Cat Packer

Director of Drug Markets & Legal Regulation

Drug Policy Alliance

Cat Packer is the director of drug markets and legal regulation at the Drug Policy Alliance. In this role, she leads DPA’s efforts to replace prohibition with regulatory systems grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.

Cat is a distinguished cannabis policy practitioner in residence at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law’s Drug Enforcement and Policy Center and an Affiliated Researcher with the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR) at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.

Cat serves on the board of directors of the Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition and is an advisor to the Parabola Center for Law and Policy.  Additionally, she has served as a contributing author to the Thomas Reuters Cannabis Law Deskbook where she’s authored chapters on local authority and cannabis social equity policies & programs.

Cat is the first person of color in the United States to lead a medical and adult-use cannabis regulatory program. From 2017 to 2022, she served as the first Executive Director of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation.

Cat is a proud alumna of The Ohio State University where she received a bachelor’s degree in political science, a master’s degree in public policy and management and a Juris Doctor. In 2020, Cat was the recipient of the Moritz College of Law Outstanding Recent Alumna Award.