When it comes to advocating for marijuana reform on Capitol Hill, Justin Strekal of NORML is one of the most widely recognized faces of the movement, putting in the hours to champion the cause of cannabis consumers and convince lawmakers to get on board. But after five years, the chapter of his career as NORML’s political director has come to a close. While he will continue to work to advance the cause in a different capacity, NORML will be getting a new lobbyist to fight for an end to federal cannabis prohibition in Congress. Paradoxically, Strekal personally thinks that professional lobbying should be abolished. But in his years as the federal lobbyist for NORML, he’s demonstrated how having a voice directly whispering—and, occasionally, shouting—in the ears of policymakers and their staff can help affect real change. “I took the responsibility of being the federal lobbyist and political director for NORML incredibly seriously as a way to harness the decades and decades of organizing that has been done by activists in as pointed and tenacious a way as possible to translate that into federal policy reform,” Strekal told Marijuana Moment.
Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 01/06/2022 09:06:00