19 Facts About Brownie Mary

Mary Jane Rathbun, popularly known as Brownie Mary, was an American medical cannabis rights activist.

Brownie Mary contributed to the establishment of the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club, the first medical cannabis dispensary in the United States.

Brownie Mary's arrests generated interest in the medical community and motivated researchers to propose one of the first clinical trials to study the effects of cannabinoids in HIV-infected adults.

Brownie Mary was born Mary Jane Rathbun in Chicago, Illinois, on December 22,1922.

Brownie Mary was raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she attended Catholic school.

Brownie Mary later moved to Reno, Nevada, but after Peggy was killed by a drunk driver in a car accident in the early 1970s, Rathbun returned to San Francisco.

Brownie Mary was shot in the leg during a police raid on his business in 1977.

Brownie Mary advertised her "original recipe brownies" on San Francisco bulletin boards, calling them "magically delicious".

Brownie Mary pleaded guilty to nine counts of possession and received three years probation.

Brownie Mary was taken to the city jail and held on multiple counts of possession and violation of her probation.

Brownie Mary told Rathbun about ACT UP, and she later spoke to the group about her first-hand experience distributing cannabis-laced brownies to people with AIDS.

Brownie Mary was charged with possession of 2.5 pounds of cannabis and released on bail.

Brownie Mary pleaded not guilty to two counts of felony marijuana possession.

Brownie Mary survived colon cancer and walked with artificial knees.

Brownie Mary claimed cannabis brownies allowed her to walk and helped her with her gout.

Brownie Mary began losing weight and told Peron that she considered traveling to Michigan for physician-assisted suicide at the hands of Jack Kevorkian.

Brownie Mary recovered from the operation at Davies Medical Center, but received few visitors.

Brownie Mary was in Amsterdam attending an AIDS conference when he learned of Rathbun's arrest by way of CNN.

Brownie Mary sent a letter to the AIDS program at SFGH proposing that "Brownie Mary's institution" should consider conducting clinical trials of cannabis on the wasting syndrome in AIDS patients.