The NORML Women’s Alliance would like to honor all of the female NORML Directors who are paving the way toward rational cannabis policies and are setting a wonderful example as women who have actively taken on leadership roles (this year and last) within the NORML family. Thank-you ladies, you are making history:

NORML Women Chapter Leaders

• Dawn Dunlap Central Ohio NORML - (OH)
• Terri Zeman Greater St. Louis NORML - (MO)
• Trena Moss Hillsdale County NORML - (MI)
• Elizabeth Brandt Iona County NORML - (MI)
• Apryl Coleman Kent County NORML - (MI)
• Carol Reed Macomb County NORML - (MI)
• Kim Schmidt Ohio NORML - (OH)
• Norma Sapp Oklahoma NORML - (OK)
• Kandice Hawes Orange County NORML - (CA)
• Madeline Martinez Oregon NORML - (OR)
• Lori Duckworth Southern Oregon NORML - (OR)
• Melissa Posecznick Tennessee NORML - (TN)
• Lacey Viviano Upstate NY NORML - (NY)
• Linda Adler US Virgin Islands NORML - (USVI)
• Melody Karr Wexford County NORML - (MI)
• Dee Duffy Virginia NORML - (VA)
• Cheryl Shuman Beverly Hills NORML - (CA)
• Emily Busalacchi Mile High NORML - (CO)
• Christeen Landino Michigan NORML - (MI)
• Sarah Zenk-Blossom Minnesota State University NORML - (MN)
• Anne Davis New Jersey NORML – (NJ)
• Ruth Liebesman Martiniuk Empire State NORML - (NY)
• Crystal Caudebec Hudson Valley NORML - (NY)

Madeline Martinez is the Sole Proprietress of the United States' first Cannabis Cafe which opened in late 2009. She is the Executive Director of Oregon NORML, NORML's largest and most successful chapter affiliate, boasting more than 2,000 dues paying members. She is currently working on legislation to remove all civil and criminal penalties surrounding cannabis use for adults with Sensible Oregon. Her goal is to inspire all states to push for similar legislation and create Sensible America. Madeline is a retired peace officer and grandmother of six. Martinez is also a member of NORML's Board of Directors as well as NORML's Pauline Sabin Winner in 2007.

Jeanne Kohl-Welles is a State Senator from Washington. Representing Seattle in the State Senate, Kohl-Welles has a long history of supporting marijuana legislation, including efforts to expand patient access to medical marijuana and to depenalize adult use. In addition to her chairmanship of the Sen. Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection Committee, Sen. Kohl-Welles sits on the Senate Ways & Means and Judiciary Committees. She has been representing her district in one capacity or another for almost 20 years.

Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson is a State Representative for the city of Seattle and many of its neighboring communities. Representative Dickerson has been a major advocate for marijuana law reform in Washington and was a primary sponsor of 2010 legislation that sought to regulate the use of marijuana for adults.. She was also a co-sponsor of the House bill to decriminalize marijuana (a companion bill to Kohl-Welles’ Senate decriminalization bill) and a cosponsor of the House version of the medical marijuana expansion bill (also a companion bill to Kohl-Welles’ Senate version).

Dr. Julie Holland is a board certified psychiatrist in New York City whose appearance on The Today Show's Stiletto Stoners broadcast helped introduce America to the growing phenomenon of responsible, successful women using who use cannabis instead of alcohol. Her eloquent and intelligent commentary on this nationally broadcast segment not only shed a positive light on female cannabis consumers, but was also a major inspiration for the creation of the NORML Women's Alliance. Dr. Holland is also a published author and outspoken advocate for sensible marijuana policies. From 1996 to 2005, Dr. Holland ran the psychiatric emergency room of Bellevue Hospital on Saturday and Sunday nights. A liaison to the hospital's medical emergency room and toxicology department, she is considered an expert on street drugs and intoxication states, and lectures widely on this topic. She published a paper in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, describing a resurgence of the drug phenomenon smoking marijuana soaked in embalming fluid, which may be a carrier for PCP.

Jessica Corry is a Denver-based attorney, public policy analyst, and influential political strategist. She is the leading voice for conservatives against marijuana prohibition and is one of the most high profile activists in the state. On a national level, Corry has been publicly advocating marijuana law reform and has been quoted or featured in several media-related pieces. This includes appearances onFox News and a featured in a Washington Post editorial, "Reefer sanity: The marijuana lobby goes mainstream," written by fellow charter member of the NORML Women's Alliance, Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker. Corry is a Republican mother of two young children who believes that marijuana prohibition is a violation of states rights and undermines the American family. She is also a regular blogger on the Huffington Post and was chosen as one of Colorado’s top political “Movers and Shakers” by the Colorado Statesman.

Mieko Hester-Perez is a brave mother and newcomer to the marijuana reform movement. Hester-Perez received national attention after being featured on ABC News, CBS News, Good Morning Americaand Fox News as a parent who uses medical cannabis as treatment for her autistic son. "At first I did some research, and I found a doctor who actually had a protocol for medical marijuana in children diagnosed with autism," Hester-Perez told "Good Morning America." Her 10-year-old son was dangerously underweight, "you could see the bones in his chest. He was going to die," she said on the nationally syndicated television morning show. “My son had self-injurious behaviors. He was extremely aggressive, he would run out of our house... he was a danger to himself and others.” A few hours after giving her son a cannabis-infused brownie she saw a major change in her son’s eating habits and behavior. “Marijuana balanced my son," says Hester-Perez. She is a wonderful mother and a proud parent who understands the importance of marijuana law reform and is fighting to normalize the movement with her public advocacy and activism. She was also a featured speaker at the hugely successful Los Angeles Hemp Conference and Medical Marijuana Expose.

Cheryl Shuman is the founder and Executive Director of the new Beverly Hills NORML chapter, one of NORML's highest profile affiliates. For many years, Shumanran a thriving celebrity serving business and was known as the "Optician to the Stars." She recently organized one of the most successful and widely attended gatherings of the medical marijuana community, the 2010 Los Angeles Hemp ConMedical Marijuana Show. She was presented as the key note speaker and partnered with HempCon funder Mega Productions to serve as a co-producer. As an ode to women in the marijuana reform movement, Shuman planned a full day dedicated to women speakers that included several high profile female activists. Her press conference, prior to the convention, featured cultural icon Cheech Marin of the comedy duo Cheech and Chong. The news event received significant local coverage and was picked up by major national outlets, including USA Today. She has brought considerable attention to the cannabis crusade in California, and is working to normalize the image of movement into that of a modern, mainstream fight for social justice. Shuman has been featured on several major media outlets, including Reason TV, who captured the well known standing ovation Shuman received after giving testimony to the LA City Council. She has also been featured onKTLA and in The Sacramento Bee.

Alison Chinn-Holcomb, Esq is the Drug Policy Director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington State. She has been spearheading the effort to legalize use and was the primary lobbyist for this year's WA marijuana reform bills. She is the 2008 recipient of NORML's Pauline Sabin Award for her continued succesful efforts in Washington as a leading woman in the marijuana reform movement. As a successful criminal defense attorney for years prior to joining the ACLU team, she has represented many clients in marijuana prosecutions and was a member of the Marijuana Policy Panel that was formed in 2003 to monitor the implimentation of voter-passed I-75.

Marie Myung-Ok Lee is another brave mother who found medical cannabis to work miracles with her son's autism and in May of 2009 bravely wrote a long article called "Why I Give My 9-Year-Old Son Pot" in Slate Magazine. Her son's illness had caused him to have violent aggressive outbursts, chew holes in his shirt, and suffer from other major debilitating behaviors that not only took place at home but also while he was attending school, "The teachers were wearing tae kwon do arm pads to protect themselves against his biting." As she mentions in the article the effects of the medical cannabis on her son were life changing. "Since we started him on his 'special tea,' J’s little face, which is sometimes a mask of pain, has softened. He smiles more." Her story was also featured in the online blog Mom Logic. She is an acclaimed Korean American writer and author of "Somebody's Daughter: A Novel" and currently a visiting Lecturer at the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in the Americas at Brown University. "When I researched cannabis the way I did conventional drugs, it seemed clear to me that marijuana at the very least wouldn’t harm J, and might help. It's strange, I've come to think, that the virtues of such a useful and harmless botanical have been so clouded by stigma." Marie Myung-Ok Lee is bringing a maternal, mainstream face to the positive uses of medical marijuana. Her bravery and strength makes her a wonderful asset in the fight to give a voice to anti-prohibition parents.

Julie Stewart, the founder of Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), a twenty-year old advocacy group fighting for fair sentencing laws, was inspired to active after her brother, a nonviolent, first-time drug offender was sentenced to five years in a federal prison for growing marijuana. Stewart was personally affected by marijuana's prohibition and is fighting to move criminal justice sentencing guidelines away from mandatory minimums. Stewart's lobbying achievements and considerable media coverage has earned her major recognition, including having been featured in several Washington Post articles within the last couple of years. In 2007, Stewart testified in front of the U.S. Sentencing Commission (whose role is to set guidelines regarding sentencing defendants in federal court) and successfully advocated for them to amend the new sentencing rules in order to qualify thousands of drug offenders for release from federal prison. Her latest successes include putting an end to the sentencing disparaty between the unjust penalties for individuals prosecuted for crack cocain-related charges, a majority of whom are African American, and the more lenient punishment associated with crimes involving powder cocain, which tends to be more common among white people.