Dennis Peron, Cannabis Activist, Dies of Lung Cancer
died of lung cancer. Peron, born in 1945 and a veteran of the Vietnam War, became a leading proponent of using marijuana to help AIDS patients when the epidemic cut a huge swath in the gay community during the late 1980’s. The epidemic later took the life of his partner in 1990.
Today, Dennis Peron, a cannabis and gay rights activist, Peron has been called the father of medical marijuana for his work to legalize cannabis for patients. In 1991, he worked with Mary Jane Rathburn aka Brownie Mary to pass an ordinance in San Francisco legalizing cannabis for patients. Then, in 1996, he was crucial in taking a similar ordinance (Prop. 215) statewide–making medical marijuana legal in California.
Eventually, Peron began advocating that anyone consuming cannabis was consuming medically. He famously told Herb Magazine, “Marijuana is a medicine…There is no recreational. Medical marijuana people don’t get high; they get normal. It makes them feel complete.”
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He was my friend. ill miss him.
RIP
Thank you for your tireless work that truly helped carve a path that so many of us now walk on.
Om mani padme hum, thank you for your early activism in San Francisco to promote medical cannabis, Dennis Peron 💛💐🌈🌿
No rec use????? People dont smoke to get stoned but normal? Marijuana is not a drug? Hmmmm. Well RIP man. Thanks for your enlightenment.🤘🏼
He was my friend, too. Rest in Peace dear Dennis.
RIP
Picked this up at a yard sale recently. 1998 campaign button.
Fare the well Dennis
[…] Dennis Peron, Cannabis Activist, Dies of Lung Cancer Redheaded Blackbelt […]
Thank you to two pioneering activists. Long live Dennis Peron, and Brownie Mary Rathbun.
I don’t post much, but this one got me.
Goodbye, Dennis. You were a light in the dark.
Sounds like he was a great being, it is sad there is one less on this rock. If only more could meet people like this or learn about and from them before they pass, what a world we could be
Did any of you potheads out there happen to notice what killed Peron? Lung cancer, for God’s sake. Gee, I wonder what causes lung cancer?
I happened to notice that we are now living in 2018 and as cannabis has grown in acceptance thankfully there are now many options to consume it that don’t include combustion.
Exactly!! Dumb choice to smoke it. Causes lung cancer…
The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer.
The new findings “were against our expectations,” said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years.
“We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use,” he said. “What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729.html
I know of at least 4 people who have gotten “lung cancer from marijuana. Bad advice to Smoke Anything.
guess what bob marley died from.
Melanoma
in his toe
Sorry to disappoint
Walt Wilson you should talk about stuff you know.stop embarrassing yourself in public. he as a kind man. not like you. thanks for cheep shots. what a man you are.
Exactly! Such denial. Pathetic.
Do we know what other risk factors he had, like tobacco use? Actor Christopher Reeves’ widow died of lung cancer and didn’t smoke tobacco ever, according to reports. Thank you Dennis for your service, across the board. Remember, you don’t have to inhale it. Enjoy yourself gloating, Patricia. Have fun. Dennis had fun. Geez.
[…] Dennis Peron, Cannabis Activist, Dies of Lung Cancer Redheaded Blackbelt […]
Omg…irony…and karma..brainwashed potheads will never get it
Second hand cigarette smoke. Pollution in the big cities. Chemicals everywhere.
Omg? How’s that possible?!? They tell us over and over and over they cannabis not only curse cancer but prevents it??? Another one to add to the list.
and I had a friend pass from Lung Fibrosis when cannabis was the ONLY thing he smoked ever..
SMOKING anything puts tars & Carbon Monoxide directly into your lung tissue..
eat or vape your cannabis… DONT smoke it ever..
a COPD patient(from tobacco&?)..
Right, I was smoking only marijuana and coughing up tar every day. I’m grateful I stopped and my lungs are healing now. Research shows that if you smoke marijuana and cigarettes you are less likely to get cancer because marijuana helps you cough up the tar from your lungs but that doesn’t mean it’s a magical substance that you can inhale with no repercussions. Thats why doctors, including 215 doc’s are so adamite about edibles. A friend of mine had to quit at age 55 because of a black spot on her lung and breathing issues. The doc said if she continued she would die. After one year of no use it had cleared up and she could breath well enough to exercise and be active again. She smoked zero cigarettes in her life time and lived in Humboldt were there is little air pollution.
RIP Dennis, you were the one who got me involved with the medical cannabis issue after I visited you at your place in lake county, that was my introduction to Dr Todd Mikuriya & Jeff Jones (Oakland Cannabis Buyers Club)..
you will be missed
Fellow Traveler
RIP Dennis.
And for all you backyard Dr’s You can get lung, throat and mouth cancer without smoking anything. If you have colon cancer you probably didn’t get it from sticking things up your a$$. Testicular cancer isnt from jacking off or someone sucking your testies. Breast and ovarian cancer doesn’t mean she was a slut. Get a clue. A good man died and it has nothing to do with activism. Cancer rates like everything else that affects all of us continue to rise. Focus on that thought for just a moment
Word.
[…] Dennis Peron, Cannabis Activist, Dies of Lung Cancer Redheaded Blackbelt […]
Thanks brother!!! You were our rock!!!!!!!! Growth can only keep growing!!! Love you n all others supporting/fighting for our health!
Although one commenter here says that marijuana does not cause lung cancer, many studies, including from the Journal of the American Medical Association, show the link between smoking marijuana and lung cancer. Here are a few:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/410634
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10552-013-0259-0?utm_source%3D1be16992-d8f0-4483-8eb5-3137299827e1%26utm_medium%3Drss%26utm_campaign%3Dlong
http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/31/2/280?maxtos=
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02791072.1994.10472442
living in a city can give you lung cancer,using a wood stove can give you lung cancer, living on this planet can give you lung cancer
Hello, everyone. Dennis Peron smoked commercial cigarettes, which I had heard years ago when he started to become ill. Inform yourselves. Better yet, if you’re going to guess the most likely cause, guess cigarettes. Am I the only person who could figure this out? Long live Dennis Peron. Fly high, brother. https://www.ganjapreneur.com/activist-dennis-peron-sparked-californias-medical-cannabis-movement-dies-72/
Grin Reaper~ thanks for clearing this up. I met Dennis @ Long Beach ca.pride in 2011. Yes he was a cigarette smoker as well.
Thanks for your bravery Dennis..
Rest in Power✊