Dennis Peron on The 10th Anniversary of Prop. 215
By Ann Harrison
A celebration of the tenth anniversary of Prop 215 took place last night at the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center. The honored speaker of the evening was Dennis Peron, founder of the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club and the catalyst behind Prop. 215.
Peron's look back at the history of the medical cannabis movement is worth reading and I have transcribed it below from my notes. But this being election season, the politicians spoke first. First up was San Francisco City Supervisor Tom Ammiano. San Francisco City Supervisor Chris Daly then spoke followed by California State Assemblymember Mark Leno. Leno presented Peron with a proclamation from the California State Assembly thanking Peron and the medical cannabis movement. After an interlude of lively cabaret entertainment, Peron walked on stage and talked about Prop. 215.
Dennis Peron: It's great to see you, but I can't help thinking of people who are not here. I recently reviewed an old tape from the first club on Church Street and Beth Moore, Hazel Rodgers and Brownie Mary, all the people in the beginning are all dead. Pinky also died recently. It is with a heavy heart that I come here. I still miss these people and I think every day about people who are not here. Jonathan West who inspired me to start the Cannabis Buyers Club - my best friend and lover and brother. It is in their name. I did it for them. And I did it for the living. People had to die so that other people can live. Today we are going down memory lane for ten years.
In my life, I have always been a lifeguard. If you are drowning I am one of those guys who is going to save your life. If you are swimming, keep swimming. But if you are drowning, I'm your guy. I came to the Haight at 19 for the Summer Of Love. I wasn't butch enough for the straights, not nelly enough for the gays, not smart enough for the beatniks, not slack enough for the slackers.
But I had a hit of acid and I found myself. I was part of the trees and grass and every single person who touched me. I found myself. And I went off to Vietnam. War is hell. I was a post clerk and they tried to give me a gun during the Tet Offensive. I said I would not take a gun and they said you have to take a gun. I said no, I can't take a gun. If I take a gun I'm going to shoot you. They relieved me. I did not want to shoot people.
For thirty days I worked in the morgue. Twenty-thousand kids coming back in caskets. The smell of that morgue scarred me for the rest of my life. I came back home and threw away my medals and uniforms. And in twenty months I got into jail for marijuana. I was tripping on acid, I looked at the mug shots…That was the start of a series of arrests. Twenty-two arrests.
In court they asked, how many times have you been busted for narcotics? I said I forget, I don't know. And they pull up this big rap sheet, twenty-two, twenty-three times. If you count all the times they just took the pot and left, it was twenty-five. But twenty-two times and every time they busted me I became stronger. The first time they busted me I got a felony for one joint. That started a series of arrests. I have been shot, jailed, beaten and thrown in the hole just after I got back from Vietnam. I was laughing in line. You don't laugh in jail, but I was on acid.
They did everything they could to destroy me. But every time they did something, they made me stronger. It gives me strength. The last time they busted me was with Jonathan who was 90 pounds and was weak and frail and covered with Kaposi's Sarcoma lesions. He was the love of my life and I had to watch him from the top floor being beaten, with a gun to his head. And I decided they would never do this again.
So it's a kind of revenge, but it is revenge with love. We need to show them that we can love one another and not brutalize one another. And that they can't come into people's houses at midnight and brutalize people with guns and beat down sick people. I started this club in their face. All around me I saw people drowning. There were thousands of people drowning in San Francisco in the 1980s and 90s during the AIDS epidemic. People being thrown out of their houses and being disowned by the their parents and children.
It was about pot, but it was also about being alone in America and finding our tribe. So many people in San Francisco came here to find ourselves and our tribe. And we brought them into a tribe, a tribe to change the world. These people who had no voice, who were sick and dying. Nobody wanted them. You are sick. You are alone. Those are the people I wanted. And I brought them together. I made those people the most powerful people in America. And their story resonates to this day.
It's depressing what is going on in the national scene. But we can beat these feds. This guy, he stole an election and ruined our country and soiled the name of America. It is about freedom and justice and love and we will be the victors. Our vision of America is a loving and kind and gentle country and we will prevail.
I'll tell you who I'm voting for this year, the guy who smokes pot and likes group sex, the guvernator. Arnold gives me hope. I ran as a Republican to fuck up Dan Lungren. But I'm an anarchist and so is the governor and he smokes pot. I figure if you smoke pot you think about yourself. And it makes you think about what you are doing and who you are. It is about introspection.
When I read my BNE (Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement) file, they were following me and realized what a boring life I had. "Walks dog to pizza parlor." When they followed Tod, they found out he goes home at night. You think about the power of the state and how they waste our money and did this to us. It gives me power to know that they wasted so much money on us.
Ten years ago I was in jail. They busted me two weeks before the election. They used every dirty trick they could, but everything backfired on them and gave us two or three points. I'm glad they showed who they were, because it showed who we are, loving, gentle people.
I liked it better when it was illegal. Now it's quasi-legal. Then it was admitting to felonies every day when it was illegal. We had it all. We had a nightclub. It had everything. It was a great moment in time and there will be more moments in time. I'm glad I was the person who led us through the moments. Those dreams are going to happen. I may not be here. I hope to be here to see the end of the war on hunger and the end of homelessness. The world is fucked up until marijuana is legal. It has to be legal.
Ten years ago was a great moment in this town. I am proud to be your man. And I'll always be your leader. Thanks a lot guys.
(applause)
Sister Dana then took the stage, invoked the spirit of Brownie Mary, and blessed the brownies.
Sister Dana: The brownie is the flesh of the work and it does away with wasting syndrome and nausea and other nasty stuff that happens to those afflicted with HIV. Those who feed upon the brownies, feed upon it like manna from heaven. Those who feed on this manna shall be granted divine munchies and shall live and eat and live forever.
After the show, Dennis Peron had a few more thoughts.
Peron: I had a dream that there would be an uprising. Maybe the one uprising to change the world. The last one.
Q: Did you expect cannabis to be legal by now?
Peron: I thought it would be a lot further along. There are a lot of loopholes in 215. It was loosely written. It's a jobs program for a lot of people. I thought it would be legal. You grow your own pot. Dispensaries are a nice in between, but the answer is to grow your own pot. And that is what we did in Prop. 215. You can grow it.
The feds are paper tigers. They don't have the resources to take us all on. They can do it one at a time. Like on the Discovery Channel with the wildebeest and the lion. The lion will attack. But the wildebeests keep going and turn on him and stampede the lion. The uprising will happen in my lifetime. I am waiting for it. I am waiting for the world to change.
