Natalie Papillion1

Natalie Papillion

Board of Directors, The Last Prisoner Project

Natalie Papillion is a strategist, organizer and drug policy-focused writer and historian who currently sits on the Board of Directors for The Last Prisoner Project, a not-for-profit organization that works at the intersection of cannabis policy and criminal justice reform.

Papillion concurrently serves as the Executive Director of The Equity Organization, a New York-based nonprofit focused on advancing just, equitable, and effective drug policies and their criminal justice-related implications. Both The Last Prisoner Project and The Equity Organization also fight to ensure those most harmed by the American drug war receive equitable access to the social, legal, and economic opportunities that will accompany the liberalization of U.S drug policy.

Papillion is also the author of the forthcoming  history “Reefer Madness: The Unredacted History Behind Drug Prohibition in America”.  She also sits on the board of Second Chance Studios, a nonprofit that trains and employs formerly incarcerated individuals for stable, living-wage roles in the digital media space.

Natalie is a graduate of Yale University, where her research and scholarship concentrated on the social, cultural, and political history of Black communities in the United States.