Cannabis and LGBT Activist Dennis Peron

Today on Cannabis Confidential Dr. Dina is joined by Dennis Peron, a cannabis and LGBT activist. After serving in Vietnam, Dennis moved to San Francisco, eventually becoming known for his co-authoring of Proposition 215 – California’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996. In the 1970's, Peron ran the “Big Top marijuana supermarket” from home, and was essential to the passage of a 1978 initiative to allow the personal use of cannabis in San Francisco.

Though the initiative was never adopted by law enforcement, Dennis organized Proposition P in 1991. Dennis also founded the city’s first medical cannabis club, the Church Compassion Center, in 1993. Two years later he opened the Cannabis Buyers Club in San Francisco, which is said to be where the medical cannabis movement was born. The Cannabis Buyers Club were fielding Proposition 215 to San Francisco patients before it passed in 1996.