EMPOWERING CANNABIS CONSUMERS
CCPC STAFF
Nate Bradley is a 10-year veteran of the cannabis policy reform movement with seven years of law enforcement experience.
Over the last decade Nate has collaborated with, and contributed substantially to, numerous cannabis policy reform organizations and authored the book, “The Medical Marijuana Survival Guide”. In 2010 he became a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and served as a spokesman for the Yes on Prop 19 campaign to legalize cannabis in California. In 2011 Nate founded Lawmen Protecting Patients, a non profit advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the rights of medical cannabis patients. He has personally influenced numerous pieces of legislation in the California State Capitol. Nate has been interviewed by numerous media outlets and has appeared in several documentaries on the topic of marijuana policy reform including the upcoming movie "Legalize It". He has been quoted in numerous publications including the New York Times, as well as authored opinion pieces for newspapers and websites all over the country including the Huffington Post.
Amongst his repertoire of accomplishments, Nate is best known for founding the California Cannabis Industry Association in 2013. In 2015 he assembled a never-before seen coalition of cannabis advocates, local government, law enforcement, and other advocacy organizations to establish a statewide regulatory system for medical marijuana in California. That achievement precipitated a profile by Buzzfeed News that dubbed Nate California’s “Most Effective Pot Lobbyist”
In 2016 Nate served as a spokesman and strategic advisor to the Prop 64 campaign to legalize cannabis for adult use in California.
After spending a couple years as a contract lobbyist and consultant, Nate took a sabbatical from working on cannabis policy reform. Having taken time to engage in self-reflection during his break from policy, Nate decided to start a new chapter in his professional endeavors and return to his roots as cannabis advocate and created a social justice based non-profit organization, the Cannabis Consumer Policy Council, where he works to protect cannabis consumers in today's “post legalization” era.
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Allen Hopper
Outside Counsel & Senior Policy Advisor
Allen Hopper is an attorney and consultant whose private practice focuses on cannabis regulatory law and policy. He is an experienced litigator, consultant, and policy expert with deep substantive knowledge of federal, state, and local cannabis laws and regulations.
Allen advises and represents cannabis businesses seeking to navigate cannabis laws and regulations, as well as local governments and officials tasked with crafting and implementation. Allen was a member of the six-attorney drafting team for the California Proposition 64, Marijuana Legalization (2016) ballot initiative that legalized adult non-medical cannabis use, creating the framework for the state’s regulated commercial cannabis market.
While serving as the Director of the ACLU of California’s Criminal Justice and Drug Policy Project, Allen conceptualized and created the 2014-2015 California Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Law and Policy chaired by then Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom. Allen has represented local government entities litigating cannabis regulatory matters in state and federal courts, including the City and County of Santa Cruz (challenging a DEA raid of a local collective garden), and Pueblo, Colorado (defending a RICO lawsuit seeking to invalidate state marijuana laws as preempted by federal law).
In 2008, Allen led the legal team that, working closely with the California Attorney General’s office, defeated San Diego County’s lawsuit seeking to overturn all California medical marijuana laws as preempted by federal law.
Allen is co-author of two published law review articles, including Cooperative Federalism and Marijuana Regulation (62 UCLA L. Rev. 74 (2015)), which proposes an incremental and effective solution to the state-federal law conflict that would allow willing states to experiment with novel regulatory approaches while leaving the federal cannabis prohibitions intact for the remaining states.
Allen is a graduate of University of California Davis Law School.
Matthew Waldron
Special Initiatives Coordinator
Matthew is directly responsible for a wide variety of duties, including but not limited to: communications, social media, legal and policy research, content generation, developing webinars/podcasts, campaign management and more!
Matthew has over 3 years of extensive public service experience in the California State Capitol as the legal intern for the Senate Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development, as well as a legislative aide for Assembly Business and Professions Committee member, Mike Gipson. Matthew’s work during this period consistently focused on cannabis consumer protections.
Matthew is currently employed by the University of California Hastings College of the Law as a Graduate Research Fellow where his projects investigating arbitration firms’ compliance with California State law, and advising the California Department of Public Health on approaches to enforcing flavored tobacco bans, were recently published.
Throughout Matthew’s professional career, he has volunteered his time and services with a variety of nonprofits, including those dedicated to advancing the civil and human rights of cannabis users.
Matthew received his Bachelors of Arts (BA) in Philosophy from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and a Juris Doctorate (JD) with a Government Law Concentration from the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.
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Randi L. Knott,
Director of Local Government Affairs
Randi is responsible for coordinating local government outreach and policy development. With over 20 years of experience in local government, public affairs and media/communications spanning the public, private and non-profit sectors, Ms. Knott takes power to persuade very seriously and actively uses her talents in pursuit of good public policy.
Before leaving the City of Sacramento in 2017, she spent 5 years as the City/s first Director of Government Affairs overseeing and implementing the City's State and Federal legislative agenda; leading the Team responsible for creating the legislative and regulatory framework for the City’s Office of Cannabis Policy & Enforcement and worked on policy issues focused on the new economy. The City of Sacramento’s Cannabis policy is seen as a model for cities throughout California. Since leaving the City Manager’s Office, she has helped several start-up and established cannabis firms obtain entitlements and successfully enter and stay compliant in the legal, regulated California Cannabis market providing local government affairs, compliance and communications consulting.
A former appointee of Governor Schwarzenegger to the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Ms. Knott served as Chair of the Legislative Committee for five years and Vice Chair of the Council. Ms. Knott has successfully advocated in the policy areas water, housing, community development, cannabis, hospitality, labor and employment, disability rights, and local government. Born and raised in New York, Ms. Knott has called Sacramento home since 2001.
Emma Snuggs,
Senior Policy Advisor
Emma is currently a consultant for tribal businesses and governments throughout the United States. She aids in developing policies, economic opportunities, and relationships for tribal communities, as well as other underserved communities.
Emma studied policy in American Indian Studies at UCLA, where she completed undergraduate and graduate coursework and was the first Departmental Scholar with College and Department Honors. Her focus was American Indian nation building; the practical application of sovereignty in economics, policy, community outreach, Tribal and community resource protection, and the benefits of human capital to rural and urban Tribal communities.
Prior to 2018 Emma was the Legislative Liaison for the California Cannabis Industry Association. Emma worked directly with executive leadership, board members, business owners, state departments, and legislators and their staff during the Prop 64 campaign and the rulemaking and regulation development that followed. Emma utilizes her skills and network to provide support to disadvantaged communities, Tribal entities, lobbyists, business owners, and elected officials and their staff in the following areas: administration, regulatory development, resource preservation and protection, survey, research and analysis, project and program coordination, staff and office management, fundraising, public relations, and communications.
