Luna Named 'Jewish Cannabis Trailblazer' by NORML; and Why Visibility Still Matters

I was recently named in a NORML article recognizing AAPI & Jewish cannabis trailblazers advancing reform, culture, and industry.

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I am Jewish. Culturally, historically, spiritually.

Even though I was never bat mitzvahed, Judaism has always been present for me through values. Justice. Questioning power. Mutual aid. Humor in the face of chaos. Survival with dignity.

​Those values show up in how I work, who I support, and where I draw hard lines in business and advocacy.

Recognition matters, not because of a list or a headline, but because of what it signals.

Cannabis reform has always been shaped by people and communities who understood the plant as medicine, resistance, education, and care long before it became a regulated market. Jewish voices have been part of that history, even when we are selectively remembered or quietly erased.

I was raised in and by the plant world, shaped by legacy growers, organizers, healers, and teachers who treated cannabis as medicine and community long before it was a commodity.

That lineage informs everything I do today across cannabis, psychedelics, education, policy, and communications.

Jewish people are statistically overrepresented in the cannabis industry when you consider we make up less than 0.19 percent of the global population. Yet Jewish leaders likely represent a significant share of operators, advocates, scientists, funders, and educators in this space. That visibility comes with responsibility, especially in moments when antisemitism is rising and selective silence becomes the norm.

Last month at MJBizCon, I participated in the 'MJBiz Mitzvah' honoring the 13th anniversary of the event.

Why 13? It marks coming into responsibility, voice, and accountability to community. That symbolism landed deeply for me in an industry that urgently needs more ethics, more care, and more memory.

This is why I help organize and participate in Jews in Weed; the group exists because Jews have always been part of cannabis, whether acknowledged or erased. From medicine making to organizing, from science to storytelling, from capital to care work. We belong here. We have always belonged here.

Jews in Weed is not about ignoring what is happening in the world. Antisemitism is real. Fear is real. Exhaustion is real. The space exists to support one another, collaborate, debate, grieve, build, and show up without pretending neutrality is the same thing as safety.

Recognition from organizations like NORML is meaningful when it reflects movement memory, not just market success. Progress only lasts when it includes accountability, cultural integrity, and people willing to speak honestly about who built the foundation and who benefits from its growth.

This is the work I continue through Luna Stower Strategies LLC; strategic advising, communications, education, and advocacy for cannabis and psychedelics, grounded in policy literacy, cultural context, and equity... not trend-chasing, greenwashing or extraction.

Visibility is key, but is not the end goal... true responsibility is.

Original NORML article:
https://norml.org/blog/2025/05/29/united-in-reform-celebrating-asian-american-pacific-islander-jewish-cannabis-trailblazers/

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