The Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association brings Tribal Nations, policymakers, health professionals, researchers, cannabis businesses, and community leaders together around cannabis policy that protects young people, respects Tribal sovereignty, and supports responsible regulated markets. Led by Executive Director Mary Jane Oatman, a Nez Perce matriarch and cannabis policy advocate, ICIA works to ensure Tribal voices are represented in cannabis policy and public health conversations.
No single profession or agency can ensure cannabis safety alone. It requires people with different experiences to work from shared information, identify practical problems, and build solutions together.
ICIA creates space for Tribal voices in cannabis policy, promotes culturally grounded education and prevention, and advocates for public health approaches that protect youth without repeating the harms of criminalization. Its work connects community safety, sovereignty, economic opportunity, and evidence-based policy in ways that strengthen both Tribal communities and the broader cannabis landscape.
The value of this approach is that safety becomes something communities build together rather than something imposed after problems occur. The work creates connections between the people affected by cannabis policy and the people responsible for shaping, explaining, or implementing it.
Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association is a strong example of what the Community Catalyst Award is designed to recognize. Its work turns the award’s safety goal into something concrete, giving people, professionals, communities, and systems practical ways to make safer, better-informed decisions.
Website: www.indigenouscannabis.org/
Support Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association for the 2026 Community Catalyst Award.
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