She wore orthopedic shoes and polyester pants, had a halo of frizzy white hair, and dropped more f-bombs than a sailor on shore leave. But to thousands of suffering patients, Mary Jane Rathbun, better known as Brownie Mary, was nothing short of a guardian angel.

With a mixing bowl and a mission, Brownie Mary became one of the most unlikely heroes in the cannabis legalization movement. She was a hospital volunteer, a relentless activist, and a full-blown rebel who used her baking skills to bring relief to people dying of AIDS when no one else would.

If Dennis Peron was the architect of California’s medical cannabis revolution, then Brownie Mary was its beating heart. Her compassion, courage, and unapologetic flair helped make Proposition 215 a reality. And like Dennis, her legacy lives on in every dispensary, patient, and cannabis advocate who believes that no one should suffer for using a healing plant.

From Waitress to AIDS Warrior

Mary Jane Rathbun didn’t set out to become a cultural icon. Born in Chicago in 1922, she eventually made her way to San Francisco, working as a waitress for over four decades. She was a single mom, a union supporter, and a lifelong advocate for working people.

But everything changed in the 70s when she met young gay men while volunteering in San Francisco General Hospital who were struggling with serious illness—many of them battling cancer or the early stages of what would later be identified as AIDS. They told her that her cannabis brownies, which she’d been selling in The Castro district to make extra money, helped with the nausea and pain. So she started baking, and for the patients, she stopped charging. 

What began as a quiet act of kindness soon became an underground operation. Mary baked hundreds of cannabis-infused brownies a week in her small apartment, often using donated weed and her own limited income. She’d deliver them to patients across the city, sometimes charging a few bucks, often giving them away for free. She had lost her daughter to a car accident, so she called the AIDS patients that she helped “her kids” and took care of them with fierce dedication, despite the risks. 

A Beacon of Hope

Brownie Mary’s work didn’t go unnoticed. She was arrested three times in the 80s for baking and distributing her “magical” brownies. The first bust in 1981 made national headlines and turned her into an unlikely media sensation. Standing in court, she looked like everybody’s grandma—until she opened her mouth and started dropping truth bombs in her signature no-nonsense style.

“I’m not going to stop baking brownies for people with AIDS,” she told reporters. “They need them more than I need to be afraid.”

Each arrest only fueled her fire. And the public began to rally behind her. The image of a silver-haired grandmother being hauled off in handcuffs for helping dying patients was a PR nightmare for law enforcement, and a powerful rallying cry for medical cannabis advocates.

Serving Up Compassion with Dennis Peron

Mary’s work brought her into close alliance with Dennis Peron, after they had met on the patio of Cafe Flore in the Castro and shared a joint in 1974. The two became an unstoppable duo: Dennis organizing political strategy through the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club, and Brownie Mary baking and advocating on the front lines.

They were united by their grief—Dennis had lost his partner Jonathan to AIDS, and Mary had lost her daughter, and later countless patients and friends. Their shared fury at the injustice of cannabis prohibition became fuel for change.

Together, they helped write and campaign for San Francisco Proposition P, and later Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, which legalized medical marijuana in California in 1996. Mary appeared on television, gave speeches, and stood beside Dennis at rallies. Her credibility as a caregiver, not a politician, won over skeptical voters and softened the harsh stigma around cannabis use.

As she told reporters at the time, “The brownies are just a vehicle. What I’m really serving up is compassion.”

A Volunteer ‘Angel’ at SF General Hospital

Outside of the media spotlight, Mary volunteered thousands of hours at San Francisco General Hospital, tending to AIDS and cancer patients in Ward 86. She wasn’t paid, but she showed up daily, scrubbing floors, comforting patients, and handing out her famous brownies under the table.

Doctors and nurses respected her. Patients adored her. And while the system tried to criminalize her, the city honored her: in 1992, the Board of Supervisors declared August 25th “Brownie Mary Day” in San Francisco, a nod to her tireless humanitarian work.

You can learn more about her impact in this moving tribute by Bon Appétit and the short documentary The Secret Story, which captures the spirit of her activism alongside Dennis Peron’s.

A Legacy Baked into California’s Cannabis Culture

Brownie Mary passed away in 1999 at the age of 76, just three years after Prop 215 passed. But her legacy is eternal. She helped shift public opinion at a time when cannabis was still demonized by politicians and feared by much of the public. Her voice—sharp, funny, and fiercely loving—cut through the noise.

In today’s era of plentiful dispensaries and even cannabis competitions, events and lounges, it’s easy to forget that the movement began with people like Mary, armed with a spatula, a big heart, and zero tolerance for bullshit.

That’s why she’s honored on The Cannabis Trail, a living tribute to the people and places that fought for legal cannabis access. Her story is honored at the Riverside Wellness Cultural Landmark in Guerneville, near the tiny Sonoma County town of Cazadero. It was here that her “Bust Heard Round the World” took place in 1992, and the press attention on the arrest of a compassionate little old lady helped turn the tides of political opinion in favor of medical cannabis.

Her Landmark is a place to pause, reflect, and remember that this industry was built on compassion long before it was built on capital, and it was a movement before it was an industry.

Walking in Her Footsteps

The cannabis industry of today owes a deep debt to pioneers like Brownie Mary. Without her, there would be no medical marijuana movement: no dispensaries, no weed events, no safe access for millions of patients around the world. So next time you enjoy an edible or bake a batch of weed brownies, raise one to Brownie Mary.

Remember the firecracker grandmother who risked everything to ease people’s pain. And if you ever find yourself in San Francisco, take a stroll through the Castro and learn about Brownie Mary and other cannabis trailblazers on The Cannabis Trail’s Pioneers of Pot walking tour. Her spirit still lingers there, in the quiet corners where activism meets empathy, and a brownie can mean the difference between suffering and relief.