Faith groups have played an important role in marijuana policy debates in the United States and around the world.

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.

Felipe Sierra is director of the division of aging biology at the National Institute on Aging.

Tomás Insua is the co-founder and executive director of the Global Catholic Climate Movement. Insua grew up in Argentina and now lives in Rome. He can be contacted through Reba Elliott, the organization’s communications director.

Grandmother Clara Shinobu Iura is on the the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, an organization dedicated to promoting and preserving the wisdom of indigenous women. She is from Sao Paolo, Brazil and is now a women’s healer in the Amazon. She can speak about South American indigenous women’s wisdom and spirituality.

Daniel Feierstein is a genocide scholar at the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a visiting fellow at the International State Crime Initiative.

Atletas de Cristo, or Athletes for Christ, is a Brazil-based international organization of Christian — usually Pentecostal and evangelical — athletes. Its purpose is to “bring the Gospel to the world through the athlete.” Brazilian soccer players have been known to flout FIFA’s rules against proselytizing via clothing at games.

Yong K’ai Ch’an Ssu is a Buddhist organization in Venezuela that offers educational and spiritual resources on Buddhism. The philosophy of this organization differs in its practice and education by focusing on incorporating Buddhism into the roots and cultural norms of the South American community.

The Center for the Study of Latin American Pentecostalism is based in Brazil and works to promote and support scholarly research on Pentecostalism in Latin America. It is a project of the University of Southern California’s Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative. Contact Paul Freston. He is fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish.