Cannabis activist Lynnette Shaw has been working to legalize medical use marijuana for the past 20 years. Her work advocating the benefits of marijuana has earned her the name the Godmother of Ganja. She says the positive medicinal effects of marijuana helped her overcome depression. Since has been an outspoken advocate educating the public about pot’s medicinal effects. From legalization to education, Shaw has never backed down. After serving several months in Contra Costa County jail for possession of marijuana for sale in 1991, she started working for Dennis Peron’s Cannabis Buyers Club in San Francisco, helping in 1996 to pass Proposition 215, which made California the first state to legalize medical marijuana use. Shaw went on to found the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, which opened that same year in Fairfax. The federal government sued Shaw in 1998 seeking to close the dispensary. It remained open until 2011, when it was shut down by U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag. The alliance later reopened under a ruling from U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, becoming the first state-legal medical marijuana dispensary. When the Shaw is not selling medical cannabis, the Godmother of Ganja plays piano at Sunday service for St. Rita’s Church, feeding the homeless and singing with her band, Blues Champions.