Meet ASA's Featured Advocates

Michael Whitty, Detroit, Michigan

William Dolphin | August 03, 2020

Few people have a history of activism as long as Michael Whitty. He first became involved with cannabis law reform efforts in the 1970s in Detroit, Michigan, where he is active still. But his activism has not been confined to...

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Erik Range, Orlando, Florida

William Dolphin | July 01, 2020

Art was the point of entry into cannabis advocacy for Erik Range. In 2015, after a trip to Colorado, where he saw the expansion of the cannabis industry, Erik began wondering how, as a minority, he could take part in...

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Joy Grainge, Naperville, Illinois

William Dolphin | June 01, 2020

Joy Grainge turned to medical cannabis after she injured her neck in 2006, developed spinal stenosis, and then discovered that she had arthritis throughout her body. That was eight years before Illinois, where she lives, got a medical cannabis program...

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Nico Murillo, Texas

William Dolphin | May 01, 2020

An entrepreneurial itch attracted Nico Murillo to cannabis. As a certified research chef whose 20 years of experience includes more than a dozen years doing product development, she suspected the emerging cannabis edible industry presented opportunities.

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Dan Stockwell Jr., Dublin, New Hampshire

William Dolphin | April 02, 2020

Dan Stockwell has been a public advocate for medical cannabis for more than 30 years. He discovered its therapeutic value at age 14, a decade before he got the diagnosis that helped explain why it helped. Despite a great family...

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Anna Symonds, Portland, Oregon

William Dolphin | March 02, 2020

At an age when most competitive athletes have called it quits, Anna Symonds is still on the rugby pitch, 20 years after her first scrum. She credits cannabis for that.

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Connor Sheffield, Maryland

William Dolphin | February 03, 2020

At 15, Connor isn’t old enough to have a driver’s license, but he finished 7th overall in the local micro-sprint kart race series. “Without racing, who would I be?” Connor wrote at the end of 2019. Without medical cannabis, likely not...

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Cherron Perry-Thomas, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

William Dolphin | December 02, 2019

Cherron Perry-Thomas says she has long lived by Nelson Mandela’s adage that “a threat to justice to anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” After more than a dozen years in the natural products industry, Cherron came to realize that...

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Eryck Stamper, Baltimore, Maryland

William Dolphin | November 01, 2019

Eryck Stamper had no question about his career path. Military service is the family business. His parents, uncles, grandfather and great grandfather had served in the armed forces. When he committed at age 18 to join the U.S. Navy, he...

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Gabrielle Brown-Wing, Portland, Oregon

William Dolphin | October 01, 2019

Gabrielle Brown-Wing, a driving force in organizing a new chapter of Americans for Safe Access in Portland, Oregon, has come to medical cannabis activism gradually. A licensed massage therapist for more than a decade, Gabrielle began using cannabis topicals after...

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