We present a formalism for which a dissipative system is given by a variational principle. The formalism applies to dynamical systems where its trajectory is monotonic. Subsequently, we derive its Lagrangian and Hamiltonian. From the Hamiltonian, we quantize canonically the classical particle in a viscous media. We study the free quantum particle in a viscous media and the dissipative quantum tunnelling. It is found that the dissipation influences tunnelling probability by a factor that closely resembles the result of Caldeira and Leggett.