Meet ASA's Featured Advocates

Amy Mellen, Maryland

William Dolphin | October 02, 2017

Amy Mellen knew something about pain from the hormonal migraines she began experiencing in 1998. But a major car accident in 2006 ushered her into the world of severe chronic pain.

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Valencia Elliott, Westchester, New York

William Dolphin | September 01, 2017

Valencia Elliott grew up in what she calls a tough part of the country where she’d regularly smell cannabis being smoked, but she never had any interest in it. That changed late in life when her husband, an Army veteran...

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Jill Swing, Charleston, South Carolina

William Dolphin | August 01, 2017

Like many parents of children with severe seizure disorders, Jill Swing discovered the potential of medical cannabis through the 2013 CNN special report Weed, in which medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported the near-miraculous effects of CBD.

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Frank Buress, Wisconsin

William Dolphin | July 03, 2017

You have 72 hours to start anti-virus medicine after the shingles rash appears. Miss that window, and your odds of developing painful post-herpetic neuralgia skyrocket. That’s what happened to Frank Buress, whose case of shingles was so severe, covering every...

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Nichole Miller, Virginia

William Dolphin | June 01, 2017

Like many caregivers turned activists, Nichole Miller’s journey began with other people’s stories. For Nichole, it was hearing about Paige Figi and her daughter Charlotte, another mother of a young child battling horrific seizures. But Nichole lived in Virginia, not...

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Nichole Snow, Massachusetts - ASA Activist of the Year

William Dolphin | April 03, 2017

Nichole Snow first started learning about cannabis in 2008, after Massachusetts voters decriminalized cannabis, and it became safer to talk about over the watercooler at work. 

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Dana Ulrich, Pennsylvania

William Dolphin | March 01, 2017

It was four years ago this month that Dana Ulrich reached the end of the proverbial rope with her five-year-old daughter’s doctors. A rare genetic mutation meant Lorelei was experiencing 700-1,000 seizures every day, and all the pharmaceutical drugs they...

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Terrie Best, San Diego - 2015 Activist of the Year

William Dolphin | February 01, 2017

ASA’s 2015 Activist of the Year, Terrie Best, has always sympathized with the victims of the drug war. After seeing firsthand the benefits of medical cannabis for patients, Terrie began doing court support for those caught up in a series...

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Dixie Pace Family, South Carolina

William Dolphin | September 01, 2016

Dixie Pace’s seizures started at age seven. At first, it was one every other week or so. After a year, they were weekly. A decade later, she was experiencing 50-100 a day. By then, she was taking or had tried...

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Coltyn Turner Family, Illinois

William Dolphin | August 01, 2016

Coltyn Turner climbed a mountain last weekend. Two years ago, at age 14, he was largely confined to a wheelchair, unable to walk for more than a minute. The difference has been cannabis.

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