Emily Cotter

Emily Cotter is a native Rhode Islander with ten years of professional experience in organic agriculture and advocacy. Alongside her work as Cannabis Editor at Motif, Cotter is a co-owner and Director of Operations for Lovewell Farms, a USDA-Certified Organic hemp farm and CBD company based in Hope Valley, RI. She also teaches gardening skills and environmental education programming to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals with GardenTime. In her spare time, Cotter advocates for criminal justice reform and cannabis policy reform, and she organizes with other farmers around food justice issues. She is a proud alumna of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and continues to advocate for compassionate, science-based and equitable drug policies in RI and beyond. Her passions for social justice, sustainability, and all things plants are able to come together in the cannabis space, and she is driven to help create an industry that reflects the goals of the movement behind it. She believes in the power of community, and that the lines between food, drugs, and medicine are not as distinct as one might think.

Cannabis and The Movement for Black Lives: The racist roots of the war on weed and the role of the cannabis industry now

“Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” So believed Harry Anslinger, founding commissioner of the Bureau of Narcotics and man of many terrible opinions, who did not even attempt to disguise his overt racism while crafting policies specifically meant to punish people of color. Much like policing, it is well known that […]

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New Year, New Rules?: Oversight committee tackles issues in medical marijuana program

RI’s medical marijuana program has undergone several iterations since it was made into law in 2006, evolving from a program widely known for supporting patient rights and access to one dominated by money and politics. Recent proposed changes to the program would increase the number of compassion centers to nine from three, which is a […]

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US House of Reps Makes History, Votes to Deschedule Marijuana

On November 20, the US House Judiciary Committee took a huge step toward ending the prohibition of marijuana when they voted to pass the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act. True to its name, the legislation would not only remove cannabis from the federal controlled substances list (where it currently sits at schedule 1, […]

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Pot Politics: Who should have the final say in RI cannabis regulations?

There were significant changes made to RI cannabis policy in last year’s budget submitted by Governor Gina Raimondo, involving both the medical marijuana program and the newly legalized hemp regulations. The House Finance Committee also added a provision to the state budget that would require all new cannabis regulations to be “subject to approval by […]

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