Chris Conrad is an internationally respected expert on industrial hemp, marijuana cultivation, processing, religious, personal and medical use and a court-qualified expert witness who has testified more than 320 times in state, military and federal U.S. courts. He legally grew and processed marijuana in Europe in the early 1990s and curated the Hash-Marihuana-Hemp Museum in Amsterdam and the Oaksterdam Cannabis Museum in Oakland CA. His newest book is The Newbie’s Guide to Cannabis and the Industry, with Jeremy Daw.
Conrad is author of Hemp: Lifeline to the Future, and other groundbreaking books. His book on medical marijuana, Hemp for Health, has been translated into six languages including as Cannabis para la Salud. His research monograph, Cannabis Yields and Dosage, uses federal medical marijuana and cultivation research to explain the fundamental principles of producing and consuming medical marijuana, as well as the legal issues. He presented for the National Academy of Science / Institute of Medicine, the Fifth Int. Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics 2008, California Assn. of Toxicologists 2013, an Uruguayan national ministry in 2014, International Pharmaceutical Academy in Toronto 2014 and 2015, among others. He and his wife Mikki Norris were volunteer coordinators for California’s Proposition 215 voter initiative that legalized medical marijuana in 1996, helped develop the state’s SB 420 legislation that created collectives, and cofounded Human Rights and the Drug War. Together with Virginia Resner, they co-authored Human Rights and the US Drug War and Shattered Lives: Portraits from America’s Drug War. He has worked with legal medical marijuana patients, caregivers and support groups; consults regularly with doctors, attorneys and legislators; and directs Safe Access Now www.safeaccessnow.net. Among his other accomplishments, Conrad designed and edited Jack Herer’s landmark book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, and was co-founder and first president of the Hemp Industries Association, an editor of HempWorld magazine, contributor to Heads magazine and numerous books. Conrad has appeared in global, national and regional news media to comment on cannabis-related events. He portrayed the character Johnny Marijuanaseed on the PBS program The Nineties. He has been a regular guest on George Noory’s radio show for years and was recently mentioned in the Washington Post.
Conrad was editor in chief of The Oaksterdam News newspaper as well as of the West Coast Leaf, “the cannabis newspaper of record,” political science instructor at Oaksterdam University, co-founder of www.theLeafOnline.com online news service. A renowned expert witness, a legal consultant who teaches at CLE trainings for attorneys, CMEs for health care professionals and numerous events around the world, including Seattle Hempfest, Chris Conrad has an entertaining mix of humor and wit with his wisdom. You can hear him hosting Leaf Radio on the Time4Hemp Broadcast Network, www.time4hemp.com, or contact him via email and get links to his books and other sites from this website.