Rob Kampia

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Rob Kampia is the founder and executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. Born in 1969 in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, Kampia grew up in a Lutheran family and became valedictorian of Souderton Area High School in 1986 [1]. He earned a BA in engineering science from Pennsylvania State University in preparation for becoming an astronaut. After those plans were derailed by a three-month prison sentence in late 1989 for growing marijuana in his Pennsylvania State University apartment, he began single-mindedly pursuing marijuana policy reform. In 1995, he organized MPP, operating out of his bedroom and going $6,000 into debt. The organization grew rather quickly, eventually becoming the largest marijuana policy reform group in the United States. In 2000, while living in the Adams Morgan area of Washington, DC, he ran for Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives on the Libertarian ticket, but lost to Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Kampia's past has frequently come under fire from his opponents. For instance, Drug Watch International referred to him in 2001 as "an admitted drug user". [2]. When Kampia testified before Congress in 2001, Congressman Mark Souder (R-IN) called him "an articulate advocate for an evil position."