Board of Directors
Bryon Adinoff, MD
President
Bryon Adinoff, MD is an addiction psychiatrist, neuroscientist, academician, and advocate. He was appointed Clinical Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine following his retirement as Distinguished Professor of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and as a psychiatrist for 30 years with the Department of Veterans Affairs. He has published over 200 papers and book chapters on the neurobiology and treatment of addiction and is Editor-in-Chief of The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. In his semi-retired status, he has evolved from focusing on the consequences of substance use itself to the consequences of drug prohibition. His commitment to the goals of D4DPR arises from his desire to ensure that the devastating effects of the global drug war are replaced by a science-based, compassionate, and just system that protects both the individual and society.
David L. Nathan, MD, DFAPA
DFCR Founder & Past President
David L. Nathan, MD, DFAPA is a psychiatrist, writer, and educator in Princeton NJ. He is the founder of Doctors for Cannabis Regulation and served as our first President. Dr. Nathan is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. While maintaining a full-time private practice, he serves as Director of Continuing Medical Education for the Princeton HealthCare System (PHCS) and Director of Professional Education at Princeton House Behavioral Health (PHBH). While serving on the steering committee of New Jersey United For Marijuana Reform (NJUMR.org), Dr. Nathan was surprised by the absence of any national organization to act as the voice of physicians who wish to guide our nation along a well-regulated path to cannabis legalization. This need was the inspiration for Doctors for Cannabis Regulation.
Tanya Adams, DO
Tanya Adams, DO is a board-certified physician in family medicine and lifestyle medicine and has been in solo private practice since 2003. Using evidence-based medicine, Dr. Adams incorporates lifestyle changes, often as a primary intervention, to prevent, treat, and reverse chronic diseases. Cannabinoid medicine naturally complements this highly personalized approach in Dr. Adams’ practice. Dr. Adams has been caring for patients with addiction using medication-assisted therapies and lifestyle changes since her residency and has incorporated cannabinoid medicine for both wellness and harm reduction since it was introduced in New York in 2016. Dr. Adams is a member of Minorities for Medical Marijuana and has been an active member of D4DPR since our founding in 2016. Dr. Adams is an advocate of proper labeling, third-party testing and dosing, and advocates for regulation to standardize these practices at the state and federal levels. Recognizing that the intersection of the war on drugs and social determinants of health has disproportionally affected communities of color, Dr. Adams advocates for regulation that can begin to heal the harms of the past and create vibrant communities of the future.
Mary Eyram Ashinyo
Mary Eyram Ashinyo, MBChB, MPH is a Public Health Physician Specialist with emphasis on Epidemiology, Health Policy and Systems Management. With 15 years working experience at all levels of Ghana’s Health System, Dr. Ashinyo currently works for the Ghana Health Service as Deputy Director responsible for Quality Assurance. She holds an MBChB from the School of Medical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana and a Master of Public Health from the University of Ghana School of Public Health. Dr. Ashinyo has almost a decade of experience supporting the West African Drug Policy Network on drug policy reform advocacy in Ghana, including policy advice towards Ghana’s decriminalization efforts and the annual #SUPPORT, DON’T PUNISH campaigns since 2015. Dr. Ashinyo has served in various managerial, consultancy, technical and leadership roles in non-government organizations within the Africa Region and Globally, including the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, the West Africa Hub Planetary Health Alliance, and the National Institute for Health Research. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Maternal and Child health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Kristel Carrington
Kristel Carrington, MD, a Brooklyn native of Guyanese descent, is a board-certified psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychopharmacologist committed to a patient-first approach in mental health. Her education includes a Neuroscience degree from Columbia and an MD from Yale, complemented by a residency at NYU Langone Medical Center. Dr. Carrington specializes in a range of mental health treatments, is certified in psychedelic-assisted therapies, and utilizes ketamine for treatment-resistant conditions. Her work extends into biotechnology, where she contributes her expertise to a neuroscience-focused startup, enhancing early disease detection and clinical trials with AI. Dr. Carrington is also an active medical educator, mentoring the next generation of mental health professionals, demonstrating her commitment to compassionate care and the growth of psychiatric knowledge.
Adam Foster
C. Adam Foster, Esq. is a business lawyer and mediator based out of Boulder, Colorado. He is the Chief Legal Officer of Silver Stem Fine Cannabis. Adam is a 2004 graduate of the University of Colorado School of Law and has been representing licensed cannabis companies since 2010. He has also written and presented on a variety of cannabis business topics, as well as on Colorado's Natural Medicine Health Act, which decriminalized the use of certain naturally occurring entheogens and provided a state-licensed framework for psilocybin therapy. Adam's other volunteer service includes serving as the Treasurer of the Colorado Bar Foundation and the Chair of its Finance Committee, acting as an industry representative on the Boulder Cannabis Licensing Advisory Board, sitting on the Board of the Colorado Bar Association's Natural Medicine Committee, and serving on the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission's Technical Rules Advisory Committee.
Alexis Isaacs
Alexis Isaacs is a media relations expert with over 10 years of experience working in-house with a variety of clients from consumer tech to cannabis. She previously worked at Mattio Communications which focuses on companies within the cannabis and psychedelics space, including those within data analytics, advocacy, and retail. Alexis was also the co-host of the High Priority Podcast, where she had in-depth conversations with industry experts about the past, present and future of cannabis, all while focusing on social equity. Alexis graduated from Northwestern University with a major in Communications Studies and Psychology.
Mark Tyndall
Mark Tyndall MD, ScD, FRCPC is currently a Clinical Professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He was formerly the Executive Director of the BC Centre for Disease Control and the Deputy Provincial Health Officer for the province of British Columbia. Mark received his medical degree from McMaster University, his infectious diseases specialty training at the University of Manitoba, and a doctoral degree in public health from Harvard University. He has over three decades of community-based research and advocacy experience with a focus on global health, drug use, HIV, and harm reduction. He has authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications, presented a 2017 TEDMED talk on harm reduction, and was co-lead investigator on the evaluation of North America’s first supervised injection site - InSite. Mark's current research and advocacy efforts are 2-fold and include innovative programs to reduce drug overdoses/poisoning though safe supply programs and accelerating the global transition away from combustible cigarettes to vaping and other safer nicotine products.
Matt Zorn
Matthew Zorn, JD is recognized as one of the leading authorities in the U.S. on issues relating to the federal Controlled Substance Act. Matt has successfully challenged the DEA on seminal cases involving both cannabis and psychedelics, pushing the DEA toward greater transparency and accountability. He is nationally ranked as Band One in Psychedelics Law by Chambers USA and was previously a member of the Law360Cannabis Editorial Advisory Board. Matt has received national recognition for his IP and controlled substances litigation work. The American Lawyer previously named Matt a finalist for Young Lawyer of the Year, and the American Inns of Court named him a 2020 Pegasus Scholar. Matt earned his JD from Columbia University and practices with Yetter Coleman LLP in Texas.
D4DPR Honorary Board
Chris Beyrer MD, MPH, is Professor of Epidemiology, International Health; and Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. He is the current President of the International AIDS Society. He has extensive experience in conducting international collaborative research and training programs in HIV/AIDS and other infectious disease epidemiology; in infectious disease prevention research; in HIV vaccine preparedness; in health and migration; and in health and human rights. Dr. Beyrer has done research in health and human rights concerns in Thailand, Burma, China, India, South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Russia, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan, and is the author of over 220 scientific papers.
H. Westley Clark, MD, JD, MPH, CAS, FASAM, is a former Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, where he led the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ national effort to provide effective and accessible treatment to Americans with addictive disorders. Dr. Clark was the former chief of the Associated Substance Abuse Programs at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (DVAMC) in San Francisco, California. Dr. Clark holds a Medical Degree and Masters in Public Health from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he completed a Psychiatric Residency at University Hospital, Neuropsychiatric Institute. He obtained his Juris Doctorate from Harvard University Law School and completed a two-year Substance Abuse Fellowship at the DVAMC-SF. Dr. Clark is a noted author and educator in substance abuse treatment, psychopharmacology, and medical and legal issues. His numerous awards include the 2008 John P. McGovern Award from the American Society of Addiction Medicine for his contributions toward increased understanding of the relationship between addiction and society.
Joycelyn Elders, MD, is a former U.S. Surgeon General and is Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Born the daughter of poor sharecroppers in Arkansas, Dr. Elders earned a bachelor’s degree at Philander Smith College in Little Rock. She then spent three years in the U.S. Army, after which she attended the University of Arkansas Medical School. She completed her residency in pediatrics, later earning a master’s degree in biochemistry. After rising to the rank of Professor at the University of Arkansas Medical Center (UAMS), she became the first physician in Arkansas to receive board certification in pediatric endocrinology in 1978. Her career in public health gained much traction following her 1987 appointment as Director of the Arkansas Department of Health. Nominated by President Clinton to the position of U.S. Surgeon General in 1993, Dr. Elders became the first Black person and only the second woman to serve in this role. Among many controversial stands, Dr. Elders has called for research into drug legalization as a means to reduce crime as well as drug misuse.
Lester Grinspoon, MD, (June 24, 1928 – June 25, 2020) was Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He founded the Annual Review of Psychiatry and the Harvard Mental Health Letter, of which he was Editor-in-Chief for fifteen years. His interest in cannabis dated back to the 1960s, when recreational use of the plant was on the rise. Dr. Grinspoon’s research began in 1967 under the assumption that cannabis was a dangerous drug. He expected to write a book in which the many dangers of cannabis were scientifically supported. But as he learned more about the plant, its long history and unique properties, his plan changed. Published in 1971, Marihuana Reconsidered was the culmination of his early research and secured his place in history as a pioneer of the legalization movement. Following publication of his book, Dr. Grinspoon became one of the world’s most authoritative experts on cannabis. In 1990, he received the prestigious Alfred R. Lindesmith Award from the Drug Policy Foundation for his scientific contributions.
Carl Hart, PhD, is the Chair of the Department of Psychology and the Dirk Ziff Professor at Columbia University. Known for his research in substance use disorders, he is an internationally renowned advocate for evidence-based and humane drug policy. His laboratory seeks to understand complex interactions between drugs of abuse and the neurobiology and environmental factors that mediate human behavior and physiology, as well as translate their lab-based knowledge into more humane drug policies. Prof. Hart has published over 200 scientific articles in the area of neuropsychopharmacology. His book, High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society, was the 2014 winner of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. “For advancing the science of addiction,” Fast Company magazine included Hart in its list of Most Creative People in 2014.
Julie Holland, MD, is the editor of The Pot Book: A Complete Guide to Cannabis. She was an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine from 1995 to 2012. Dr. Holland attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in the Biological Basis of Behavior, and earned her medical degree from Temple University. Dr. Holland runs a private practice in psychopharmacology in Manhattan and provides forensic consultations in drug-related legal cases.
David Lewis, MD (May 19, 1935 – December 2, 2020) was a Professor of Medicine and Community Health and the Donald G. Millar Distinguished Professor of Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University. Dr. Lewis earned his bachelor’s degree from Brown University in 1957 and his medical degree from Harvard University in 1961. Dr. Lewis was the founder and a member of the Board of Directors of Physicians and Lawyers for National Drug Policy and served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the United States’ National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. His awards included the American Medical Association’s Education and Research Foundation Award (1997) in championing the inclusion of alcohol and other drug problems in the mainstream of medical practice and medical education; the Distinguished Contributions in the Addictions award from Harvard Medical School (2002); and the John P. McGovern Award and Lectureship from the American Society of Addiction Medicine for his contributions to the treatment of addictive disorders (2004).
Ethan Nadelmann, JD, PhD, is widely regarded as the outstanding proponent of drug policy reform both in the United States and abroad. Dr. Nadelmann received his BA, JD, and PhD from Harvard and a master’s degree in international relations from the London School of Economics. He taught politics and public affairs at Princeton University from 1987 to 1994, where his speaking and writings on drug policy attracted international attention. In 1994, Dr. Nadelmann founded The Lindesmith Center, a drug policy institute, and later co-founded the Open Society Institute’s International Harm Reduction Development program. This organization merged with the Drug Policy Foundation to form the Drug Policy Alliance, which Dr. Nadelmann directed from 2000-2017. Dr. Nadelmann has played a pivotal role in most of the major drug policy reform ballot initiative campaigns in the U.S. on issues ranging from cannabis legalization to prison reform, drug treatment, and drug sentencing. He has served as a drug policy advisor to elected officials ranging from mayors, governors, and state and federal legislators in the U.S. to presidents and cabinet ministers outside the U.S.
David Nutt, DM, FRCP, FRCPsych, FSB, FMedSci is the Edmond J. Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology, Director of the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit in the Division of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians; Royal College of Psychiatrists; Royal Society of Biology; and the Academy of Medical Sciences; and is past president of the British Association of Psychopharmacology; the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology; the British Neuroscience Association; and the European Brain Council; and is editor of the Journal of Psychopharmacology. He actively works for changes in drug laws to allow for more research opportunities. In 2007 and 2010, Dr. Nutt published historic studies on the relative harms of drug use in The Lancet. His book Drugs Without the Hot Air won the Transmission Prize for Communicating Science in 2014. Dr. Nutt was the recipient of the 2013 John Maddox Prize, which recognizes “the work of individuals who promote sound science and evidence on a matter of public interest, facing difficulty or hostility in doing so.”
Beny Primm, MD (May 21, 1928 – October 16, 2015) was an internationally recognized expert on addictions, HIV/AIDS, and community medicine. He was a paratrooper in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, serving as the U.S. military’s first Black officer in command of white troops. Unable to gain entry to racially exclusive American medical schools, Dr. Primm received his MD from the University of Geneva in Switzerland and completed a residency in anesthesia in New York City. Working in underserved communities, he observed how the misuse of narcotics was responsible for a range of medical problems. His interest in addiction and frustration with poor access to care led Dr. Primm to help create the Addiction Research Treatment Corporation (ARTC) in 1969, where he served as the executive director for decades. Dr. Primm was also the long-time president of the Urban Resource Institute, an organization that supports various community-based initiatives and social service programs for battered women, the developmentally disabled, and those with substance use disorders or infected with HIV/AIDS. As a national authority on drug addiction, Dr. Primm served as an adviser to the National Drug Abuse Policy Office starting with the Nixon administration. His presence and good works will be missed.
Andrew Solomon, PhD is a writer and lecturer on politics, culture and psychology, and a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Columbia University. He writes regularly for the New Yorker and the New York Times and his published several award-winning books. He is a member of the boards of directors of the National LGBTQ Force and Trans Youth Family Allies and serves on the National Advisory Board of the Depression Center at the University of Michigan. In 2008, Solomon received the Society of Biological Psychiatry’s Humanitarian Award for his contributions to the field of mental health, and in 2010, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation’s Productive Lives Award. In 2011, he was appointed Special Advisor on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Mental Health at the Yale School of Psychiatry. He is also a fellow of Berkeley College at Yale University and a member of the New York Institute for the Humanities and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Andrew Weil, MD, is a world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, a healing oriented approach to health care that encompasses body, mind and spirit. Combining a Harvard education and a lifetime of practicing natural and preventive medicine, Dr. Weil is the founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, where he is also a Clinical Professor of Medicine and Professor of Public Health and the Lovell-Jones Professor of Integrative Rheumatology. Dr. Weil received both his medical degree and his undergraduate degree in biology from Harvard University. Dr. Weil is an internationally recognized expert for his views on leading a healthy lifestyle, his philosophy of healthy aging and his critique of the future of medicine and health care. Approximately 10 million copies of Dr. Weil’s books have been sold, including Spontaneous Happiness, Spontaneous Healing, 8 Weeks to Optimum Health, Eating Well for Optimum Health, The Healthy Kitchen, Healthy Aging and Why Our Health Matters.
D4DPR Staff
Lisa Capitani, BSN, RN
Operations Manager
Lisa Capitani, MBA, BSN, RN is the Operations Manager for D4DPR. She obtained her nursing degree in 2005 from Endicott College and her MBA in 2014 from Post University. Lisa is a Cannabis Nurse and Integrative Nurse Coach in private practice. She is the author of Weed Week, a seven-day challenge for cannabis users to integrate cannabis use as a tool for health, wellness, and self-discovery. Lisa is an active advocate for safe access to cannabis medicine, along with various concerns that affect the nursing profession and community health. Lisa earned a Cannabis Medicine Certificate from Pacific College of Health and Science.
Jessica Lee
Staff Assistant
Jessica Lee, BA (she/her/hers) graduated from Princeton University in 2023, majoring in History and minoring in Latin American Studies. After taking a history course called 'Race, Drugs, and Drug Policy in America" and participating in criminal justice reform advocacy (specifically around the New Jersey expungement process), she developed a passion for anti-carceral, health-informed approaches to drug policy. She hopes to attend law school in the future.
Antoinette O’Neil
Financial Controller
Antoinette O'Neil is a consultant for both non-profit organizations and private businesses in the areas of finance, business administration, and compliance. For over thirteen years, she worked with the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, which advocates for drug policy and criminal justice reform, as the Director of Human Resources & Financial Administration. Antoinette also managed their main office and membership program before becoming a freelance consultant. She continues to actively advocate for both drug policy and criminal justice reform as well as federal marijuana legislation and compassionate end-of-life choices. Antoinette holds a degree in Culinary Arts from the Art Institute of New York."
Hunter Platzman
Staff Assistant
Hunter Platzman, BS is a passionate drug policy reform advocate who is currently pursuing a Master of Public Policy at the University of Colorado Denver. He has worked in a variety of positions adjacent to public policy, most recently serving as a Legislative Intern in the Colorado House of Representatives for the 2024 Legislative Session. Additionally, he has worked and interned at organizations within the cannabis industry, such as Curaleaf, PufCreativ, and The Hemp Mine. He is also an ardent supporter of the intentional use of plant medicines for holistic healing, and has volunteered for various grassroots organizations to advance that message.