Abstract
The sudden emergence of the AIDS epidemic and the initial lack of effective treatments politicized the patient population into demanding quicker development of and access to promising medications. When numerous AIDS patients demanded marijuana to treat the anorexia and wasting syndrome resulting from both illness and medications, the federal government's Public Health Service closed the only legal source of supply. The federal authorities' abdication of compassion and repression of research spawned a grassroots political movement that repudiated federal regulations.
