Sonoma County Prosecutors Drop Charges Against 'Brownie Mary'

MEDICAL MARIJUANA January 1993

'Brownie Mary,' the 69-year-old baker of marijuana brownies for AIDS patients, was cleared after Sonoma County, California District Attorney Gene Tunney said it would be too costly and time consuming to prosecute the medical marijuana activist, whose arrest has become a cause celebre (Ron Sonenshine, "DA Drops Brownie Mary Charges," San Francisco Chronicle, 12/16/92).

Brownie Mary, whose actual name is Mary Rathbun, is a long time marijuana activist who admitted baking 20 dozen marijuana brownies for which she was arrested. She had planned to use a medical necessity defense. After the dismissal, the San Francisco Chronicle chided the district attorney, suggesting that he would eventually "get his priorities straight" (Editorial, "Potluck For Mary," San Francisco Chronicle, 12/20/92, A18).