Our dispensary at 1933 Mission Street is full of cannabis history. This location has been an operational cannabis dispensary since 1996, originally opened during the AIDs epidemic. Even Dennis Peron has visited the location! Stop by and see what this historic location has to offer you.
In 1978, the Breyburg family settled down in California. They had immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union as humble carpenters and contractors. As their business grew, they became real estate developers. In the 1980s, they bought empty land and began to build upon it. One of the structures was 1933 Mission Street in San Francisco, California, what is now Medithrive. Little did they know how important this location would be.
The Mission District grew and so too did its attraction. In 1996, one of the first medical cannabis dispensaries opened its doors. The Breyburg developer’s son, Misha Breyburg, redesigned the establishment, and Medithrive was born in 2009. Early medical cannabis dispensaries including Medithrive offered relief to people who suffered from many chronic and life-threatening diseases and conditions.
Most of the dispensaries currently operating in San Francisco and throughout California did not exist then! Medithrive and its management team were truly one of a handful of leaders on the frontline of the movement, fighting to establish legal cannabis.
Medithrive stood out among the rest as a sophisticated, medical marijuana boutique. Budtenders welcomed guests behind elegant cases instead of the bulletproof glass their competitors toted. High tech computer systems efficiently recorded club members. Medithrive’s classy, weed-wise, and friendly staff demonstrated the power of knowledge to serve and educate their customers and rocketed the dispensary into instant success.
There was a war being waged between states and the federal government, and soon Medithrive earned its own battle scars.
In 2011 during Barack Obama’s terms, the United States Government targeted legal, medical cannabis dispensaries. The federal government fought dispensary owners and the over 700,000 Americans who depended on marijuana to cope with their health conditions. Haag, the U.S. attorney for Northern California, threatened to seize their property and lock them out of the banking system. The IRS took away standard tax reductions. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union estimated that these measures caused at least 2,500 people to lose their jobs in California alone. As the government took away the rights of respectable budtenders, it forced desperate people dying from cancer and suffering from seizures to turn to the streets to find sellers—
…. and criminals prospered.
These efforts forced hundreds of dispensaries to close their doors forever, but Medithrive persevered and continued to serve the people of San Francisco. During the darkest times, they focused on their delivery services to ensure that hundreds of medical marijuana patients were provided for despite the onslaught of penalties and risks. Most individuals would have caved and closed the small store, but the Medithrive Team and landlords stood up to the government and didn’t waver.
The incessant attacks against legalized cannabis did not let up until a few years ago when the Trump administration declared that the states should determine the laws and regulations regarding cannabis once more. Finally, after many long and arduous battles, we have peace. But for how long is uncertain.
Medithrive is still being operated by the same owners today; we are native San Franciscans and one of the historic originals! We are here to stay and will continue to fight for your freedom.
As one of the oldest dispensaries in California, Medithrive serves the San Francisco Bay Area and Contra Costa County with great pride.
