The Rev. James E. Atwood is a retired Presbyterian pastor who serves on the board of The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. He is the author of America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose and Gundamentalism and Where It Is Taking America.

Jamie Aten is founder and executive director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College. He is an expert on religious responses to public emergencies, including hurricanes and mass shootings. Aten is also a founding signer of the Prayers and Action petition, which calls on the evangelical Christian community to do more to address gun […]

Julio Calzada is the director of social politics for the city of Montevideo, Uruguay. He previously served as secretary-general of the country’s National Drug Council and oversaw marijuana legalization there.

Maziyar Ghiabi is a professor and Director for the Centre of Persian And Iranian Studies (CPIS) at the University of Exeter. He studies politics, social history and the history of drug laws, and he is one of the co-authors of a 2018 study on Islam and cannabis.

The Rev. Gerry Taillon is the national ministry leader for the Canadian National Baptist Convention. After Canada legalized recreational marijuana, he called for churches to be more vocal about the dangers of drug use.

Imam Syed Soharwardy is the founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, which aims to help Canadians understand Islamic teachings and culture. In the lead-up to Canada’s vote on recreational marijuana, he took part in community discussions on drug use. He supports medical marijuana, but he believes Muslims should not use the drug recreationally.

Alison Mather is the director of Quaker Action on Alcohol & Drugs, a British organization dedicated to addressing alcohol and drug abuse, as well as related policies, from within the Quaker tradition.

Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz is the president of Valley Beit Midrash in Phoenix. In 2016, he joined with an interfaith group of Arizona leaders to support a ballot initiative seeking to legalize recreational marijuana in the state. He has written about Jewish teachings on gambling.

Eric E. Sterling is the executive director of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, which advocates for drug policy reforms. From 2013 to 2017, he served on the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission and helped author the state’s medical marijuana regulations. Sterling has written about Quaker teachings and drug law.