People over Profits: Anti-Monopoly Cannabis Crash Course and Leadership Training

Please join us and our local co-hosts, Florida Cannabis Action Network, for our fourth annual Anti-Monopoly Cannabis Policy Crash Course and Leadership Training! This is an opportunity for education and a call to action for those who believe in putting people over profits -- and to be proactive in implementing strong anti-monopoly protections and support for the smaller players at both state and federal levels before corporate interests take hold. Once established, it will become increasingly difficult to challenge their power.

Our crash course will empower attendees with the knowledge and tools to shape federal legalization in a way that preserves a path for an equitable industry. This event is for everyone who rejects the corporate model of cannabis legalization that concentrates wealth and power in the hands of only a few. Together, we will build a movement that creates the future for cannabis legalization rooted in the principles of justice, economic empowerment, and fair opportunity for all.

This crash course on July 18 will bring together cannabis activists, policymakers, regulators, growers, retailers, and other industry participants who share the common goal of ensuring that the cannabis industry prioritizes people over profits and stands up to corporate power and greed. The day will consist of a series of presentations from a variety of compelling, experienced speakers from diverse backgrounds and several opportunities to network with other cannabis advocates.

Applications for our leadership training on July 17 will be available soon.

Featuring:

Shanel Lindsay, Esq.

HOST

Shanel Lindsay is an attorney, advocate, and serial entrepreneur. She serves as Parabola Center's co-founder and entrepreneurship director. She is also the founder and CEO of Ardent Life, a global cannabis hardware and consumer packaged goods company, and Billow, a sesh-friendly filtration system. Shanel was an author of Question 4, the ballot initiative to legalize adult-use cannabis in Massachusetts, and was subsequently appointed to the Massachusetts Cannabis Advisory Board, serving from 2017 to 2021. Shanel also co-founded the grassroots advocacy group Equitable Opportunities Now. Shanel is involved in the development of marijuana laws and new businesses across the United States and globally as a frequent speaker and expert consultant for other emerging businesses in the cannabis and biotech space.

Damian Fagon

HOST

Damian Fagon is a former cannabis regulator for the state of New York, where he served as the inaugural Chief Equity Officer for the Office of Cannabis Management. A third-generation farmer and development economist, Damian blends grassroots agricultural experience with equitable economic policy, advising on cannabis market development and agricultural initiatives internationally. He currently serves as Director of the Bronx Cannabis Hub, building new models and programming for restorative economic justice and community-centered cannabis markets from the ground up. Damian holds a BA from the University of Virginia and an MPA in Economic Development from Columbia University.

Shaleen Title, Esq.

HOST

Shaleen Title is co-founder and director of Parabola Center. She was an inaugural cannabis regulator in Massachusetts. After completing her term as a commissioner, she authored two top-ranking publications on cannabis social equity policies and preventing cannabis monopolies as a fellow at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Drug Enforcement and Policy Center. Shaleen has spent over 20 years writing, passing, and implementing equitable cannabis laws and has testified before governmental bodies around the world about reparative marijuana laws. She is a founding member of the Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition. Dubbed "the people's weed watchdog" by Boston Magazine, she is the recipient of multiple lifetime achievement awards for her work as an activist, regulator, and author.

Margeaux Lavoie

HOST

Margeaux (Maggie) Lavoie is a Social Equity Fellow for Parabola Center and a student at the University of Maine School of Law, where she has served as Executive Editor of the Maine Law Review and president of the Maine Association of Public Interest Lawyers. She was a Rural Law Fellow of the Fort Kent Rural Practice Clinic for Spring 2024 and a student research assistant in cannabis law for Professor Scott Bloomberg. Prior to attending law school, Maggie was the Director of Operations of the Church of Safe Injection, a daytime drop-in harm reduction center and CDC-certified syringe service program located in Lewiston, Maine.

Dr. Faith English

HOST

Faith English is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Drug Dependence and Epidemiology Training Program. She received her PhD and MPH from the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, her research focuses on the intersection of cannabis legalization, health equity, and criminal justice reform. Dr. English is passionate about exploring the multiple ways in which cannabis and other drug legalization can address the public health crisis of mass incarceration and the war on drugs.

Cat Packer, Esq.

SPEAKER

Cat Packer is the director of drug markets and legal regulation at the Drug Policy Alliance, the vice chair of the Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition, and a distinguished cannabis policy practitioner in residence at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law's Drug Enforcement and Policy Center. From 2017 to 2022, Cat served as the first executive director of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation. Cat is a proud alumna of The Ohio State University, where she received a bachelor's degree in political science, a master's degree in public policy and management, and a law degree.

Chelsea Higgs Wise

SPEAKER

Chelsea Higgs Wise was a clinical social worker for ten years before transitioning to help organizations create equitable policies for community safety. Chelsea's expertise continues to influence criminal justice, mental health and anti-drug war priorities in Virginia. In 2019, Chelsea co-founded Marijuana Justice for equitable legalization as a gateway to dismantle the Virginia War on Drugs and in 2021 Virginia became the first state in the South to legalize simple possession of marijuana, home cultivation as well as create a fund to reinvest for community repair. Through her leadership, the organization also convenes southern organizers around Drug War Reparations as well as pushing anti-monopoly regulation in order to build community-led economies. Federally, Chelsea is an active voice within the United for Marijuana Decriminalization (UMD) coalition focused on organizing public comment for the recent marijuana scheduling proposal.

Tabatha Robinson

SPEAKER

Tabatha Robinson, JD, MBA was sworn in as Director of the Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA) in April 2025. Prior to joining the MCA, Ms. Robinson served as Executive Deputy Director of Economic Development and Acting Chief Equity Officer for the New York State Office of Cannabis Management, where she drove economic programs and social equity licensing policies for New York's adult use and medical cannabis markets. During her tenure, the office awarded more than 50 percent of new cannabis licenses to social equity business owners; more than 90 percent of operational retailers have prior marijuana convictions.

Dasheeda Dawson

SPEAKER

Dasheeda Dawson is The WeedHead™, a global cannabis advocate, award-winning strategist and bestselling author of How to Succeed in the Cannabis Industry. She has 20 years of business development and strategic management excellence while leading teams for United Way, Target and Victoria's Secret. Currently, Dasheeda is Founding Director of Cannabis NYC overseeing the development of the city's legal industry. She is also the Founding Chair of the Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition (CRCC). Dasheeda received her MBA from Rutgers University and an undergraduate degree in molecular biology from Princeton University.

Pat Garofalo

SPEAKER

Pat Garofalo is the Director of State and Local Policy at the American Economic Liberties Project and Fight Corporate Monopolies. Pat is the author of The Billionaire Boondoggle: How Our Politicians Let Corporations and Bigwigs Steal Our Money and Jobs. Previously, Pat was assistant managing editor for opinion at U.S. News & World Report and economic policy editor at ThinkProgress. He has written for publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and The Week, and currently writes the Boondoggle newsletter on Substack.

Jason Ortiz

SPEAKER

Jason Ortiz is the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Last Prisoner Project Jason was arrested for simple cannabis possession at the age of 16 in Norwich CT, and that experience inspired him to become a cannabis justice advocate. He was one of the founding board Members of the Minority Cannabis Business Association and is the immediate past Executive Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. In addition to his drug policy activism, Jason sits on the board of the CT Working Families Party and has served as President of the Connecticut Puerto Rican Agenda where he organized for economic justice for his home island of Puerto Rico.

Contact us at info@parabolacenter.com with any questions!