The story of Lynnette Shaw is, in essence, the story of medical cannabis in California. Before she was sued by President Bill Clinton, before she was tailed 24-7 by DEA agents, and before she was taken into hiding by the Wu-Tang Clan — yes, all those things really happened — Shaw was working with legendary cannabis advocate Dennis Peron to help patients suffering from AIDS find relief in the form of cannabis. In 1996, Shaw started the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana Alliance, or MAMM, in the Marin County town of Fairfax. “I like to think of myself as the godmother of dispensaries,” Shaw says, “and that all the dispensaries are my godchildren.” She certainly has a claim to the title, as hers was the first dispensary in the country ever to receive a permit to sell medical marijuana. Sitting at a makeshift desk at the back of her store, Shaw beams with pride as recalls the many people she helped — she refers to her patients as her family — and the long, arduous battle she’s waged to return to the place where it all began.
