About Me
Founder and Director of the Ga. Cannabis Industry Alliance
Theresa Yarbrough is a trailblazing cannabis activist, entrepreneur, and media voice who has championed cannabis legalization in Georgia for over 40 years. Inspired by the civil rights movement as a young runaway in late-1960s Atlanta, she became an outspoken force against marijuana prohibition—and never looked back.
In the 1980s, she joined Georgia NORML’s board and, alongside James Bell and Paul Cornwell, co-organized the Great Atlanta Pot Festival, drawing 70,000 people and performances by the Black Crowes. In 1992, she made history as Georgia’s first pro-cannabis State Senate candidate, running a fearless campaign that led to her arrest and exile from District 31—cementing her as a symbol of resistance in the face of injustice.
In 2018, she founded the Georgia Cannabis Industry Alliance, now the state’s leading cannabis trade organization. Through GA CIA, she continues to advocate for decriminalization, equity, small business access, and science-based reform. Her leadership has helped advance legislation like H.R. 281, pushing for adult-use legalization and home cultivation.
Theresa is also a creative powerhouse. She is Host of the C.R.U.S.H. Podcast, produced in affiliation with C.R.U.S.H. Ent., LLC / Sony / Orchard Records, Talented Veterans Corporation, Inc., and Cannabis Content Contributor for The Hype Magazine, the Internet's #1 Magazine in the World
Her voice is as relentless as her vision: a fair, inclusive, and free future for cannabis in Georgia and beyond.
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