One of the nation’s leading marijuana reform organizations is undergoing some major changes as it fights to restore a level of funding that has enabled it to help end cannabis criminalization in states across the U.S. And as that philanthropic support has gradually dissipated amid an increasingly challenging political and economic environment, the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is now considering a variety of paths forward—including a possible merger with NORML—Marijuana Moment has learned.
MPP hasn’t publicized the fact that its executive director, Toi Hutchinson, recently stepped down and has been temporarily replaced by longtime senior staffer Matthew Schweich. But part of the reason for that silence is because the organization is still reconciling with the restructuring. MPP staffers revealed in interviews that the organization, at least for now, is suspending its ballot campaign arm, meaning it will be exclusively focusing on state legislatures due to financial restraints.
As the organization considers next steps and seeks a permanent executive director, officials have also been engaging in preliminary talks between MPP and NORML about a potential merger, though nothing has been finalized.
MPP was founded in 1995, before any state had even legalized medical cannabis. In the nearly three decades since its founding, the organization has helped put marijuana on the ballot and enacted legalization through diverse legislatures in numerous jurisdictions.
“I do believe that we were victims of our own success,” Schweich told Marijuana Moment. “We’re highly effective. We passed so many laws through so many states and so many ballot initiatives. And people just got used to our success.”
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