Cannabis has been used as medicine by humans for thousands of years. In the early 20th century, a wealthy corporation executive named William Randolph Hearst used money in politics to influence racist politician Harry Anslinger to criminalize the cannabis plant in the USA for all purposes, without fully researching the potential medicinal benefits. Since then, scientific research has proven marijuana to alleviate symptoms of cancer, glaucoma, AIDS/HIV, Multiple Sclerosis, depression, chronic pain, insomnia, nausea, seizure disorders, and a multitude of other ailments for which patients are desperately in need of relief. In 1996, the People of the State of California passed a law called the Compassionate Use Act which legalized the use, possession, and cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Despite the overwhelming voter support for legal safe access to medical marijuana, the City of San Buenaventura and the County of Ventura have chosen not to recognize the Compassionate Use Act, and have instead enacted a de facto ban on dispensaries in Ventura County by refusing to issue business permits for anyone operating a medical marijuana dispensary. Furthermore, the Ventura County Sheriff has agreed to cooperate with the Drug Enforcement Administration in what they call a "Cannabis abatement and eradication program" to rid the County of its legal medicine before it makes it anywhere near the the hands of the patients who need it, and are legally allowed to have it. This will cause an undue burden on the patients to safely obtain their legal medicine. Because of these recent injustices, the People of Ventura will be standing up to their city government through every means possible to demand that the Ventura City Council recognize marijuana as a medicine, and pass appropriate laws which reflect that recognition.