The first time Mary Jane Rathbun was arrested for cannabis was in 1981 when she was 57 years old. The cops found over 18 pounds of cannabis in her home and dozens upon dozens of cannabis-infused brownies. What was a sweet, Betty Crocker-esque old lady doing getting arrested for 18 pounds of weed and even more edibles you ask? Well, she was making a whole lot of pot brownies and a little bit of history.
Mary Jane Rathbun, affectionately nicknamed “Brownie Mary,” was born in Chicago on December 22nd, 1922. She then moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota and spent most of her childhood in the land of 10,000 lakes. When she was a young teenager, she dropped out of Catholic school and moved out of her family’s home. She got a job as a waitress, which she continued to do for much of her life. She eventually moved to San Francisco, fell in love, got married, and had a daughter who she named Peggy. Rathbun’s marriage to her husband did not last long, and now finding herself a single mother, she took up a side hustle that might shock those around her at the time—she began selling homemade pot brownies. Tragically, her daughter Peggy passed away when she was in her early 20s.
And “Brownie Mary” Was Born
Now single and grieving her daughter, Rathbun continued to bake and sell her “magically delicious” pot brownies and advertise openly on bulletin boards in her neighborhood. One day, an undercover police officer arrested Mary, and she was sentenced with a few years of probation and a bunch of community service hours. The arrest made national news headlines, and Mary earned herself her famous nickname.
A Lifetime of Care and Compassion with Cannabis
Part of her community service was completed by volunteering for the Shanti Project, a charity supporting those with HIV/AIDS. This sparked a passion in her and she eventually began volunteering at the AIDS ward in San Francisco General Hospital. Mary was reportedly baking up to 600 brownies each day to give to patients. The brownies helped patients manage pain and increase their appetite, which often diminished in those suffering from AIDS and could cause devastating weight loss and other health issues.
People diagnosed with HIV or AIDS were treated as if they were subhuman in this time. The empathetic and deeply loving care that Mary Rathbun showed these patients was brave. In a time where doctors and nurses wouldn’t even touch some of their patients, Mary showed love and compassion. She was never one to give into stigmas—not for AIDS and not for cannabis.
The Change Brownie Mary Left Behind
Mary was arrested a handful more times during her time as a volunteer at the hospital, but she was growing a significant fanbase and positive notoriety at the same time. After an arrest in 1992 when she was in her early 70s, Mary testified about the medical benefits of cannabis to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Her testimony led to the Board reclassifying medical cannabis arrests as the lowest priority and opened the gates to cannabis legalization. In 1996, Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act, passed in California, allowing medical patients and their caregivers to use and cultivate cannabis for medicinal purposes without criminal liability. It was a historic step towards cannabis legalization and quickly sparked the drafting of similar bills in other U.S. states.
Mary Jane Rathbun passed away in 1999 when she was 76 years old. She left a legacy of bravery, a deep compassion for her fellow humans, and a take-no-shit, stigma-busting attitude that charmed all who had the pleasure of meeting her. Not only did she leave a tangible mark on cannabis history, she also boldly lived in her belief of what was right. She believed cannabis was medicine and saw in real-time the relief it provided to the people she cared for in the AIDS ward.
May we all live a little bit more like Mary Jane Rathbun—the grandmother of medical cannabis—and the beloved Brownie Mary.
