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Medical Marijuana in Maine; And Beyond
University of Southern Maine
Saturday, June 10th
Speakers
Dr. Wendy Chapkis
Professor Chapkis teaches a range of upper and lower division courses in both Sociology and Women & Gender Studies. She has served both as the Director of Women & Gender Studies and as the Chair of the Department of Sociology for the University of Southern Maine.
Her current research is in the area of drug policy; in this field, she has published several articles including "Cannabis, Consciousness and Healing" (in the journal "Contemporary Justice Review," 2007), "Mother's Milk and the Muffin Man: grassroots innovations in medical marijuana delivery systems" (co-authored by Richard J. Webb and published in the journal of "Ethnicity in Substance Abuse,'" 2005) and “Patients, ‘Potheads,’ and Dying to Get High” (in the anthology "Production of Reality," Jodi O’Brien ed., Pine Forge Press 2006). She is also the co-author (with Richard J. Webb) of the book "Dying to Get High: marijuana as medicine" (New York University Press 2008).
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Dustin Sulak D.O.
Dustin Sulak is an osteopathic physician, healing arts practitioner, and teacher. He has degrees in nutrition and biology form Indiana University, a doctorate from the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine, and he completed an internship at Maine Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency in Augusta. He practices integrative medicine, osteopathic manipulation, hypnotherapy, and energy medicine, and teaches Reiki. He has lectured on integrative medicine, medical marijuana, and the endocannabinoid system to clinicians and patients across the country. He is fascinated by the growing amount of research on the healing potential of marijuana and advocates for education of both patients and providers. |
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Jonathan Leavitt
Jonathan Leavitt (Executive Director of MMPI) has been doing grassroots organizing for seventeen years. He served as a Field Manager for Clean Water Action in the late eighties, Founded the Lawrence Grassroots Initiative, and served as its Executive Director for seven years, founded the Massachusetts Green Party in 1996 and served as its first staff person and then initiated and ran the Jill Stein for Governor campaign before leaving to run for State Representative as the Green Party's first ever Clean Elections candidate. Jonathan also oversaw the development and staffing for the historic Boston Social Forum in 2004. He then co-founded Massachusetts Global Action and was most recently the coordinator for the "Our Communities, Our Water" project of MGA. Jonathan also serves on the Maine Marijuana Policy Initiative's Board of Directors |
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Sean Donahue
Sean Donahue is an herbalist, poet, activist, and journalist. As an herbalist, he has written and spoken extensively on the potential healing plants like Cannabis offer for transforming our health care system and healing people, communities, and cultures. As a journalist, he has reported on the human and environmental destruction wrought by the U.S. drug wars in Colombia and Bolivia. As an activist he has worked on issues from eliminating nuclear power and nuclear weapons to guaranteeing the roots of medical marijuana patients to bringing attention to the epidemic of suicide in the military and has trained hundreds of people in techniques of nonviolent resistance.
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Faith Benedetti
Faith Benedetti is an artist-educator-healer-activist-writer. She was the founder of the Next Step Needle Exchange program in Augusta and is active in the HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ, and local arts communities. Recently, she served on the Governor's Medical Marijuana task force to implement Maine's law. She is a Reiki Master Teacher and ordained minister who believes deeply in the sacredness and healing power of cannabis medicines, and has been working to help patients access their medication for many years.
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Lynne Williams
Attorney-activist Lynne Williams is the Green Party candidate for Maine Governor. She has worked for Medical Care Development in Augusta, designing training protocols for home-care providers. She worked for six years as an independent special education hearing officer, and she now represents families with special needs children. Lynne also represents community groups that are resisting inappropriate development in their communities. In support of her clients, Lynne continues to fight against Plum Creek, TransCanada, FirstWind, Nestle and other corporate interlopers who seek to colonize Maine. Given her personal history of protest and resistance, Lynne values her current representation of community and environmental activists.
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