RODGERS, CANNABIS CLUB DIRECTOR, AT 81

Hazel Rodgers, a former secretary who used marijuana during her late 70s to
treat her glaucoma and then found herself a leader of the medicinal
marijuana movement, died Sunday after a brief illness in San Francisco. She
was 81.

Known by some as Grandma Ganja, Mrs. Rodgers served briefly as the director
of the San Francisco Cannabis Club, in an episode that brings fond smiles to
the club's clients and supporters.

A native of Norfolk, Neb., Mrs. Rodgers came to San Francisco in 1937 and
walked across the Golden Gate Bridge on its opening day. For many years, she
was the private secretary to the president of the state council of
carpenters and a labor union activist.

In 1993, Mrs. Rodgers found out that she had glaucoma. Hearing that
marijuana was thought to ease the condition, she joined the then-underground
club and became a friend and confidante of its founder and former
gubernatorial candidate, Dennis Peron.

Five years later, the club was trying to follow the terms of the 1996
medicinal marijuana law. After a judge ordered Peron's club on Market Street
shut down, Peron seized a legal loophole and reopened the facility the next
day -- with a new nameplate on the door and his friend Mrs. Rodgers as its
director.

Peron stayed on as the club ``consultant'' and, for the next month, the two
friends seemed to be having a very good time presiding over the club's
affairs. Some said Peron was betting that authorities would not want to be
seen rousting a 79-year-old grandmother with glaucoma.

``I've got to be careful,'' Mrs. Rodgers told The Chronicle at the time. ``I
still could be arrested if I don't watch my step. I'm counting on them not
to arrest a woman of my age, you know, because of the publicity.''

Mrs. Rodgers was frequently photographed with a brass marijuana pipe in her
hand, sampling the club's various grades of weed and offering an expert's
advice with a grandmother's smile and twinkle.

``Hazel is the good vibe monitor,'' said Peron, ``and the law says I may
consult, so I'm consulting.''

But the state attorney general still found reason to shut the club down for
good a month later.

Over the past two years, Mrs. Rodgers was a frequent visitor to Peron's
medicinal marijuana farm in Lake County where, Peron said, she personally
grew five pounds of marijuana.

``Hazel had a green thumb, that's for sure,'' Peron said.

Mrs. Rodgers is survived by three children, Leigh Rodgers and Theresa
Roberts, of San Francisco, and Christian Rodgers of Rohnert Park, and by
four grandchildren. Her husband of 21 years, John, died in 1963.

A memorial service was held Monday and a memorial celebration will be held
on July 1 at noon in Marx Meadow in Golden Gate Park.