Kenny and Barbra Jenks of Panama City Beach, Florida, became nationally known in the early 1990s as powerful voices for medical marijuana reform. Kenny, a hemophiliac, contracted HIV from tainted blood and unknowingly passed the virus to his wife, Barbra. Struggling with the harsh side effects of early AIDS medications, the couple turned to marijuana for relief.

In 1990, they were arrested for using cannabis but soon connected with medical marijuana pioneer Robert C. Randall, who helped them secure legal access through the federal Compassionate IND program. Their story captured America’s attention and put a human face on the medical cannabis movement.

Together, Randall and the Jenks founded MARS — the Marijuana AIDS Research Service — to help other AIDS patients obtain legal cannabis. Although the federal government eventually shut down the program due to rising demand, the Jenks’ activism directly influenced California’s landmark Proposition 215 in 1996, the first statewide medical cannabis law.