Steve DeAngelo

Steve DeAngelo was born in 1958 in Philadelphia (Pennslyvania). Activist, entrepreneur and visionary, he is considered one of the most important figures in the history of cannabis legalization in the United States.
Dubbed the «Father of the Legal Cannabis Industry» by Time magazine, he embodies better than anyone the transition from underground activism to a structured legal industry.

An activist since adolescence

Steve DeAngelo became involved in pro-cannabis activism at an early age.
As a teenager in Washington D.C. in the 1970s, he organized rallies for legalization and distributed leaflets in the corridors of the U.S. Congress. In the 1990s, he co-founded Ecolution, a company that pioneered the marketing of industrial hemp products in the United States, at a time when the distinction between cannabis and hemp was not yet legally recognized.

Harborside, the world's largest medical cannabis dispensary

In 2006, Steve DeAngelo co-founded Harborside Health Center in Oakland, California. The clinic quickly becomes the largest and most influential in the world, serving tens of thousands of patients and generating tens of millions of dollars in annual sales. Harborside stands out for its holistic approach - medical services, patient support, social programs - and becomes a model for the global medical cannabis industry.

Harborside's relationship with U.S. federal authorities is tumultuous. In 2011, the federal government attempts to close the dispensary and seize its premises, sparking a multi-year legal battle that turns into a cause célèbre for the pro-legalization movement. Harborside survives and continues to operate, becoming a symbol of resistance to federal prohibition.

Arc View Group and investment in legal cannabis

In 2010, Steve DeAngelo co-founded Arc View Group, the first network of investors specialized in the cannabis industry. Arc View plays a crucial role in financing early-stage legal businesses, helping to structure a nascent industry and attract institutional capital to a market long considered uninvestable.

Last Prisoner Project

Steve DeAngelo is also co-founder of the Last Prisoner Project, an organization that campaigns for the release of people imprisoned for cannabis-related offences in states where cannabis is now legal. This cause - restorative justice for victims of the war on drugs - has become a central focus of his public commitment.

A global vision of cannabis

Steve DeAngelo's vision of cannabis goes far beyond recreational legalization. For him, cannabis is first and foremost a healing tool - physical, psychological and social - and its legalization must be accompanied by far-reaching criminal justice reform and recognition of its therapeutic virtues. He expresses this vision in his book The Cannabis Manifesto, published in 2015, considered one of the leading works on cannabis policy in the United States.