As the legislative sessions of 2025 begin, the Marijuana Policy Project is led by a newly appointed leader.
Lauren Daly was named executive director of the largest cannabis organisation. With a background in drug policy and civil rights advocacy—and years of experience in a fundraising capacity—the plan is to help elevate MPP’s work at a critical inflection point at the state and federal levels.
“When I first started learning about the broader drug war—not just cannabis—it became something that I couldn’t turn away from and really wanted to be involved in,” Daly told MEDCAN24 in an interview. It’s important for me and it is also an exciting and big challenge that I want to take on.
Daly sees her new job as a sort of full-circle. She worked as the membership coordinator for MPP more than 10 years ago. Her job was to fill envelopes full of renewal letters in order to help the grassroots campaign to influence cannabis policy. She has also held top positions at Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the ACLU of the District of Columbia and Brown University.
One key skill she brings to the table is fundraising—which has become critically important for grassroots cannabis groups as philanthropic support has gradually dwindled, posing a significant challenge for advocates as they’ve continued to work to end prohibition in states across the U.S. while also influencing federal marijuana policy.
Daly explained that “Fundraising was a key function of an executive director and I am prepared to spend a large amount of time on this task.” I knew that my first challenge would be to revitalize our fundraising. An important part of this will be raising awareness about how much more work is needed to reform cannabis.
Increasingly, as more state markets have emerged—in no small way assisted by organizations like MPP—industry stakeholders have taken on a more prominent role in the push for reform, with a particular focus on Congress. Daly says, MPP’s unique positioning allows it to be a bridge between industry and advocacy groups in the push to replace criminalization through regulation.
“MPP has served as a bridge between the grassroots and the industry for a long time—and working together with many different allies allows us to make the biggest possible impact,” she said. MPP’s effectiveness is partly due to its ability to make incremental improvements and seek compromises. However, the main priority of the organization is to create policies that will support the patients, provide a market with safe cannabis access, and most importantly, stop the drug pipeline from reaching the criminal justice system.
Daly stated that the organization would “refocus its efforts on federal work” after focusing much of MPP’s resources recently on state reform.
She noted that, with President Donald Trump having endorsed certain reforms on the campaign trail—including rescheduling and cannabis industry banking access—”there could be opportunities to make progress at the federal level, and we’re coordinating with our allies and want to be ready to respond to any opportunity that arises.”
MPP is not going to stop working on reforms at the state level. Daly, however, said that MPP has its sights set on several states where legalization could be possible by 2025. That includes, she said, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire—even Louisiana, though that might be a “longer-term push.”
She said, “We’re working with our allies in Nebraska and Ohio to protect legalization against being reduced.” She added, “On the medical side we are just getting started in Wisconsin. We may also have some opportunities in North or South Carolina.”
NORML, another cannabis advocacy organization, is also “interested”. In the back, some members of MPP are still interested in merging. Daly stated that, while the talks didn’t lead to a merger between the groups last year, he would “follow the board’s directions on that” if they were discussed again.
Daly will be taking the reins of MPP from Matthew Schweich—a legacy executive at the organization who has stepped in to lead its work at multiple junctures over its history. In 2023, Toi Hustchinson left her position as executive director. Daly took over the role.
Schweich, who spoke to MEDCAN24 said: “I’m convinced Lauren would be the ideal leader for MPP. Her work on the reform of drug policies is evidence that she truly believes our mission. “She has outstanding fundraising skills, and that is a very important asset.”
MPP, founded by Rob Kampia in the early 1990s, was a former NORML employee. He stepped down from his position in 2017 and Schweich assumed the role of interim executive for almost a year, until Steve Hawkins was appointed to the post. Then Hawkins left in 2021, and the organization hired Hutchinson later that year.
The push towards reform in 2025 may prove difficult, given the open questions surrounding how a new administration would handle the cannabis issue and the amount of work that advocates will have to do on the state level. MPP says that it is hopeful about the current momentum, as well as the fact that a new administration could bring positive outcomes for reform supporters in 2019.
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Philip Steffan is the photographer.