YOUR FRIENDS ARE DYING AND NO ONE IS HELPING. WHAT DO YOU DO?
Sell pot.
JOIN THE CLUB is the definitive story of Dennis Peron's battle for marijuana legalization in America.
Meet Dennis Peron, the pot dealer who changed the world.
Who was Dennis Peron? Known as “Saint Dennis of San Francisco,” Peron was a charismatic leader and gay rights activist who also happened to make over two million dollars a month selling pot.
After losing his lover to AIDS, Peron became famous risking his freedom to help the sick and dying.
But was Peron a paragon of virtue or a master media manipulator? Was he a saint or the country’s all time greatest marijuana profiteer?
Join the Club tells the little known story of one the most important LGBTQ+ rights struggles of the 20th century - how the devastation of the AIDS crisis in San Francisco in the 1990s led to cannabis legalization in America.
It’s a David vs. Goliath saga: renegade pot dealer Dennis Peron against the police officers and right wing politicians who want to shut down his Cannabis Buyers’ Club, a care center established to provide medical marijuana to those dying of AIDS.
At its peak, the five-story club served 12,000 members, bringing in an estimated $750,000 a week. Featuring drag shows, rainbow murals, and trans employees, the club is a proudly queer space. To this day there has never been a larger on-site consumption club in America.
As the club grows, it becomes political headquarters for Prop 215, California’s medical marijuana initiative authored by Peron. The club is a target too big to ignore. Peron’s opponents conduct a multi-agency campaign, the largest in California history, to bring down the club. The investigation is led by Joe Bannon, an undercover cop who was ironically one of the first openly gay police officers in the country. It’s a cat and mouse game where Peron always seems to be one step ahead…until he’s not.
Ultimately the Cannabis Buyers’ Club is shut down but thanks to the passing of Prop 215, the impact of this unique social and political experiment is still felt today.
Characters
COPS
Cops like Joe Bannon do not shy away from controversy. He came out to the nation on 60 Minutes, and had a decorated career taking on criminals of all stripes. Still, when his undercover investigation into Peron’s club came to light, he not only went from a hero to a pariah in the eyes of San Francisco’s gay community, but he was run out of the SFPD for good.
Politicians
Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California’s history, was a close friend and mentor to Dennis Peron. Dennis even funded Harvey Milk’s campaigns with money made from the sale of cannabis, money that helped get him elected. Milk’s life and tragic assassination helped inspire Peron to fight injustice on local, state, and national levels.
Attorney General Dan Lungren was California’s “Top Cop” from 1991 to 1999 and the stated nemesis of Dennis Peron. A conservative pioneer in the war on drugs and Reagan’s number one fan, Lungren’s crusade against Peron would turn into a political black eye that cost the state tens of millions of dollars.
Dealers
Brownie Mary, a grandmotherly hospital volunteer who was arrested for baking marijuana brownies for AIDS patients, was the ideal spokesperson for Dennis’ crusade. A sweet old lady insisting she would happily go to jail for her cause garnered immense support for the cannabis legalization movement and gave Dennis some of the best press of his life. Tony Serra, the “counter-culture’s warrior lawyer” who represented Dennis was known for passionately defending drug dealers and for being “the most persuasive closing argument lawyer” according to his colleagues.
SYNOPSIS
Born and bred in the Bronx, Dennis Peron is only 19 when he finds himself drafted and sent off to war in Vietnam. A pacifist by nature, he refuses to pick up a gun. Consequently punished by his commanding officers, he finds solace in marijuana, smoking it for the first time. He returns from the war with three pounds of thai weed in a duffle bag and begins to sell pot in San Francisco. Here, after years of feeling suicidal due to a lack of acceptance of his sexuality, he finds a gay community who welcomes him, and opens The Big Top, a hippie commune and pot superstore.
After his arrest by the SFPD and the shuttering of the Big Top (courtesy of Nixon’s War on Drugs), Dennis becomes more civically minded. He befriends politician Harvey Milk, helping him get elected, funding his campaign with sizable cash donations. When Milk is murdered and his killer gets off with a slap on the wrist, Dennis’s frustration with bigoted law enforcement erupts, leading him and the gay community of San Francisco to rebel, breaking the windows of City Hall and burning police cars in what becomes known as the “White Night Riots.”
A mysterious new disease sweeps through the gay community in San Francisco, killing thousands, while a homophobic national political establishment does nothing. Dennis cares for Jonathan West, his lover, and provides him with marijuana, which proves to mitigate Jonathan’s symptoms. Weed gives him the munchies, relieves his pain, and combats the intense side effects of early AIDS medications. Peron’s home is raided by police, but all they find are four ounces of Jonathan’s weed. The judge dismisses the case thanks to Jonathan’s testimony, but Jonathan dies weeks later. Desperate to demonstrate the value of marijuana as a life saving medicine, Dennis finds the perfect spokesperson for his media campaign in Brownie Mary, a elderly hospital volunteer who is busted baking brownies for AIDS patients.
Hoping to challenge the cannabis laws in San Francisco, Dennis opens the Cannabis Buyers’ Club, the nation’s first public marijuana dispensary, where patrons must come with a doctor’s note to buy marijuana. The club supplies a wide variety of marijuana strains, has doctors on-site, and a food program for those with AIDS. It’s also a place for patients of all types to find community and enjoy themselves––complete with drag performances and dance parties. And all of this, mere blocks from City Hall.
As intended, the club begins to attract attention and after an anonymous tip, SFPD officer Joe Bannon begins an investigation into the club, going undercover with hidden cameras and filming the entire operation. Meanwhile, Peron writes Prop 215, a landmark medical marijuana initiative that will forever reshape America’s marijuana policy, and with the help of George Soros and other wealthy donors, gets it on the California ballot. As support for 215 grows, Bannon takes his case against Peron to the state, and Peron suddenly finds himself in the crosshairs of California Attorney General Dan Lungren, the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, and the DEA.
As Dennis Peron becomes the face for the medical marijuana legalization movement, the authorities ramp up a multi-million dollar investigation into the Cannabis Buyers’ Club, which culminates in a raid on the club. The raid is a public relations nightmare for local law enforcement, and the gay community turns on Joe Bannon. Peron ultimately has to shut down the Cannabis Buyers’ Club, but all is not lost. Prop 215 passes, and the movement Dennis began paves the way for legalization nationwide.
The Team
Kip Andersen, Executive Producer and Director
Kip Andersen is the award winning Director and Producer of the Netflix documentaries: Cowspiracy and What the Health and the Netflix Original Seaspiracy. His starring role in Cowspiracy and What the Health and his ongoing activism has helped him amass a social media following of over 2 million.
Kip opened the first legal Cannabis Club in San Francisco after Proposition 215 passed in 1996. He had to ask Dennis Peron’s permission in order to open his club and has been wanting to tell this story ever since.
Chris O'Connell, Producer and Director
Chris O'Connell is a first time producer and director. After a pivot in his career (he’s one of the most published snow sports photographers in the world), and a hiatus from dodging avalanches and faraway travel in search of perfect snow, he set out to tell the social justice story that is Cannabis Buyers Club. It’s Chris’s first documentary series.
Chris O’Connell founded Armada Skis in 2002 and served as Chief Brand Officer and Chairman until their acquisition in 2017 by Amer Sports. Chris met Kip as a child in 1985 in Burke, Virginia and they’ve been best friends ever since.
David Clair, Executive Producer
David Clair is founder and Executive Producer of Special Order Inc, an independent production company with offices in New York and Los Angeles.
Recently, David directed the epic Disney+ special Making Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever and the more modest Olivia Rodrigo’s Tiny Desk Concert. And on the big screen, David is thrilled to be the Executive Producer of For Madmen Only starring Patton Oswalt and Lauren Lapkus which premiered at SXSW 2020 and is now streaming on HULU. Also recently completed is the feature documentary, The Water of Life.
Special Order has partnered with the interactive streamer Eko to produce the 6-part interactive series Damage Control starring Ben Schwartz and Emily Pendergast. Two additional interactive series for Refinery 29: Sweet Digs and 60 Second Cities, launched during the pandemic. This follows the 8-part scripted Eko series Timeline starring Rachel Crow, G Hannelius, Sammi Hanratty, and Donald Faison.
Special Order provided post production for A24’s False Positive with Ilana Glazer and Pierce Brosnan, as well as the Adult Swim cult favorite The Shivering Truth. Before founding Special Order, David produced series and specials for Bravo, TLC, Nat Geo and Nat Geo Wild.
Aaron Ohlmann, Executive Producer
Aaron Ohlmann is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker who has lived and worked in Hollywood, Bollywood, Nollywood, and Beijing. He directed episodes of NatGeo’s Trafficked and VICE’s Black Market with Michael K. Williams, was the Series Producer for the Netflix series Larry Charles’ Dangerous World of Comedy, and produced and edited the award-winning feature documentaries Viva Cuba Libre and Here Is Always Somewhere Else. He and David Clair are managing partners at the production company Special Order Inc.