Leafly: How old drug laws punish families in legal cannabis states

In this piece for Leafly, I explored how a catch-22 that many American families face — parents who possess and/or imbibing in legal medical cannabis in their state (often for severe medical issues) can face, in some cases, parental rights questioned or taken away.

One mother I spoke to for this story, Lindsay Ridgell, has been fighting to have her name removed from the Department of Child Services’ registry, which blacklists her as a threat to children. She was placed on the list after using medical cannabis for an extreme case of Hyperemesis Gravidarum during pregnancy. Her son, who was born healthy, just turned 3 years-old and Ridgell is still fighting to clear her name.

Alexa Peters

Alexa Peters

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Rolling Stone: The ‘Book More Women’ Campaign Called Out Male-Heavy Festival Lineups. Did It Help?

In this article I wrote for Rolling Stone, I covered the story behind Book More Women, a social media account that shares festival posters that omit all-male acts as a way of raising awareness about the numbers of women and non-binary acts typically booked. It’s been 5 years since she started the effort. Did it increase diversity at music festivals?

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