Federal Cannabis Patient & Activist George McMahon Dead at 69

George McMahon, a federal cannabis patient, activist, author and one-time vice-presidential candidate with the Grassroots Party, has died, according to Gary Storck of CannaBadger. McMahon was the fifth patient approved for medical cannabis federally under its Compassionate Investigational New Drug program. He was 69.

McMahon was diagnosed with nail-patella syndrome and was approved for the program in 1990, receiving 300 joints a month from the federal government until his own physician passed away in 2013. According to a Celeb Stoner report, McMahon was a co-founder of Iowans for Medical Marijuana and was an original board member for Patients out of Time. In 2003 he co-authored “Prescription Pot: A Leading Advocate’s Heroic Battle to Legalize Medical Marijuana.”

McMahon said that he began using cannabis after a hospital orderly gave him a joint in 1988 which led him to get an application for the federal program.

“I’d noticed that when I smoked marijuana I didn’t get sick. … Five hundred doctors refused to see me, but one wrote back and said it was an interesting case. They finally just ran out of reasons. They conceded and we got the first shipment. I was taking 10 Percocets a day. I didn’t take another pill after that.” McMahon in a 2008 interview

McMahon joined Jim Carlson on the Grassroots Party presidential ticket in 2012 – the duo received 3,149 votes in Minnesota, the only state the party was on the ballot.

McMahon is survived by his wife and three children. There are now just two surviving members of the federal cannabis IND program.