MARY GENNOY, MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACTIVIST, DIES AT 53

SAN FRANCISCO - Mary Elaine Gennoy, a San Francisco resident who used
a diminutive body shaped by birth defects to become a passionate
medical marijuana activist, has died at age 53, according to close
friends.

Gennoy, a longtime resident of the city's Castro district, died Sept.
5 after suffering complications from throat surgery she had undergone
for cancer of the larynx, said Dennis Peron, a neighbor and friend who
co-sponsored the California law allowing qualified patients to use
medical marijuana.

During the 1996 campaign to pass Proposition 215, Gennoy - who stood
just 4 feet 6 inches tall and weighed less than 70 pounds - gathered
signatures to put the measure on the ballot and later served as a
spokeswoman for the cause, Peron said.

Her small size resulted from the radiation treatment her mother
underwent for cancer while pregnant. Gennoy also was born without
forearm bones and with other physical disabilities that included
useless thumbs. She also had hearing and intestinal problems.

She spent much of her life recovering from surgeries and serious
illnesses, and as a teenager discovered that marijuana eased her
chronic discomfort.

"You looked at her and you knew she was in pain," Peron said. "It took
her five minutes to walk up to a podium where it would take someone 20
seconds. She said, 'Walk in my body for one day and tell me medical
marijuana isn't necessary.'"

In a 1998 interview with the San Francisco Examiner, Gennoy defended
her longtime habit of smoking about three marijuana joints a day. She
said she felt so strongly that marijuana had made her life bearable
that she wished she could "be like Robin Hood and steal from the rich
and give to the poor who need it."

"If you were born like me, you'd have no choice," she said. "You'd
just do it. There have been times when I've almost died, and I really
need this to help me out."

More recently, Gennoy started getting around in a wheelchair, but she
still was a reliable presence at medical marijuana rallies - the one
place where she smoked pot in public.

"She looked like an elf, and she played the part in a way," Peron
said. "She was in your face, but so disarming because of her physical
appearance."

Gennoy is survived by her mother, Doris Elaine Gilla; her father,
William Gennoy; and a sister, Jane Dietmeyer, all of Fresno; and an
aunt, Molly Carbone of Oakland.

Gennoy asked that her ashes be spread in the Santa Cruz Mountains. A
celebration of her life will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday at
Peron's house.