National Medical Cannabis Week – November 1, 2026

History of National Medical Cannabis Week

The plant we know as cannabis, marijuana, and a host of other slang terms, has a very old origin story. It dates as far back as 2737 B.C. when Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung wrote about its medicinal properties. It was also mentioned in various other ancient medical texts, such as the Ancient Egyptian “Ebers Papyrus” (1550 B.C.) for treating hemorrhoid pain, ancient Indian texts where it was used for pain relief and also treated illnesses like insomnia and gastrointestinal disorders, and later, in the medical literature from the medieval Islamic world.

The plant eventually spread to Eurasia, the Middle East, and Africa, finding its way to Western medicine in the 1830s via an Irish physician, William Brooke O’Shaughnessy, according to some sources. Apparently, O’Shaughnessy discovered the plant and its medicinal properties while living in India, and brought it home to England with him in 1842. From 1850 until 1942, cannabis was even a part of the United States Pharmacopeia — a non-profit organization publishing an annual collection of drug information — and was easily available at local stores and pharmacies. The drug began to be used less frequently by the 19th century, however, due to more easily ingestible and easily available synthetic drugs.

Cannabis was eventually classified as a ‘drug,’ only regaining the public’s attention in the 1970s and 1980s, after a series of cancer and AIDS patients reported on its pain-relieving properties. By 1996, the drug was being legalized, and the movement to provide medical cannabis to anyone who needs it began in earnest. U.K.-based nonprofit Patient-Led Engagement for Access (PLEA) founded Medical Cannabis Awareness Week as a way to increase support for equal access to cannabis-based medical products. The week-long events are open to patients, doctors, organizations in this sector, and anyone wishing to pledge their support in this regard.