Freedom Fighter of the Month
March 2010 – Jessica Corry
Colorado Republican Mom for Marijuana
By Russ Belville, NORML Outreach Coordinator
Jessica Corry of Denver is well-known as a public policy analyst and political strategist. The Colorado Statesman named her one of Colorado’s top “Movers & Shakers”. She has run for public office, led over 20 civic organizations, and was a featured TV commentator during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Corry rocked the mainstream media with her column, “Republican moms for marijuana: ‘Time to legalize is now’” which appeared in the Colorado Daily. She writes, “As a Republican mother committed to legalizing marijuana, political life can be lonely…. Calling for a new approach doesn’t make me a pothead…. If we believe that smaller government is better government, we must trust people to choose what to put into their bodies. If we support legalized access to alcohol, cigarettes, and 700-calorie cheeseburgers, we should legalize marijuana — a far less harmful substance.”
Corry adds a refreshing voice for reform from the underrepresented demographic of conservative women. Despite her incredibly busy career working on property rights issues for the Independence Institute, authoring nationally-cited publications on eminent domain and academia, and speaking at the Libertarian National Convention, Corry still finds time to present speeches at the NORML Aspen Legal Seminar and other marijuana law reform events in Denver.
Corry brings professionalism and class to the marijuana legalization movement and exhorts others to do the same. Following CU Boulder’s famous “4/20” smoke-in, she told the gathered crowd, “Just because close to 6 out of 10 people voted against [Colorado’s 2006 legalization initiative], it doesn’t mean all six of those people are against us. It means we haven’t gone out there and done our jobs. We need to lawyer up. We need to put suits on and start playing with the big boys down at the Capitol.” With leaders like Jessica Corry, the “big boys” better take heed.
