Amanda Reiman is the California policy manager for the Drug Policy Alliance. Based in San Francisco, Reiman leads DPA’s marijuana reform work in California. Reiman has conducted numerous studies on medical marijuana dispensaries, patients and the use of marijuana as a treatment for addiction. Reiman served as the first chairwoman of the Medical Cannabis Commission for the City of Berkeley and has consulted with various cities and states on the development of medical marijuana policy. Reiman is currently a lecturer in the School of Social Welfare at the University of California-Berkeley, where she teaches Drug and Alcohol Policy, Substance Abuse Treatment, and Sexuality and Social Work.
Originally from Chicago, Reiman earned her B.A. in psychology from the University of IllinoisChicago and her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the Jane Addams College of Social Work. Reiman moved to Oakland in 2002 to attend the University of California-Berkeley, where she earned her PhD in Social Welfare in 2006.
In the first edition of her new column, Catalyst, Amanda Reiman discusses her thesis on the environmental effects of cannabis legalization. Amanda opens by outlining additional progressive social movements that may get a boost from the legalization of …