Sporting a gold cannabis leaf pin on her dress, Kyndra Miller addressed a group of students during a National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Student Union.
The event, which was centered on ending marijuana prohibition, drew a crowd of about 50 students.Miller is the West Coast representative of NORML Women's Alliance, the president and CEO of CannaBusiness Law Firm in California, and a member of the Speakers Bureau for NORML women's alliance.
"I forgot how deep my roots were in Florida" Miller said as she told students that she attended preschool and elementary school downtown but moved away in 1979 and hasn't been back since.
Miller passed the California bar exam eight and a half years ago and became an entertainment law attorney representing independent producers of television shows. She opened her second location three years ago in San Francisco in the Pier 5 Law Offices called CannaBusiness where she provides services to medical marijuana patients in California. Her political activism started earlier this year in February when she joined the committee for NORML women's alliance.
"If women believe that something is immoral it is very hard for there to be movement in the general society," Miller said. "If we empower women, the belief is that will help us with our movement to help end marijuana prohibition. Women ended alcohol prohibition."
The NORML women's alliance is a project started by the NORML foundation two years ago. On their website the mission statement for the alliance states it is a nonpartisan coalition of prominent, educated, successful, geographically diverse, high-profile professional women who believe that cannabis prohibition is a self-destructive and hypocritical policy that undermines the American family, sends a mixed and false message to our young people, and destroys the cherished principles of personal liberty and local self-government.
In May, Miller was nominated and elected as the West Coast representative for the NORML women's alliance where she is creating a network to provide support for those in need and educating the community.
"As an attorney I see the struggle to end marijuana prohibition is going to have to begin and end at the federal level if we are really going to do something" Miller said. "The fact that we can't talk about cannabis is ridiculous."
Miller said the fight to end marijuana prohibition is a civil rights issue. In some states if an individual has a marijuana-related charge on their permanent record they aren't allowed to vote and don't qualify for federal loans.
"I don't know how half the people I know got through college without marijuana," Miller said.
Miller wants students to get inspired and start fighting on the federal level by sending letters and signing petitions. She suggested building alliances and following leaders of the movement. The main point Miller made clear was that to be an activist can be as simple as talking to people you know and anyone around you about ending marijuana prohibition.
"I like how inspiring Miller was," said senior exceptional student education major and fourth year NORML member Monique Smith said. "She made me feel like I can be a big help to the movement by just talking."
Miller dedicated her speech to a few of her friends but to Dr. Molly Fry in particular who is a seventh generation medical doctor struck with cancer in her mid forties. Fry tried using cannabis after none of the prescription drugs helped and has become a champion of it because it was the only thing that gave her relief when she thought she was going to die. Fry is now on her fourth month of a five year prison sentence for recommending marijuana to her patients.
"I think that bringing up Dr. Molly Fry adds validity to our struggle by showing how someone so opposed to the use of cannabis to help her cancer had a complete change of heart and is now one of the biggest proponents for the cause because it saved her life," Drew Froman, president of UCF's chapter of NORML and junior psychology major, said.
The next speaker NORML will host is Madeline Martinez who is the sole proprietress of the United States first Cannabis Cafe on October 12.
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