Folder   27	Florida v. Mussika, 1988
Box   3 Folder   1-2	Grinspoon, Lester v. DEA- MDMA-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, 1985-1988
Box   3 Folder   3	Idaho v. Hastings, Lynn, 1989-1990
Box   3 Folder   4	Jenks v. Florida and Court of Appeals decision, 1990-1993
Box   3 Folder   5	Massachusetts v. Hutchins, Joseph T., 1982-1986, 1990-1992
Box   3 Folder   6	Minnesota v. Hanson, Gordon, 1988-1991
Box   3 Folder   7	Miscellaneous cases, 1977-1994
Box   3 Folder   8	Morris, Rick v. Johnson County, Kentucky, 1988
Box   3 Folder   9	National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) v. DEA and Department of Health and Human Services, 1976-1989
Box   3 Folder   10	New Jersey v. Michael Tate, 1984-1986
Box   3 Folder   11	Olsen, Carl E. v. DEA, 1984, 1989-1994
Box   3 Folder   12	Supreme Court Case-U.S. v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, 2000-2001
Box   3 Folder   13	Washington v. Diana, Samuel D., 1977, 1980-1981
Electronic	Young decision, 1989
	Series: Subject Files	⇧
Box   3 Folder   14	Articles about medical marijuana and Robert Randall, 1980
Box   3 Folder   15	Articles and correspondence regarding legalizing drugs for medical use, 1977-1995
Box   3 Folder   16	Articles and correspondence regarding medical marijuana and Robert Randall, 1980-1984
Box   3 Folder   17	Articles and memos regarding medical marijuana and Robert Randall, 1973-1979
Box   3 Folder   18-19	Articles by Robert Randall, 1976-1995
Box   3 Folder   20	Busted in Boston, 1979
Box   3 Folder   21	Bourne, Peter, M.D., Director, Office of Drug Abuse Policy, 1977-1979
Box   3 Folder   22	Cannabis Research Foundation, Australia, 1976-1980
Box   3 Folder   23-24	Correspondence with federal officials about medical marijuana and H.R. 4498, 1981-1983, 1988-1989
Box   4 Folder   1	Eighth and Ninth Combined Quarterly Report, a Double-blind Study of the Acute Cumulative and Possible Therapeutic Effects of Marijuana and Delta-9 Tetrarydrocannabinol, 1973
Box   4 Folder   2-3	FOIA materials, 1978-1985, 1992
Box   4 Folder   4	Gingrich, Newt, correspondence and information about H.R. 4498 proposal to legalize medical marijuana, 1981-1983
Box   4 Folder   5	Hepler, Robert S. M.D., 1975-1987
Box   4 Folder   6	Historical accounts, 1851-1980
Box   4 Folder   7	H.R. 4498, 1981-1982
Box   4 Folder   7	Enforcement of H.R. 4498, 1982, 1984
Box   4 Folder   8	H.R. 4498 oppositions, 1978-1983
Box   4 Folder   9	Interviews of, and an article about, Robert Randall, 1991, 2006
Box   4 Folder   9	Rho Pi Phi Galen award, 1982
Box   4 Folder   10-13	Marijuana, general, 1974-1982, 1986
Box   4 Folder   14-15	Marijuana and health, 1972-1982, 1987-1989
Box   4 Folder   16	“Marijuana and Heroin as a Medicine? The Diffusion of an Innovative Idea” / by Dee Ellison, 1979-1980
Box   4 Folder   17	“Marijuana: A Question of Currently Accepted Medical Use” / by Rick Doblin for ACT, 1990
Box   4 Folder   17	“Handbook of Smokefree Marijuana Therapy Alternatives” / by Bill Drake, 1991
Box   4 Folder   18	Mustachio, Vince, 1976-1977
Box   4 Folder   19	Pierson, Lynn, New Mexico chemotherapy, 1977-1981
Box   4 Folder   20	NEI/NIDA Conference THC and Glaucoma, 1981
Box   4 Folder   21	NIH fact sheets, 1991-1993
Box   4 Folder   22	Nutt, Mae and A., 1979-1983, 1988-1992
Box   4 Folder   23	Perez-Reyes, Mario, 1972-1976, 1980
Box   4 Folder   24	Political Action: Attorney General (Petition), 1977
Box   4 Folder   24	A Petition Regarding the Rescheduling of Marijuana for Purpose of Therapeutic Application, 1977
Box   4 Folder   24	Regarding the purposed rescheduling of marijuana, 1977
Box   4 Folder   24	Petition, 1977-1978
Box   4 Folder   25	Prescription, Robert Randall, 1978
Box   4 Folder   26	Promotional flyers, 1976-2001
Box   5 Folder   1-2	Published studies, 1973-1999
Box   5 Folder   3-4	Reprints, original articles, 1973-1989
Box   5 Folder   5	Rescheduling press stories, 1987-1988
Box   5 Folder   6-7	State studies, 1977-1993
Box   5 Folder   8-9	State laws, 1979-1982, 1987
Box   5 Folder   10	THC (Delta 9-Tetrahydrocannabinol Synthetic Marijuana), Nabilone (Chemical Analogue of THC), 1978-1980
Box   5 Folder   11	Therapeutic Use of Marijuana Official States Reports Index, 1978-1983, 1987
Box   5 Folder   12	Treaty Obligations for Therapeutic Uses of Marijuana, 1980, 1988
Box   5 Folder   13	UCLA Study Materials Marijuana Research Project, 1960s-1970s
Box   5 Folder   14-15	Winthrop, Roger, 1979-1984
	Series: Writings	⇧
	Theses
Box   5 Folder   16	“An Analysis of the Ultimate Terms in a Selection of Presidential Speeches on Vietnam War Policy, 1965-1967” / by Robert Carl Randall, senior thesis, 1969
Box   5	“The Relationship Between Press Reaction and Two Political Speeches: A Toulmin Analysis” / by Robert Carl Randall, M.A. thesis, 1971
	Books
Box   5	Marijuana, Medicine & the Law / edited by R.C. Randall, 1988
Box   5	Marijuana, Medicine & the Law Volume II / edited by R.C. Randall, 1989
Box   5	Marijuana & AIDS: Pot, Politics & PWA's in America / written and compiled by R.C. Randall, 1991
Box   5	Muscle Spasm, Pain & Marijuana Therapy / edited by R.C. Randall, 1991
Box   5	Marijuana as Medicine Initial Steps Recommendations for the Clinton Administration / by Robert C. Randall and Alice M. O'Leary, 1993
Box   5	Marijuana Rx: The Patient's Fight for Medicinal Pot / by Robert C. Randall and Alice M. O'Leary, 1998
Box   5	Medical Marijuana in America: Memoir of a Pioneer / by Alice O'Leary-Randall, 2014
Box   5	Using Marijuana in the reduction of nausea associated with Chemotherapy / by Roger A. Roffman, 1979
	Series: Visual Materials	⇧
PH Box   34	Quilt Weekend negatives, 1988, 1991-1993