Appropriately on 4/20, the Flore Dispensary unveiled a compassion mural on the Beaver Street side of the dispensary located at 258 Noe Street in the LGBTQ Castro neighborhood. Terrance Alan, the founder of Flore dispensary and the recently elected co-president of the Castro Merchants Association, said the public art depicts the coming together of two communities during the AIDS crisis: the Humboldt cannabis farmers and San Francisco patients. The most notable figures in cannabis legalization were the late Mary Jane Rathbun, aka Brownie Mary, and the late Dennis Peron, a gay man. At first, they gave cannabis in all forms, from flowers and edibles to brownies and tea. Then, they went on to write and promote California's Proposition 215, the Compassionate Care Act, which changed the nation's perspective on cannabis as medicine. This mural tells that story, Alan stated in a news release. Attending the unveiling, from left, were Brian Applegarth, who gives cannabis culture tours; mural artist Dave Van Patten; Alan; gay former state senator Mark Leno; and medical cannabis pioneer Wayne Justmann. The unveiling coincided with the grand opening of Flore Dispensary.
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