Flore – Compassionate Cannabis – San Francisco, CA
Statement of Purpose
May this Cultural Landmark serve to remind us of the history of the Castro and honor the patients, caretakers, and the medical cannabis activists that fought for safe medical cannabis access for patients.
May it celebrate the brave leadership of cannabis pioneer Dennis Peron, the Father of Medical Marijuana, and remind us how Dennis, a gay hippie Vietnam Vet, led the charge to re-legalized cannabis in response to the AIDS crisis.
May it honor the compassionate caregiving work of Brownie Mary and allow remembrance of ‘her kids’ that she loved so much, the sick and suffering in need of compassion.
May we remember her ‘magically delicious sparkling brownies’ that eased the pain of so many. May we remember how a marginalized queer community came together, organized, and advocated for what was right, just, and fair, and created the compassionate cannabis educational platform to uplift the truth about the medicinal benefits of cannabis.
May this Cultural Landmark serve to uplift compassion and inspire compassionate ways of being, thinking, and acting. The world needs more of it. May it be so.
2298 Market St. San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 621-8579
This landmark honors compassion, the LGBTQ+ community, and the work of Dennis Peron and Brownie Mary, who met at Cafe Flore and organized to re-legalize medical cannabis with California Proposition 215.
Cafe Flore is hallowed ground for cannabis history legalization. In 1974 Brownie Mary met Dennis Peron at Cafe Flore over a shared joint on the patio. Dennis Peron is the Father of Medical Marijuana and Brownie Mary is known as The Angle of Mercy, and compassionate mother-figure to ‘runaway, HIV positive’ LGBTQ ‘kids’.
Dennis Peron was the leader of Proposition 215: The Compassionate Use Act which re-legalized cannabis in the United States. Brownie Mary provided cannabis-infused brownies to AIDS patients to stimulate their appetite and help with depression when no other medicine was available. Cafe Flore has been an iconic community gathering place in the LGBTQ Castro District for decades, and the roots of Proposition 215 itself go back to Flore.
During the 1980s and 1990s at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Cafe Flore is where members of the community gathered to share information and trade notes about managing the horrific ailments of HIV/AIDS. Community healing was paramount and present and Cafe Flore served in that capacity, with cannabis at the center of it all.
Outside of Flore you’ll find a mural that serves to honor Compassion as the first Monument on The Cannabis Trail. Flore also hosts a dispensary, across from the Cafe Flore which is now Fisch & Flore Restaurant. At Flore Dispensary, compassionate access to medicine is still a priority today. Please visit and support Flore!
Location: Flore Dispensary
Flore Dispensary is our Church of Cannabis because in it we honor the incredible plant that heals us. From the way we source it to the way we display it, everything about our store is curated to celebrate cannabis grown in the historic farmlands of Humboldt County and throughout the Emerald Triangle.
Terrance Alan, the founder of Flore Dispensary San Francisco, welcomes every person into his cannabis store like an old friend. That’s because everyone who shops at Flore contributes to a cause he has been passionate about for over 40 years: compassionate cannabis.