—16— The O’Shaughnessy’s Reader • The Prop 215 Era Dennis Peron and the Passage of Proposition 215 In the spring of 1996 assigned me to write a piece about Proposi- assassination of Milk and Moscone by tion 215, the ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for medical use in . The “These macho cops just can’t a former policeman named Dan White piece was supposed to run the week before the election or the week after. It was stand the idea that a skinny took away his highest-ranking allies and spiked at the last minute, according to my editor, Hendrik Hertzberg, at the urging little faggot won’t fold up and turned the local political landscape into of “Tina’s guru on drug issues,” a man named Mitch Rosenthal. “Tina” was the top a cratered wasteland as the 1970s came editor at the magazine, , who now runs the Daily Beast. go away because they say so.” to an end. Mitch Rosenthal, M.D., runs the Phoenix House chain of treatment centers and And then came the epidemic. has made many millions of dollars thanks to marijuana prohibition.When Gen. Barry Mackavekias’s testimony was thrown Marijuana and AIDS McCaffrey retired as Drug Czar in 2000, he went to work for Rosenthal, pushing out after he blurted, in the presence of Dennis says he decided to change his treatment as an alternative to incarceration. witnesses, that he wished he’d killed Per- Village Voice tactical approach —to stop crusading The ran a much-shortened version of the piece on November 12. on so there’d be “one less faggot in San The New Yorker paid me a $3,000 “kill fee.” Here’s the story spiked at Dr. Rosenthal’s for legalization and to concentrate on Francisco.” Dennis received a lighter behest in the fall of ‘96. Most photos by David Smith and yours truly, Fred Gardner making marijuana available for those in sentence as a result of this outburst, and medical need— as his longtime compan- wound up doing seven months in jail. The founder and maitre’d of the San ion Jonathan West was dying of AIDS Twenty years later, at the height of Francisco buyers club, Dennis in 1990. “Jonathan was taking many the campaign to legalize marijuana for Peron, has been challenging the mari- prescribed drugs,” Dennis recounts, “and medical use, Dennis would goad Dan juana laws by direct action since 1969 there were severe side effects, from nau- Lungren, the zealous Attorney General, (when he came back from with sea to loss of appetite. Marijuana was the into a self-defeating tantrum at a press 2 lbs in his Air Force duffle bag) and only drug that eased his pain and restored conference. Recalling Mackavekias’s by legal and political means since 1970 his appetite and gave him some moments outburst, Dennis said, “These macho (when first he was busted). of dignity in that last year. And of course cops just can’t stand the idea that a Dennis simply refused to accept that I had hundreds of friends with AIDS who skinny little faggot won’t fold up and anybody could tell him he didn’t have a relied on marijuana for the same reasons: go away because they say so.” right to smoke this plant. “And the right “The Island,” Dennis Peron’s pot-friendly appetite, relief from nausea, relief from to smoke it means the right to get it,” he cafe at 16th and Sanchez, 1974. pain, to be able to sleep.” would argue, “which means people have On the night of January 27, 1990, a to have the right to grow it and sell it.” would soon turn into a legendary salon. squad of police depart- Now 51, Dennis is still the perfect He ran a restaurant in the Castro district, ment narcotics officers came to the house Puck —clever, mischievous, light on “The Island,” where pot was always and busted Dennis for selling pot. As his feet. He’s from originally, in the air —and could be purchased in Dennis tells it, “There were four ounces grew up on Long Island, one of five kids the flat upstairs. used The of Thai weed in the house and it was in an Italian-American family. His mom Island as campaign headquarters when Jonathan’s. I wasn’t dealing at that time was a housewife, his dad an accountant he ran (unsuccessfully) for State Assem- because taking care of him had become employed by the city of . bly in ’76. Tony Serra, the flamboyant my full-time job. He was very thin and Dennis was a natural salesman. As a criminal defense specialist, was paid a he had KS [Kaposi’s Sarcoma] lesions delivery boy he won the trip to Miami retainer to stand by for action. on his face. that Newsday used to give for selling Dennis got to know thousands of peo- “The cops made AIDS jokes and they the most subscriptions. Dennis was not ple on a first-name-only basis. This was a made a big production of putting on above appealing to a prospect’s compas- security measure. The phone would ring their rubber gloves before tearing up sion by going door-to-door on cold, rainy and Dennis would say, “I know so many the place. When they saw the picture of nights. “People would buy a subscription Judies. Are you the Judy who works at me and Harvey [in which the two young just so I would go home and go to bed,” Wells Fargo or the Judy who works at men are hugging] they went into a ha- he recalls. the aquarium?” rangue about “that fag.’” Dennis says he Dennis first came to San Francisco en I covered one of his trials and was recognized one of the cops as a former route to Vietnam in ’67. He was stationed struck by how many people waved Dennis, while in jaile, organized an initia- bodyguard for Moscone. “I told him, outside of Saigon when the Tet offensive hello as Dennis walked down Van Ness tive campaign to make marijuana arrests ‘Great job you did protecting George.’” began. His unit was pinned down for a Avenue. Of one passerby I asked, “Is she lowest priority for the San Francisco A vision of the cannabis buyers club Police Department. week. It was during this time, he says, a customer or a friend?” Dennis lilted, came to him later that night, Dennis says, he had his first experience as a gay “Oh, you know, friends become custom- Dennis had gotten involved in electoral as he was lying on a cement slab at the man. Later, on leave in Thailand, he ers, customers become friends.” politics working on his friend Harvey Mission Station. “The cops were coming befriended some locals who took him “One less faggot...” Milk’s campaigns for supervisor in by and banging with their nightsticks to the mountains where, coming around The SFPD narcotics squad did not find 1973 and ’75. Milk was elected to San and yelling, ‘Hey, Peron, we’re gonna a pass onto a broad plateau, marijuana him charming, in fact they regarded Den- Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in ’77, get you!’ grew as far as the eye could see. nis Peron as a walking, talking affront. becoming the first openly gay elected -of “And I was thinking about Jonathan An anti-war drug During one raid on his Castro St. flat — ficial in the country. The Island had been all alone and without any marijuana. Dennis came home saying, “I want to widely known as “The Big Top”— Peron his original campaign headquaters. And I was thinking ‘Wouldn’t it be great dedicate my life to world peace.” He had was shot in the thigh by an officer named While in jail Dennis drafted and orga- if there was a place where he could go stacked the body bags. And he was a true Paul Mackavekias and arrested along nized a signature-collection drive for an and be among friends?’ Jonathan had , convinced that marijuana was with his diverse crew. initiative declaring, “We, the people of the KS on his face and I was thinking, inherently —due to its calming effect on The ensuing pre-trial hearing, involv- San Francisco, demand that the District ‘He wouldn’t be ashamed here.’ And the the individual and the sharing ritual as- ing multiple defendants, took four Attorney, along with the Chief of Po - place in my dream was the buyers club.” sociated with its use— an anti-war drug. months. (The court stenographer became lice, cease the arrest and prosecution of Jonathan West died in September 1990, In the ’70s and ’80s Dennis was busted a good friend of Dennis’s). Mackavekias individuals involved in the cultivation, two weeks after testifying at Peron’s trial for selling pot more than a dozen times, and the other SFPD narcotics officers transfer, or possession of marijuana.” that the confiscated pot belonged to him. and after every bust he would resume who testified had to endure many days Aptly named “Proposition W,” it passed At the end he was down to 90 pounds. selling out of his living room, which of jive comments from Dennis’s friends. in 1978 and Mayor George Moscone “Doesn’t that tell you something?” says directed the police chief and district at- Dennis. “He lived to testify at my trial torney to not arrest or charge individuals and then he let go of life.” in possession of an ounce or less. The millions of Americans Dennis saw the contradictions who started smoking marijuana in decriminalization. “It’s the in social settings in the 1960s ‘miracle ounce,’” he observed. and ’70s and ’80s were gener- “Where did all these people get ally unaware that it had been their legal ounces?” widely prescribed as a medicine in the not-too-distant past. Very soon Dennis saw the contradic- tions in this so-called decriminalization. The Medical Marijuana Movement “It’s the ‘miracle ounce,’” he observed. The first version of the cannabis buyers “It’s illegal to grow marijuana, it’s illegal club was launched in a flat on Sanchez to possess a pound, it’s illegal to sell or Street in October, 1992. Dennis had three buy it. Where did all those people get quarters of a pound, which he said he their legal ounces? Every one of them would provide to people who needed it must be a miracle!” for medical reasons —and free to those Dennis was planning a legalization Dennis’s flat on Castro Street, 1976—a legendary salon known as “The Big Top.” who couldn’t afford it. campaign at the state level when the Rolling joints is his friend George San Marin. Photo by Michael Zagaris continued on next page The O’Shaughnessy’s Reader • The Prop 215 Era —17—

Dennis Peron and the Prop 215 Campaign from previous page He was taking his cue from the Heal- an undercover investigation of this club. ing Alternatives buyers club around Dennis proposed overcoming Gov. the corner on Church Street, which had Wilson’s veto of the Vasconcellos bills been established to provide vitamins at by an initiative through which California cost to AIDS patients and to obtain an voters would change the state’s Health Israeli egg-yolk extract known as AL- & Safety code to legalize marijuana for 721 that was commercially unavailable medical use. For 25 years he had been in the U.S. and had not been approved mounting legal defenses and politi- by the Food & Drug Administration for cal campaigns to establish his right to medical use. operate a real-world business. He was John Entwistle, Dennis’s close confidante. Dennis was also inspired by AIDS making progress, slowly but steadily. He Dennis with Mary Rathbun (‘Brownie patients to act on the available anec- Mary). Behind them is Dr. Tod Mikuriya, was confident that any jury or electorate center that had been vacant for years. dotal evidence instead of waiting for taking a patient’s history. In 1995 Mi- checking out his club would endorse his His friend Tom Ammiano had leased the medical efficacy of marijuana to be kuriya wrote a paper listing the medical right to run it the way he did. the ground floor to be his headquarters proven at an academic research center conditions for which SFCBC members One Sunday evening in mid-August the when he ran for supervisor —that’s how and published in a peer-review journal. were using cannabis. Never published in activists meeting at the cannabis buyers the building caught Dennis’s eye. Across The millions of Americans who started a peer-reviewed journal, it can be found club voted 39-1 to devote themselves Market St. loomed a massive, ugly build- smoking marijuana in social settings in online at beyondthc.com to getting an open-ended medical mari- ing in which hundreds Bank of America the 1960s and ’70s and ’80s were gen- juana initiative on the ballot. The only clerical workers sat at screens keeping erally unaware that it had been widely Dennis began holding monthly Sunday dissent came from Jack Herer, who in track of who owes what to who. Next prescribed as a medicine in the not-too- night meetings at the club. Among 1994 had organized a drive to legalize door was a shelter serving alcoholics distant past. Over the years we figured those who came were Dale Gieringer, hemp for all uses. Herer considered it and addicts. out or heard about medical applications the head of California NORML. Valerie philosophically untenable to work for Constructed in 1908, the building at —from a friend of a friend in the VA and Mike Corral came up from Santa anything less than comprehensive legal- 1444 Market St. had been damaged in hospital who used it for spasticity; an Cruz. She has epilepsy, the result of an ization. Pebbles Trippet reminded him, the quake of ’89 and then thoroughly aunt who made it through chemo by accident suffered in the ’70s; Mike had “If medical wins, I wouldn’t be facing reinforced with steel girders and cross- smoking pot; a grampa who requested become a grower to develop strains that jail.” Herer came to support the initiative beams that broke up the floor space. it for pain— but there was no journal, worked best for her. There was Jack in due course. “It was perfect for a buyers club,” says no institute tracking who was using Herer, author of “The Emperor Wears The first draft of the measure that Dennis, “We just put counters between marijuana for what medical purposes No Clothes,” who had been organiz- would become Proposition 215 had been the girders.” He named it “The Brownie and to what effect. ing for legalization since the early ’70s written by Dennis and Dale Gieringer Mary Rathbun Building” in honor of a In starting the cannabis buyers club, from his home base in Fresno... Pebbles of California NORML in July ’95 and close friend and ally who’d had several Dennis Peron provided a setting in which Trippet, a migraine sufferer who’d been revised in the months to come in nego- tragicomic run-ins with the law for the people who were using marijuana for arrested often over the years for mari- tiations that included John Entwistle, crime of baking cannabis goodies for medical purposes could compare notes juana possesion and transportation, and attorney Bill Panzer, and others. At the AIDS patients. and get a sense of their numbers. Berke- had written about the applicability of the Cannabis Buyers Club Dennis had been ley psychiatrist Tod Mikuriya, seeing “a necessity defense... Bill Panzer and Rob observing —and Mikuriya was docu- There was plenty of natural unique research opportunity,” signed on Raich, lawyers from the East Bay... Bob menting— patients with an extremely light, the ceilings were high, as medical coordinator and began inter- Basker, a union man and longtime ally of wide range of medical problems who viewing members about their conditions, Dennis’s, and John Entwistle, a closest obtained relief from marijuana. Mikuriya the furniture was comfortable, pattern of marijuana use, and results. political confidante... Historian/activist suggested that the ballot measure apply the place was kept spotlessly As always, Dennis hoped to bring the Michael Aldrich and his wife Michelle... to patients diagnosed with certain spe- clean. law into conformity with his operation. Community organizer Gilbert Baker. cific conditions as well as “...any other In 1991 he drafted and organized sup- Writers Ed Rosenthal, Ellen Komp, condition for which marijuana provides The third and fourth floors —the port for the aptly named Proposition P, and Chris Conrad. Mary Pat and Monty relief.” main floors of the club— were decked whereby “The People of the City and Jacobs Judy and Lyn Osburne, Lynnette Although many activists thought the out with rugs and serapes, houseplants, County of San Francisco recommend Shaw, Dave Bowman, Vic Hernandez... open-ended approach would undermine origami birds, mobiles, incandescent that the State of California and the Cali- At some meetings, Dennis estimated, the initiative’s chances of passing, Den- lamps, bookshelves, artwork, political fornia Medical Association restore hemp there were “almost 100 people.” nis, supported by Gieringer and Panzer, signs, a couple of television sets, a large medical preparations to the list of medi- In ’94 and ’95 these activists helped had the moral authority to prevail. He aquarium. There was plenty of natural cines in California. Licensed physicians draft and lobby for bills introduced by was the undisputed leader of the move- light, the ceilings were high, the furniture shall not be penalized for or restricted State Senator John Vasconcellos (D. ment and he was doing the real work of was comfortable, the place was kept from prescribing hemp preparations for Santa Clara) that would have made providing marijuana to people in need on spotlessly clean. medical purposes to any patient.” marijuana use legal, with a doctor’s ap- a daily basis. The final draft, filed with The ground floor was devoted to offices Prop P carried San Francisco with proval, by patients suffering from AIDS, the Secretary of State reflects Dennis’s —one for registering club members, 80% of the vote. The Board of Supervi- cancer, multiple sclerosis, and glaucoma. view of himself as a “caregiver” and of one for registering voters and collecting sors then passed resolution 741-92 —a (The finite list of conditions was insisted his club as an extension of his living signatures for the initiative. The second medical marijuana measure introduced on by law enforcement and accepted by room and personality. Its open-ended floor was where most of the staff worked. by Terence Hallinan—which Dennis Vasconcellos to insure majority support.) nature is asserted in the first sentence, A small room adjoining the staircase cited as “the authority by which the Both bills passed the legislature, only which allows doctors to approve “the was devoted to campaign materials and buyers club will supply cannabis and to be vetoed by Republican Governor use of marijuana in the treatment of political literature for patrons to read and other hemp byproducts to those who can . cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, distribute. It also housed a heavy-duty benefit by it.” By the start of ’95 the Cannabis Buy- spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, photocopy machine. By the fall of ’93, the cannabis buyers ers Club had some 4,000 members and or any other illness for which marijuana continued on next page club had outgrown the original Sanchez Dennis was looking for an even bigger provides relief.” St. location. Dennis rented and deco- location. Terence Hallinan had been Dennis also prevailed on rated a 2,000 square foot room above elected district attorney —meaning that the question of how signa- a bar on Church and Market. Mikuriya San Francisco’s top prosecutor was now tures would be raised. Panzer designed an admissions protocol which a defense specialist who, as a supervi- and others advocated raising Dennis and his staff attempted to follow. sor, had introduced a resolution that money to hire a professional By the summer of ’94 there were 2,000 legitimized medical marijuana use in the signature-gathering firm. members. city. And Willie Brown, also a former (Proceeds from the cannabis The club not only attracted sick people criminal defense lawyer, was mayor. buyers club could not legally who used it as a dispensary and floating Dennis seemed secure in his home base, be used for that purpose.) support group, it became a center for unaware that Mackevekias’s partner, Dennis’s line was, “Let’s people who considered themselves ac- Greg Corrales, who had risen to head do it with love.” Meaning, tivists in a political reform movement. the SFPD narcotics squad, had launched let’s have club members go to their friends and friends of friends with the petitions. Dennis had always devel- oped support for his opera- tions in this direct, organic manner, and he saw no rea- son to change. 1444 Market Street In August ’95 Dennis leased 1444 Market Street Dennis as budtender Mary Rathbun and Terence Hallinan. —a narrow 5-story building

a few blocks from the civic Dennis Peron in the doorway of the SFCBC —18— The O’Shaughnessy’s Reader • The Prop 215 Era

Dennis Peron and the Prop 215 Campaign from previous page

Wholesome food was served on paper explained that he was making a profit, Although many people at the plates for $1 (there was no kitchen at less than people thought —remember, the time and it all had to be prepared he had to buy all this marijuana— but Cannabis Buyers Club were elsewhere and brought in). In the cooler, his numbers added up in terms of what visibly ill, the place did not along with the bottled water and fruit he said he spent and what he made and have the feel of a hospital ward juices and sodas, there was a large sup- what he paid his employees and what ply of liquid nutritional supplement for he put back into the club. He claims the —quite the opposite, it had the patrons who couldn’t hold down solid money they made was going to buy a feel of a fern bar serving people food. Bowls of oranges were strategi- place on the Russian River, a resort for of all ages and all types. cally placed on every floor. the club members. Is he a profiteer? We The bud bar see no evidence of that. He lives with people at the Cannabis Buyers Club were Samples of the buds for sale were dis- a bunch of people in a small house, he visibly ill, the place did not have the feel played under glass cake covers on the doesn’t have a new car, he doesn’t take Intake workers take a break of a hospital ward —quite the opposite, it counters, labeled as to type (“Mexican vacations, he doesn’t have a big family had the feel of a fern bar serving people sinsemilla,” etc.) and priced by a star that he’s trying to leave a fortune to, he epilepsy, arthritis, debilitating emotional of all ages and all types. system (1 star = $5/per eighth of an says ‘The club is my family’...’’ problems, “and many other conditions, Dennis’s ultimate looseness in the ounce, up to 4 stars = $55). The typical some of which I’ve never even heard of.” eyes of his detractors was to allow a sale was for an eighth, but budtenders At any given time the crowd bellying young parent with a toddler in hand to —which is what the vendors were up to the bars included a certain percent- enter, on occasion, a room containing called— would sell up to an ounce if the age of perfectly healthy people who were second-hand marijuana smoke. Dennis buyer could document that he or she was there as guests (in June the practice of says sincerely that he does not think leaving town or going into the hospital. allowing club members to bring guests smoking marijuana is good for kids, then Patrons seeking to buy larger quantities was abandoned at Hallinan’s urging), adds, “Did it ever occur to these people were directed to Dennis, who would sell and may have included a few who had who are so concerned about the toddlers a pound occasionally to buyers whose entered under false pretenses. On a that the toddlers might have AIDS, too? stated intention was to distribute it to couple of occasions I tried to figure out Or that mom really needs her medicine, sick people. how many were in this latter category, which is impossible to get anyplace By the spring of ’96 Dennis had 16 with help from Lynne Barnes —better else? Would they rather she left her kid bakers working as subcontractors. He Luis and Gary known as Geo—a former oncology in the car?” nurse at UCSF Medical Center who would get the leaf from the growers and Dennis’s “Looseness” By late January, 1996, it was becom- provide it to the bakers free. It was all had become a full-time volunteer at the An example of Dennis Peron’s fa- ing clear that Dennis Peron’s network he could do to keep up with the demand, club. It was a macabre exercise and was mous looseness was televised when of volunteers could not come up with selling between 300 and 500 baked being conducted at the same time, unbe- “48 Hours” sent a crew to the club in enough signatures to place the Compas- goods a day ­—brownies, rice krispies, knownst to me, by undercover narcotics April ’96. Dennis gave a guided tour to sionate Use Act of 1996 on the ballot. pudding, every baker had a different agents, who probably skewed my survey. the narrator, Richard Schlesinger, who Some 433,000 valid signatures were seemed aghast: “These people are openly needed by April 24; Dennis’s follow- smoking marijuana in a major American “This is about more than ers claimed to have gotten 175,000 of city!” Schlesinger informed his viewers. marijuana, it’s about compas- uncertain validity and Panzer says that Cut to the registration desk where Hazel sion. It’s about America. It’s number was inflated. Rodgers, a woman in her 70s, is telling a Enter the Enlightened Billionaires middle-aged man in a windbreaker that about how we treat each other Enter Ethan Nadelmann, a 40-year-old his diagnosis of skin cancer might not as people.” drug-policy expert who runs a Manhat- entitle him to join. The man expresses tan think tank called the Lindesmith disappointment. Dennis, who is observ- Dennis sold marijuana to people over Center, through which he allocated $4 ing the interaction, waves a hand and 65 whether or not they had a letter of million annually on behalf of financier says, “Cancer? Oh, let him in.” The diagnosis. He defended his practice by George Soros. Nadelmann has a law Geo and Bob Basker, a veteran union narrator acts shocked but triumphant, he asking, “Don’t you think people that age degree from Harvard, a doctorate from organizer, whose advice Dennis valued. thinks it’s a “Gotcha!” moment, the head have the right to decide what they want Princeton, and is the author of a book specialty. “This was something they of the Cannabis Buyers Club openly to treat their aches and pains with?” about the drug war, “Cops Across Bor- did at home,” Dennis says. “They re- flaunting his own rules! When allies expressed concern that his ders: The Internationalization of U.S. ally enjoyed it and they got paid by the By the summer of ’96 the S.F. Cannabis looseness might jeopardize the cause Criminal Law Enforcement.” piece, $2 or $2.50. We’d sell them for Buyers Club had almost 10,000 mem- of Proposition 215, he would reiterate, He knew the effort to get a medical $4 to $5. But you could get it for $3, or bers. Dennis estimated that about half “This is about more than marijuana, it’s marijuana initiative on the California free, if you had no money.” The club also had AIDS; 10 percent had cancer; and about compassion. It’s about America. ballot had a strong chance of success sold “merry pills” —capsules containing the rest had multiple sclerosis or were It’s about how we treat each other as because a statewide poll taken in June high-grade marijuana sauteed lightly in wheelchair bound; were senior citizens people.” 1995 by David Binder Associates olive oil. The name is a pun on Marinol. (whom he automatically qualified for The presence of some perfectly healthy showed that 60% of the voters were fa- More than 90 people were employed, membership); were blind or deaf; or people contributed to the environment he vorably inclined. Soros agreed to back a most of whom had AIDS. There were had insomnia, menstrual cramps, colitis, was trying to achieve. Although many professional signature drive after reading food servers, registration workers, a New York Times article that said Den- carpenters and custodians, budtenders, The Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (Proposition 215) nis already had gathered 200,000 valid bouncers and office workers, as well as Section 11362.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: signatures. people who helped deal with the dealers The people of the State of California hereby find and declare that the purposes of the Nadelmann was concerned about Soros and growers. Employees got all the pot Compassionate Use Act of 1996 are as follows: et al being perceived as out-of-staters they wanted and people who needed cash (A) To ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use exerting political influence in California got cash. Dennis says he kept no records, marijuana for medical purposes where that medical use is deemed appropriate and (which of course they were). He also has been recommended by a physician who has determined that the person’s health that he had always managed his business wanted proof that the reform effort had would benefit from the use of marijuana in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, by a seat-of-the-pants method, and that support beyond Dennis Peron’s circle chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which of friends. he didn’t change as he did more volume. marijuana provides relief. He got reassurance on both counts in To become a member of the cannabis (B) To ensure that patients and their primary caregivers who obtain and use mari- buyers club you needed a letter of di- juana for medical purposes upon the recommendation of a physician are not subject February when George “I Guarantee agnosis from a doctor confirming your to criminal prosecution or sanction. It” Zimmer, president of the Men’s medical condition. No prescription or (C) To encourage the federal and state governments to implement a plan to provide Wearhouse and a resident of Oakland, letter of recommendation was required, for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need pledged $105,000 towards a professional i.e., the doctor didn’t have to agree that of marijuana. signature drive. (It was actually in the cannabis should be part of the treat- (2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede legislation prohibiting form of a loan.) persons from engaging in conduct that endangers others, nor to condone the diversion ment plan. Membership was granted or continued on next page of marijuana for nonmedical purposes. refused by a registration worker on the (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no physician in this state shall be club’s ground floor, based on a protocol punished, or denied any right or privilege, for having recommended marijuana to a developed by Dr. Mikuriya. patient for medical purposes. District Attorney Hallinan was con- (d) Section 11357, relating to the possession of marijuana, and Section 11358, cerned about the looseness with which relating to the cultivation of marijuana, shall not apply to a patient, or to a patient’s Peron operated, and arranged a meet- primary caregiver, who possesses or cultivates marijuana for the personal medical ing in June ’96 at which he advised, purposes of the patient upon the written or oral recommendation or approval of a among other things, that the club not physician. allow members to bring guests. “I also (e) For the purposes of this section, ‘’primary caregiver” means the individual questioned him about the financial side designated by the person exempted under this section who has consistently assumed of his operation,” says Hallinan. “He responsibility for the housing, health, or safety of that person.

The O’Shaughnessy’s Reader • The Prop 215 Era —19—

Dennis Peron and the Prop 215 Campaign from previous page was led by an over-confident Attorney predecessor— who decided prosecution Zimmerman said he had de- General Lungren and other Republican wasn’t warranted. Then he’d tried to veloped an effective counter: politicians and law enforcement officials interest the local DEA office, which also who assumed the populace would buy decided to pass. “If Prop 215 were law, we the war-on-drugs propaganda forever. Then Corrales went to the BNE, which wouldn’t need such clubs.” On Sunday morning August 4, some is under the state attorney general, and 100 agents from the California Bureau the BNE decided to conduct its own Zimmerman, referring to the Orange of Narcotics Enforcement, supervised three-month investigation, which in- County Sheriff, a No-on-215 leader, by John Gordnier, the Senior Assistant volved all kinds of techno-surveillance “he always begins by saying, ‘This bill Attorney General who had obtained the (including a helicopter!) and agents was written by a dope dealer from San court order, raided 1444 Market Street. going to elaborate lengths to gain mem- Francisco,’ and emphasizes the loose- David Nash and Randi Webster bership. They forged letters of diagnosis ness with which the Cannabis Buyers Nadelmann then kicked in $350,000 on fabricated doctors’ letterheads and Club was run.” Zimmerman said he from Soros; $300,000 from Peter Lewis, even set up phone lines so that a club had developed an effective counter: “If the owner of Progressive Insurance in registration worker calling to confirm Prop 215 were law, we wouldn’t need Cleveland; $100,000 from John Sper- a patient’s letter would reach an agent such clubs.” ling, a professor of economic history at BNE headquarters pretending to be a It was against his instincts to stay whose Phoenix-based Apollo Group doctor’s receptionist. closed but Dennis was exhausted and owns 88 private colleges.(and who was Dennis considered opening the club outnumbered. I dropped in on him at also backing a medical marijuana initia- in defiance of the court order. He was the club one evening in mid-September, tive in his home state of Arizona), and dissuaded by his lawyer, J. David Nick, shortly after a Superior Court judge in $50,000 from Laurence Rockefeller. who thought he could get the terms of the San Francisco had turned down a motion “All these individuals, as businessmen, shutdown modified in Superior Court by to get the injunction lifted. The place was consider drug prohibition wasteful and promising to tighten up the admissions quiet but not empty. I mentioned that costly,” says Nadelmann, “and each has Basile Gabriele and Barbara Sweeney procedures. the most recent polls showed that Prop personal reasons for feeling strongly Simultaneously, five smaller BNE 215’s lead was narrowing. Peron said about it.” Of Soros he says, “He has a squads raided the homes of Buyers Club with a smirk that he and Entwistle were practical concern about the drug issue: staff members in and around the city. under orders not to talk to reporters. “I’m it’s in danger of bankrupting the country. The raiders wore black uniforms with supposed to direct you to Dave Fratello We’re spending hundreds of billions of BNE shoulder patches. They seized 150 in Santa Monica.” Medicating and socializing. dollars a year on the war on drugs, if you pounds of marijuana, $60,000 in cash, came on TV —the News count law enforcement, medical costs, 400 growing plants, plus thousands of Hour was replaying his speech at Villa- and lost productivity.” In other words, letters of diagnosis that citizens had nova University on “the drug issue”— the donors represent an enlightened fac- brought from their doctors and left on and seven or eight club staffers gathered tion of capital. file at the club. around to watch. “The simple fact is that There were strings attached to the “It was strange not seeing any San drug abuse, especially among young Elia, the woman behind the counter, grew money. Nadelmann wanted control of people, leads to more criminal activity,” Francisco police,” remarked Basile Ga- up in Spanish Harlem in the 1920s. “All the campaign placed in the hands of a briel, one of the employees detained for the women in the neighborhood made a said Dole. “Because you get arrested for “professional,” and he selected a Santa questioning that morning, “it felt like the marijuana tea [to ease their periods],” smoking marijuana!” said Peron. “Three Monica consultant named Bill Zimmer- state had invaded the city.” Mayor Wil- she recalled. quarters of the people in jail are in there man, based, he says, on Zimmerman’s for marijuana! Are they going to build lie Brown said the high-profile bust had Members kept streaming by in the success promoting an insurance-reform prisons from sea to shining sea? 20 mil- been carried out unbeknownst to him, days after the bust, and expressed their measure that passed in 1993. “Den- lion Americans smoke marijuana!” and he accused Lungren of “Gestapo dismay and anxiety as they stood outside nis Peron is a remarkable character,” tactics.” (The club’s front door had been the closed front door, with its big red says Nadelmann, “and it’s true that the battered in and the raiders hung black cross and heart painted on the plateglass. movement was ‘organic,’ in that he got drapes over the windows to conceal what Many went across the Bay and joined his signatures through volunteers. But they were doing from civilian observers the newly formed Oakland Cannabis if I had one moral to draw from this on Market Street.) Cooperative. Several San Francisco situation, it’s to go straight to the profes- The San Francisco Medical Society churches began serving as dispensaries. sionals and avoid the hassles involved in protested the confiscation of medical New clubs were launched in the Mission starting with the grass roots.” records as a violation of doctor-patient District (Flower Power) and at Den- Zimmerman, upon getting the money confidentiality. Dennis Peron charged nis’s old location at Church and Market from Nadelmann, created a front group that closing him down was “step one in (CHAMP —Cannabis Helping Alleviate called Californians for Medical Rights Lungren’s No-on-215 campaign. It was Medical Problems). (CMR) and hired a competent outfit timed to kick off the Republican conven- A few of Dennis’s so-called allies in called Progressive Campaigns to get tion in San Diego. They want to make the the Yes-on-215 campaign did not want the signatures. The signature gatherers Cynthia Laird, Michael Salinas war on drugs a big issue because what to see him reopen. They argued that were paid 60¢ per —high for a popular else have they got?” ongoing publicity around his operation came on next, telling a measure_ and the rate was upped to $1 It turned out that Lungren had taken the would jeopardize their chances of suc- police officers’ convention that he was per signature before they had more than case against the SF Cannabis Buyers’s cess at the polls on November 5. Bill second to none in his support for the enough. Club at the request of... Greg Corrales! Zimmerman went so far as to urge the war on drugs. He cited his appointment Zimmerman hired, as CMR press rep- Corrales had first brought the results of northern California ACLU chapter not to of 4-Star General Barry McCaffrey as resentative, a 28-year-old graduate of his investigation to San Francisco’s dis- file an amicus brief on Dennis’s behalf. drug czar —“He kept drugs from South Pomona College named Dave Fratello, trict attorney —Arlo Smith, Hallinan’s “Every time I debate Brad Gates,” said America out of this country,” Clinton who had been employed at the Drug claimed to loud guffaws from Dennis’s Policy Foundation in Washington, where friends. Clinton also took credit for a bill he had caught the eye of Nadelmann. that specifies the death penalty for “drug He also hired lobbyist Jim Gonzalez to kingpins.” “Am I a drug kingpin?” asked represent CMR in Sacramento. Dennis. Clinton went on: “We proposed On April 24 Zimmerman and Gonza- the largest anti-drug effort in history, and lez presented some 800,000 signatures I hope Congress will give us the extra to Secretary of State Bill Jones. It was $700 million we asked for...” Jones —a Republican career politician Peron was disgusted. “All these poli- actively involved in the No-on-215 ticians and members of narcotics as- campaign— who selected Zimmerman’s sociations should remember that their rather than Dennis Peron’s ballot argu- own family members may have cancer ments in support of Prop 215 for inclu- someday. And they may find that mari- sion in the Voters Handbook. juana brings some relief... It’s not even The State Invades the City about marijuana anymore. It’s about Prop 215 was well ahead in the polls where we’re going and who we are, just when Zimmerman took over the cam- like the politicians say.” He had been paign. A statewide survey in June by doodling out campaign ads, but it was David Binder Associates put the margin all just an exercise because Zimmerman of support at 60-40. Most of those polled didn’t want his input. “Imagine being said they had made up their minds based called ‘a liability’ to your own move- on personal experience —their own or a Cartoon by Dan Asmussen of the San Francisco Chronicle linked the raid on ment,” he sighed. loved one’s— and/or media coverage of the SFCBC to the upcoming Republican National Convention. Attorney General Lun- I asked why he had come up so short the San Francisco club. The opposition gren reportedly hoped that publicity from the the raid would discredit Prop 215 (writ- ten by a drug dealer) and catapult him to the vice-presidential nomination. continued on next page —20— The O’Shaughnessy’s Reader • The Prop 215 Era

Dennis Peron and the Prop 215 Campaign from previous page on the original signature drive. “I think publishers who carry Doonesbury to “Lungren’s War on Comics.” The New I underestimated the climate of fear,” spike the entire set. “Alternatively,” York Times devoted two full columns Dennis said. “People think twice before he suggested in a letter to them, “your to the brouhaha, including a quote from they sign a petition that involves drugs. organization should consider running a Peron: “Crybaby Lungren... I think he’s It’s like the McCarthy period —people disclaimer side-by-side with the strips just gone off the deep end. Waaa!” worry if their name will go down on which states the known facts related to According to the polls, a gradual de- some list, if they’ll lose their job. Where the Cannabis Buyers Club.” cline in support for Prop 215 ended Oct. are the liberals who will stand up and Lungren provided an op-ed piece stat- 1. Lungren had Peron arrested Oct. 5 on say, ‘This has gone too far!’?” ing the facts as determined by his BNE criminal charges that included conspiracy Doonesbury to the Rescue investigators. The club “Sold marijuana to distribute marijuana —one more effort One liberal who stood up was Garry to teenagers. Sold marijuana to adults to make the vote a referendum on the Trudeau, the author of Doonesbury. On without doctors’ notes. Sold marijuana proprietor of the San Francisco Cannabis September 8 John Entwistle had gotten to people with fake doctors’ notes using Buyers Club— but with only seven more “We made history,” said Dennis. “They a call from a friend who said he’d been phony doctors names and in some cases propaganda days till the election, Propo- always told us ‘You have to change the at a party with Trudeau (a longtime ad- written on scrap paper. Allowed many sition 215 led in the polls, 50-40 with 10 law. You can’t smoke marijuana, it’s ille- vocate of reforming the marijuana laws) small children inside the club where they percent undecided. gal, you have to change the law.’ Well, we and that the cartoonist had expressed were exposed for lengthy periods of time Former Surgeon General C. Everett changed the law.” He tempered the elation Koop carried the No-on-215 message in by predicting that Attorney General Lun- serious interest when the conversation to second-hand marijuana smoke. Sold gren would resist implementing Prop 215. turned to Proposition 215 and the re- marijuana to people whose stated ail- the final ad campaign. Drug Czar Barry cent bust of the Cannabis Buyers Club. ments included vaginal yeast infections, McCaffrey held a press conference to de- The Morning After Entwistle then spoke to Trudeau on the insomnia, sore backs and colitis —hard- nounce Prop 215. So did Joseph Califano of the National Center on Addiction and A law passed by ballot initiative takes phone and sent him a packet of news ly terminal diseases. Sold marijuana in effect immediately —so, as of 12:01 a.m. Substance Abuse at . stories describing the bust and the gen- amounts as large as two pounds, greatly on Nov. 6, California’s Health & Safety Former Presidents Ford, Carter and Bush eral situation. exceeding the club’s ‘rules.’” Code included a new section, 11362.5, released a letter calling for its defeat. On Monday, Sept. 30 the Chronicle, Lungren called a press conference for incorporating the text of Prop 215. Democratic Senators Boxer and Feinstein the LA Times, and many other papers Tuesday, Oct. 1, to reveal some of the ev- Also at 12:01 a.m., all California also opposed legalizing marijuana, as did in California ran a Doonesbury strip in idence that had been assembled against law enforcement officials received a fax Governor . which Zonker’s friend Cornell says, “I Peron and the San Francisco Cannabis from the Attorney General As all the world knows, the measure can’t get hold of any pot for our AIDS Buyers Club. During the question-and- advising, “The focus in cases involving passed. My original New Yorker piece patients. Our regular sources have been answer session he got irritated by a ques- potential marijuana violations should be ended: “If Proposition 215 passes, the war spooked ever since the Cannabis Buyers’ tion about Doonesbury. “Skin flushed on whether the medicinal use defense is on drugs, as we have known it all these Club in San Francisco got raided...” and voiced raised, Attorney General Dan factually applicable.” In other words, keep years, will end. There will be a small confiscating, arresting and prosecuting as Attorney General Lungren feared Lungren went head-to-head with a comic demilitarized zone called California in the impact these strips would have on strip Tuesday...” is how Robert Salladay before and let the courts decide whether which the rules of acceptable behavior those taken into custody can claim an “af- the Prop 215 campaign. He urged the began his Oakland Tribune story. Don must be worked out, county-by-county, Asmussen in the SF Examiner lampooned firmative defense” as medical users. case-by-case.” Officers involved in marijuana busts were instructed to “Ask early whether the person is taking medication, what medica- tion for what condition, at which doctor’s direction, and the duration of treatment... whether the individual is a patient or care- giver. If he/she says patient, then ascertain name of doctor and caregiver. If caregiver, ascertain for whom, for how long, and on what basis.” Lungren called for putting the burden of proof on the defendant and forcing doctors to testify in open court to confirm cannabis approvals. He summoned his troops to a Dec. 3 “Emergency All-Zones Meeting” in Sacramento at which tactics would be discussed in detail. The Prop 215 Vote: Demographics

“Yes” % by County The queried 2,473 Californians as they exited 40 polling places across the state on November 5, 1996. The rich and poor supported the Alameda 70 Nevada 52 San Francisco 78 initiative in a U-shaped curve. And how ‘bout them Jews —only 6% oppposed! Alpine 56 Orange 51 San Joaquin 46 Amador 44 Placer 48 San Luis Obispo 50 Butte 49 Plumas 47 San Mateo 66 Calaveras 49 Riverside 48 Santa Barbara 53 % of all voters % voting Yes Colusa 39 Sacramento 53 Santa Clara 64 Contra Costa 63 Santa Cruz 73 Gender Income Del Norte 49 Shasta 41 47% Male 53% 12% Less Than $20,000 62% El Dorado 51 Sierra 50 53% Female 58% 24% $20,000 to $39,999 56% Fresno 42 Siskiyou 41 23% $40,000 to $59,999 51% Glenn 39 Solano 55 Age 15% $60,000 to $74,999 54% Humboldt 57 Sonoma 69 19% 18-29 62% 26% $75,000 or more 59% Imperial 40 San Benito 57 Stanislaus 46 35% 30-44 60% Inyo 42 San Bernadino 50 Sutter 39 35% 45-64 53% Ideology Kern 42 San Diego 52 Tehema 41 11% 65 and Older 40% 21% Liberal 78% Kings 41 Trinity 50 47% Moderate 63% Lake 52 Tulare 37 Race/Ethnicity 32% Conservative 29% Lassen 40 Tuolumne 48 74% White 56% Los Angeles 51 Ventura 52 7% Black 70% Political Affiliation Madera 41 Yolo 58 10% Latino 49% 45% Democrats 70% Marin 73 Yuba 46 5% Asian 49% 14% Independents 65% Mariposa 48 38% Republicans 34% Mendocino 64 Education Merced 56 20% High School or less 49% Religion Modoc 39 29% Some College 58% 49% Protestant 44% Mono 57 27% College or More 56% 24% Catholic 54% Monterey 58 24% Postgraduate 58% 6% Jewish 75% Napa 59

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