Honoring Pride: The LGBTQ+ Fight for Medical Cannabis Access

It’s Pride Month! Which is a great opportunity to honor the work of the LGBTQ+ community in paving the way for medical cannabis access. Here is your Pride Month history lesson.

In the 1980’s, there was a health crisis spreading among the LGBTQ+ community, primarily gay men. This yet unknown disease caused a variety of painful and chronic symptoms, and eventually, death. The Federal Government was slow to act, in part because of the population being affected. As a result, there was little investigation into what was causing it, how it was spread and how it might be treated. Entire communities were decimated, and those living with the illness were treated like highly contagious beings. This meant that, in the hospital, they were isolated from other patients, their families were not allowed to visit them, and health professionals would not work with them unless completely outfitted with PPE. Outside the hospital, people with this illness were fired from jobs, refused entry into schools, and experienced much social isolation. But through this struggle there was resiliency, community, and the desire to help one another manage symptoms and improve their lives. The disease was HIV/AIDS and the community was the LGBTQ+ population.

It was discovered that cannabis was helpful for many of the symptoms faced by people living with AIDS. Lack of appetite, which led to wasting syndrome, nausea, bone and muscle aches, depression and anxiety, were all well treated with cannabis. Of course, back in the 1980’s and 90’s, cannabis was not legal anywhere, not even for medical purposes. One of the epicenters of the AIDS epidemic was San Francisco, CA. Here you had not only a tight knit, activist minded community, you had a higher level of tolerance and support for cannabis than in other parts of the country. Not wanting to get arrested for providing cannabis to his sick and dying friends, Dennis Peron became an outspoken leader in fight for medical cannabis access. He was providing cannabis to his community from his home in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco. He was providing a crucial health service and breaking the law to do so.

Not wanting to get into trouble, or for law enforcement to stop his practice, he championed Proposition P, which was on the ballot in San Francisco in 1991 and passed with 80% of the vote. Proposition P ordered the City and County of San Franciso to: “recommend that the State of California and the California Medical Association restore hemp medical preparations to the list of available medicines in California. Licensed physicians shall not be penalized for or restricted from prescribing hemp preparations for medical purposes.” As a result, the County Board of Supervisors passed Resolution 141-92 in 1992, which made cannabis the lowest law enforcement priority. This not only showed support for the use of cannabis as a medicine and that doctors who recommend it should not be punished, it directed law enforcement away from cannabis. This was the start of the medical cannabis revolution.

Dennis Peron set out to protect the act of providing cannabis to the sick and dying. His actions were part of a larger effort among the LGBTQ+ community to create a circle of support for their friends and family who were left to fend for themselves and wrongly ostracized from much of society. This month, we honor the community that tugged on the thread and reminded us that medical cannabis access is not about industry, it is about compassion. Thank you, Dennis Peron.