Kampia is a co-founder and current executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to legalizing marijuana and having it regulated in a fashion similar to alcohol. The organization is celebrating its 15th anniversary on Wednesday 13 and says it now has 29,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide.
Why did you create the Marijuana Policy Project?
Me and two friends saw the need for someone to lobby Congress on marijuana legalization. When we started in 1995, there hadn’t been a pro-legalizing marijuana lobbyist in quite some time.
How did you become interested in the issue?
I was arrested in college for growing my own and spent a few months in county jail near Penn State. Before going to jail, I was just a user and grower with no political interest. When I got out, I became politically active. My college activism transformed over the years into co-founding the Marijuana Policy Project.
Do you feel the Marijuana Policy Project has played a big role in the recent changes states have made regarding marijuana laws?
We’re not going to take all the credit, but … we had a slew of victories in 2008 with Michigan passing a medical marijuana law and Massachusetts decriminalizing it for certain quantities. There are 13 states with medical marijuana laws and 13 that have decriminalized it. By the end of this year we hope medical marijuana will be legal in 15 states, including D.C., and marijuana decriminalized in 15.
What’s ahead for the next 15 years?
We’re launching a new strategy plan that follows two tracks. First, we’re going to push hard to get states to end marijuana prohibition completely. The second track will be to get a larger batch of states to pass medical marijuana laws so changing federal law will be inevitable.
Do you still smoke marijuana?
Yes.
— Freeman Klopott
