Denis Peron, the activist who many have called the "Father of Medical Marijuana," passed away Saturday afternoon from lung cancer. Dennis Peron was 72. Peron began distributing marijuana to AIDS patients from a public dispensary in 1991 and was repeatedly arrested and spent time in jail for selling marijuana.
With Peron leading the charge, activists authored Prop 215 in 1996, which legalized medicinal marijuana in California for AIDS patients, cancer patients and others. He lost his partner in 1990 to AIDS.
Of course, an attempt to legalize recreational marijuana failed in 2010, but California voters approved recreational pot in 2016. Medicinal cannabis is now legal in 29 states, with recreational legalized in nine.
Source: U.S. News & World Report