Brownie Mary: The grandmother of medical marijuana
Last updated on Mar 5, 2025
Created on Feb 22, 2023
Article written by
Samuel Njoroge
Content reviewed by
Dipak HemrajMedical Cannabis Researcher
Mary Jane Rathbun, or “Brownie Mary,” was one of the most significant figures in the San Francisco cannabis scene in the 1980s and 1990s.
She lobbied for legalization and was instrumental in passing Proposition 215 in 1996, which made California the first state to legalize medical marijuana. This set off a chain reaction across the United States for medical marijuana legislation.
While most grandparents care for their grandkids, Brownie Mary cared for an entire community of people seeking cannabis. Armed with a special recipe for cannabis-infused brownies (thus her nickname) and a compassionate heart, Brownie Mary emerged as one of the most impactful figures in the history of medical marijuana.
Though she was famous for her chocolatey marijuana-infused baked confections — and the recipe remains a secret to this day — many remember Rathbun for making the medical marijuana movement what it is today.
Brownie Mary’s actions generated interest in the medical community, ultimately motivating researchers to examine the therapeutic potential of cannabis.
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About Brownie Mary: The early years
Mary Jane Rathbun was born in Chicago, Illinois on December 22, 1922. Her mother, a conservative Irish Catholic, named her Mary Jane — which ironically is slang for cannabis.
Rathbun was raised in Minneapolis. She attended Catholic school, where her first noted acts of defiance stood out. At age 13, she fought back against a nun who tried caning her. She later dropped out of school as a young teen, and moved out of her childhood home to look for a job.
Rathbun started work as a waitress, a role she would maintain for most of her life. An activist from an early age, Rathbun fought for many causes. She traveled to Wisconsin to campaign for the rights of miners to form unions, and pushed for abortion rights for women in Minneapolis.
During World War II, she moved to San Francisco and met a military man at a USO dance. They got married and had a daughter named Peggy — but the marriage didn’t last. And Rathbun soon became involved in the counterculture, anti-war movement.
In the early 1970s, Rathbun’s daughter Peggy was tragically killed in a drunk driving accident. Prior to Peggy’s untimely death, she had befriended many in the Castro district, a predominantly LGBTQ area in San Francisco. This is thought to be how Rathbun eventually connected with cannabis activist Dennis Peron at Café Flore in 1974, where they bonded while smoking cannabis together.
Being a waitress just barely paid the bills, and after connecting with Peron, Rathbun became inspired to start baking and selling edibles to make extra money.
Rathbun teamed up with Peron and started selling cannabis brownies in his Big Top Supermarket in the Castro district. By the 1980s, she was making over 50 dozen brownies a day, often with the help of cannabis donations growers would leave on her doorstep.
Rathbun openly advertised her brownies on city bulletin boards. While business was booming, it also attracted some unwanted attention from the police.
Brownie Mary: The edible extraordinaire’s first arrest
According to John Entwistle, Peron’s husband and co-author of Proposition 215, Rathbun’s edibles were for everyone. Because she openly advertised her “magically delicious” brownies, it didn’t take long for the police to get involved.
One night in January 1981, an undercover police officer posed as a customer and ended up busting Rathbun’s cannabis brownie business. Police raided her house and confiscated over 18 pounds of marijuana and 54 dozen cannabis brownies.
This arrest made national headlines, and the media christened her “Brownie Mary.” Rathbun pled guilty and was sentenced to three years probation and 500 hours of community service.
Rathbun fulfilled the community service at various places, including the Shanti Project, a non-profit that supports people with AIDS/HIV. This was when the AIDS crisis was devastating gay communities everywhere, especially in San Francisco.
During that time, Rathbun began baking cannabis brownies and supplying them to people with AIDS, free of charge. She observed that marijuana helped reduce pain and boost appetite in people with wasting syndrome caused by AIDS.
Volunteering at San Francisco General Hospital, More Arrests, and Proposition P
In December 1982, Brownie Mary was delivering baked goods to a friend who had cancer (cannabis has been shown to help with the effects of chemotherapy) when she ran into an officer who had arrested her earlier the year before. He discovered the brownies she was carrying, and again, Rathbun was arrested on possession charges and violation of probation. But the charges were dropped this time with just a warning.
In 1984, Rathbun started volunteering at Ward 86 of San Francisco General Hospital — the first dedicated AIDS clinic in the country.
Here, she cared for people seeking AIDS-related treatment. And her previous arrests did not deter her — she supplied them with cannabis brownies. In 1986, she was awarded “Volunteer of the Year” by the hospital. Seeing firsthand the therapeutic effects marijuana had on patients, Rathbun became a lifelong advocate for legalizing medical marijuana.
In 1991, she spoke publicly about legalizing cannabis and worked with Peron on Proposition P, which urged legislators to make medical cannabis available in San Francisco.
In July 1992, Rathbun was arrested for a third time, after being caught baking cannabis brownies again.
Then, on August 25th, Rathbun testified to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors about the medical benefits of cannabis. Not only did she convince them to make medicinal cannabis possession the lowest priority arrest — they even honored her humanitarian work by declaring August 25th “Brownie Mary Day.”
So by the time Rathbun’s pre-trial for her third arrest came around, she was getting massive amounts of positive media coverage. She was no longer portrayed her as a “bad” grandmother selling weed, but as a caring AIDS activist. And she was ultimately acquitted.
Medical marijuana for all: Brownie Mary’s legacy
With the help of Brownie Mary and fellow advocates like Peron, Proposition P passed with 79% support in 1991. The legislation recommended California adopt medical marijuana and protect physicians against penalties for prescribing it.
Rathbun also helped Peron and Entwistle launch the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club in 1992 — the first public cannabis dispensary in the United States.
In November 1996, California Proposition 215 passed with 56% of the vote. The law made medical marijuana legal across the state. This pivotal piece of legislation that Rathbun, Peron, Entwistle, and countless others fought for paved the way for marijuana legalization across the country.
In 1996, Brownie Mary retired from baking due to osteoarthritis pain in her knees. To treat the pain, Rathbun consumed her own brownies every day, until she died of a heart attack on April 10, 1999, at the age of 76.
But Brownie Mary’s legacy lives on.
Today, 37 states have legalized medical marijuana, and 21 states (plus Washington D.C.) have legalized recreational cannabis use for adults 21 years and older. And new generations continue to pick up the mission (and perhaps some magical brownie baking) to improve the lives of the many people who benefit from medical marijuana across the country.
Resources
- Medical cannabis use in oncology. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK572067/
- Proposition 215: Text of proposed law. https://web.archive.org/web/20091229153715/http:/www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/MMP/Pages/CompassionateUseact.aspx
- Proposition P. http://www.marijuanalibrary.org/Proposition_P_Nov_1991.html
- Therapeutic benefits of cannabis: A patient survey. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3998228/
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