POT ADVOCATE LAUNCHES RUN FOR GOVERNOR

Dennis Peron Says It's A Serious Effort

This is no pipe dream. Dennis Peron, San Francisco's resident legal
marijuana dealer to the sick and dying, kicked off his campaign for
governor Friday as a Republican reformer.

"I'm really trying to win," he said, dismissing questions about being a
token candidate. "I don't like big government or taxes. There are too many
laws that hurt people.

"But I'm a liberal Republican," he continued. "I'm trying to save the soul
of the Republican Party. I don't believe the party is full of extremists
who want to vote for Dan Lungren."

With incense burning and his courtthreatened Cannabis Buyers Club as a
backdrop, Peron made a plea for 10,000 signatures statewide over the next
30 days that will ensure his place on the ballot.

"I've got to take the high road in this campaign, considering who my
opponents are," he said in response to a baited question. "I've got to
laugh and have fun."

Lungren could not be reached for comment. In August, when Peron first
announced plans to run for governor, Lungren said: "If Dennis Peron is
running for governor on the Republican ticket, he has smoked more marijuana
than even I thought."

Peron, who said he had been a registered Republican for more than a year
now, said his philosophy fit with the Grand Old Party's: small government,
lower taxes and fewer laws intruding on people's lives.

Peron opposes the death penalty, is antiguns and supports abortion rights,
believes the barriers between Mexico and California should come down and
supports, of course, medicinal use of marijuana.

"Marijuana is a metaphor," Peron declared, "for racism, control and feeding
the system. Our priorities are all wrong, and it's corrupting everything
homelessness, for instance. You can't build houses if you're building
prisons. Everything's mixed around."

But his campaign for governor probably won't be the only battlefield he'll
be on in coming months. His and other cannabis clubs that provide marijuana
to the sick and dying are being threatened with closure, despite a vote of
the people supporting use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Earlier this month, the 1st District Court of Appeal reactivated an
injunction barring San Francisco's Cannabis Buyers Club from doing
business. The injunction was issued before voters passed the medical
marijuana initiative last year, but a Superior Court judge subsequently
allowed the club to reopen after the election.

"We'll continue to fight. We'll open up. They'll raid us. We'll open again.
We still intend to serve the sick and dying," Peron said. "We may have to
do other types of civil disobedience. When the courts shut us down, we'll
just take our case to juries."

Peron vowed Friday to not spend money on his campaign. He said he would
travel the state to gather signatures on bicycle and by train, focusing on
areas where Prop. 215, the medical marijuana initiative, did well.

His theme: hope, empowerment and compassion.

"I was drafted into the Vietnam War as an 18 year old," Peron said as about
40 supporters cheered his candidacy. "I've been opposed to the war on drugs
and been involved in the war on AIDS. War has shaped me. Because I know
war, I'll be the messenger of peace." "I know there will be jokes about me
smoking pot," Peron said. "But I'm serious about this. The future of our
country is at stake. I'm the only guy in the race who's different. They're
all big cats. I'm about bringing new priorities for our state."

©1997 San Francisco Examiner