ACNA Mission Statement

To advance excellence in cannabis nursing practice through advocacy, collaboration, education, research, and policy development. 

Please Note: The Mission Statement is read before every ACNA Board of Directors Meeting and Committee Meeting to set the tone for the proceedings and deliberations, as well as to remind everyone of the important work we do each and every day to achieve our mission as a professional nursing association. 


 

History of the American Cannabis Nurses Association 

The American Cannabis Nurses Association was conceived by Julia (Ed) Glick in 2006 during the Patients Out of Time Fourth National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics in Santa Barbara California. ACNA was envisioned as a nursing organization that represented the emerging field of endocannabinoid therapeutics to professional nurses, providing scientific, patient, and educational opportunities to assist nurses in understanding and advocating for their patients' needs. Julia suggested the idea to Mary Lynn Mathre, Patients Out of Time co-founder (and a registered nurse) noting that,  “if we don’t do it, someone else will." It took a couple of years, but in 2009 and 2010, Julia and Mary Lynn began the process of completing documents to incorporate ACNA and set up financial accounting, logo development and outreach to the American Nurses Association.

 

ACNA was formally organized as an Oregon non-profit organization in 2010. An introductory meeting of the organization was held at the 2010 Patients Out of Time Conference in Warwick, Rhode Island by an interim founders committee composed of nurses Glick, Mathre, Krumm, Wolski, Palmer and advocates Vincent Shelzi, and Stacie Boilard. In November of 2011, the first ACNA Board was elected to include: Mary Lynn Mathre as President, Julia (Ed) Glick as Secretary, Stacie Boilard as Treasurer, and Bryan Krumm, Ken Wolski and Sharon Palmer as board members. 

 

In 2014, the ACNA Board of Directors recognized that ACNA's growth required some restructuring in order to more efficiently manage it.  Changes included rechartering ACNA as a New Jersey non-profit organization and adopting formal bylaws. ACNA's mission remained the same.

 

In 2015, ACNA applied for tax-exempt status under the IRS code 501(C)(3).  This was granted in November 2015.  In 2016 it held its first member-wide elections for the Board of Directors.