Today on Hempresent our host ios joined by Dale Schaefer. The cannabis industry is one of many facets. From the advocates and activists speaking up for cannabis, to the patients that desperately need it, to the recreational smoker, to the lawyers defending or prosecuting, to those serving jail sentences from using or selling cannabis, to illegal drug dealers, to legitimate investors and entrepreneurs; there’s a lot of people involved in the cannabis industry. But few have seen it from more than one angle. And, certainly, no one has seen in it is as many as Dale Schafer.

Schafer, a lawyer based in California, went from running a well-established law firm and being a small-time recreational user in his off hours to being arrested and serving time for over five years due to a cannabis collective he made to gather medicine for his former wife who was diagnosed with cancer. Labeled a saint by many and an outright drug dealer by others, Schafer has experienced every facet of the cannabis industry. Now, once again a licensed lawyer, Schafer uses his expertise to defend cannabis users from criminal prosecution, help fight unjust drug laws, help create literature like California’s recreational cannabis bill Prop. 67 and much, much more.