Dennis Peron was one of the key leaders of the medical cannabis reform movement in San Francisco during the AIDS epidemic. Peron was originally from the Bronx, New York, and moved to San Francisco after serving in the US Air Force during the Vietnam War. Peron operated underground dispensaries in San Francisco throughout the 1970s.
In 1978, Peron organized the campaign for San Francisco’s Proposition W, which directed the city prosecutor to halt the prosecution of cannabis possession cases. The measure was approved by voters but never enforced. In 1991, he was the driving force behind yet another initiative, San Francisco’s Proposition P, a resolution that decriminalized the medical use of cannabis in the city and urged the state to adopt similar reforms. It passed with overwhelming support — 79 percent of voters approved it — and Peron urged the state to adopt similar reforms.
Peron was also a key provider of cannabis to patients in need. He worked with Mary Jane Rathbun, also known as “Brownie Mary,” to distribute edibles to Bay Area patients and opened the first public dispensary, the San Francisco Buyers Club, in 1994.
Peron went on to co-draft and lead the movement to put Proposition 215 on the California ballot in 1996. Fifty-five percent of California voters approved the law, making it the first state to pass a law to provide safe access to cannabis for medicinal uses and kicking off the modern cannabis law reform movement. Also known as the Compassionate Use Act, this legislation did not lay out a plan for regulation. Instead, it enshrined the right to use cannabis for medicinal purposes in the state.
Peron was one of Oaksterdam’s original advocacy instructors and passed away in 2018 at the age of 72.
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The New York Times