The Pioneers of Pot Check-in Challenge - SF Hash Week
The Cannabis Trail
The SF Hash Week Pioneers of Pot check-in challenge is a gamified self-guided cultural travel adventure that celebrates the cannabis legalization movement and the pioneers that paved the way.
Advocating for safe cannabis medicine access for patients in San Francisco back in the 1980s and 1990s is what led to the recreational 21+ cannabis access that we enjoy today.
Enjoy the Pioneers of Pot walking tour adventure, brought to you by The Cannabis Trail in partnership with SF Hash Week!
Get elevated and take an immersive cultural cannabis walkabout. Learn about Dennis Peron and Brownie Mary and the community of inspiring activists and outlaws who re-legalized medical cannabis for suffering patients in need.
The SF Hash Week Pioneers of Pot Check-in Challenge:
1. Prior to embarking on your adventure, watch The Secret Story, a 15-min short doc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YRxfa_b2Sk
2. Visit cannabis landmarks and points of interest
3. Check-in at three places and collect a Pioneer badge at each place on the map.
4. Collect three Pioneer badges and win…
…a 2024 SF Hash Week Patch, limited edition, while supplies last!
If you complete the challenge, your commemorative SF Hash Week 2024 Patch must be picked up inside Flore Dispensary by 8pm on 7/30/24.
Mission Dolores Park, 18th St & Castro St, Castro St & Market St, 3745 17th St, The Island Cafe (Former Home Of), Duboce Park, Flore Dispensary Castro
Mission Dolores Park in San Francisco, United States
18th St & Castro St in San Francisco, United States
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The heart of the Castro is 18th and Castro, where Brownie Mary once often stood offering her ‘magically delicious sparkling brownies’ to those in need. Here in the heart of the Castro we honor Mary Jane Rathbun, better known as Brownie Mary, whose cannabis brownies brought relief to AIDS patients during the public health crisis of the 1980s. She affectionately called the patients ‘her kids’, many of whom were estranged from their families for being gay and suffering from a devastating illness. Her tireless advocacy paved the way for the compassionate use of medical marijuana.
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Castro St & Market St in San Francisco, United States
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At the intersection of Castro & Market is Harvey Milk Plaza, featuring an art installation and a large waving rainbow flag. Gilbert Baker is the creator of the original rainbow flag, which included turquoise and pink stripes. Created in the 1970’s, Gilbert Baker refused to copyright or intellectually protect the rainbow flag symbol because he wanted it to spread freely and widely as a symbol around the world as fast as possible, uniting communities and symbolizing unified LGBTQ+ Pride.
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3745 17th St in San Francisco, United States
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The Castro Castle is a symbol of community and compassion. It was here and at Cafe Flore that the community gathered and a cannabis legalization strategy was created to drive positive change and safe access for patients. At the Castro Castle we honor the work and legacy of Dennis Peron and his partner Jonathan West, and the loyal community of human rights activists they built around them in the Castro. Sadly Jonathan West died from AIDS, but the relief that cannabis brought him was central to Dennis Peron's continued advocacy work in medical cannabis, and he carried forward in West's spirit to make the plant more accessible to patients.
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The Island Cafe (Former Home Of) in San Francisco, United States
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For a time, Peron’s Island Cafe was Harvey Milk’s campaign headquarters. It is believed that Dennis Peron was secretly a regular financial contributor to Harvey Milk’s political campaigns, all underground pot money. Peron was a kingpin of the cannabis underground. They both believed strongly in human rights, patient dignity, and safe access for all to medical marijuana.
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Duboce Park in San Francisco, United States
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The Big Top Commune was a free love cannabis-friendly hippy haven for flower children and their families. In 1974, law enforcement raided The Big Top commune because of pot dealing, leading to Dennis Peron's arrest and the confiscation of seven pounds of cannabis. Iconic human rights attorney Tony Serra, renowned for his defense of counter-culture underdogs, stepped in to represent Dennis and The Big Top Commune. Tony Serra negotiated the release of 43 detainees, the Big Top Commune family, and secured a favorable outcome for Dennis Peron.
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Flore Dispensary Castro in San Francisco, United States
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Flore Dispensary is a Cultural Cannabis Landmark and home to the Compassion Monument along The Cannabis Trail. Cafe Flore was THE community gathering place for the LGBTQ+ community. It was where the queer community came together for cultural moments, like the White Night riots, and to trade information during the early days of the HIV / AIDS epidemic. Cannabis was on the front lines of the epidemic. In a time of need, cannabis had the ability to stimulate appetite, extend patients’ lives, and ease suffering. It made people feel better when there was nothing else. Cannabis was THE first effective medicine on the frontlines of the HIV / AIDS epidemic, which led to the legal cannabis landscape of today, and Dennis Peron is known as the Father of Medical Marijuana.
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During the 1960s and 1970s, San Francisco was a focal point for the counterculture movement specifically, and cannabis was center stage. Dolores Park became known as a place where people could openly consume cannabis, reflecting the city's progressive attitudes toward marijuana. Many believe the term ‘to toke’ originates from Alice B Toklas and her inspiring cannabis advocacy work. Born in San Francisco in 1877, in 1954 Toklas published The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook which includes a recipe for hashish fudge.