The Compassionate Investigational New Drug program is the federally run medical cannabis program. It started in 1976 after Robert Randall successfully brought a lawsuit against the FDA, DEA, DoJ, National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. A Glaucoma patient, Robert used the common law doctrine of necessity as defense to cultivation charges, because his use of cannabis was deemed a medical necessity.
At its peak, the program had 30 patients (partly due to the HIV/AIDS Crisis), but this resulted in the Bush administration closing the program to new entrants in 1992. The closure lead directly to the current medical cannabis initiatives occurring on a state level, starting with California in 1996 and continuing in 15 other states 15 years later.