About the Author of The New Prescription and CannabisMD.

Martin Martinez presented Seattle's first medical necessity defense in 1996, eight months prior to the passage of Proposition 215 in California. Two years of legal battles with the State of Washington that included a trial and two arrests finally ended the same week that Washington adopted The Medical Use of Marijuana Act of 1998, a popular measure initially filed by Martin's physician in 1997. Martinez relocated to Oakland, California for four years. During that time he was one of the 14 marijuana patients who petitioned the US Supreme Court for the use of medical marijuana in the OCBC vs. Ashcroft case. During this time Martinez also wrote The New Prescription: Marijuana as Medicine, a compendium of scientific studies on medical marijuana published by Quick American Archives (Ed Rosenthal) of Oakland.

Martinez has spent many years petitioning the Washington State Legislature for reforms to the existing medical marijuana statutes, personally representing hundreds of patients, members of Lifevine, the medicinal collective designed to conform to state statutes. Martin Martinez has also represented facts of medical and botanical science in courtrooms around The Evergreen State as Washington’s only court-appointed expert witness on the use and cultivation of cannabis. Martinez produced a short documentary entitled The Miracles of Marijuana that has been viewed by many government officials in Washington.

The disabled chronic pain patient spent many long hours in draft and lobby efforts that eventually resulted in the passage of Senate Bill 6032, a much-needed update of the original Citizens' Initiative. A key feature of those legislative revisions is the determination by the Department of Health of the 60-day Supply Clause, which has become the source of numerous legal battles. Martinez wrote Marijuana Patient Dosage and Cultivation Limits to specifically address the Department's need for help with understanding important facets of medicinal cannabis – the most powerful herbal medicine currently known to mankind.

Our efforts continue to multiply and bring fruits of victory. As recently as April 2, 2010, Washington State's Governor Gregoire signed a NEW Humane Amendment to the Old Skeleton of a Law: No Patient Left Behind. Or is it No Doctor Left Behind? Well, see for yourself what Associated Press has to say about this! It's Another BIG Victory for the Poor/Sick and Disabled Population of Washington State.

Martin's old science-based Website CannabisMD.org, was launched near the turn of previous Century. The site remained a valuable resource for marijuana patients and activists throughout the world, generating over one million hits per year. It's the end of an era and a brand new day for the new CannaibisMD Web site with a united front.

The name Martin Martinez is synonymous with Lifevine collective, a nonprofit patients' exchange Martin Martinez has operated since mid-1990s. It is an organization held up by a simple sound principle: Patients helping Patients, and it welcomes new members.

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