Sara Brittany Somerset

Polymath Sara Brittany “SB” Somerset, Ph.D., initiated the first and only dedicated cannabis and drug policy-related news bureau at the United Nations in 2011 and became an award-winning U.N.-based Bureau Chief for High Times magazine, and a senior global drug policy analyst. SB utilized her position in the U.N. press corps to tirelessly advocate for cannabis as a genuine medicine in lieu of prescription opioids for people with disabilities, which ultimately culminated in the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs voting to withdraw “cannabis and cannabis resin” from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention treaty on December 2, 2020, during its reconvened 63rd session. It was officially descheduled on January 22, 2021. For this reason, SB personally founded the movement to promote and annually celebrate January 22 as International Cannabis Liberation Day. As a foreign drug policy correspondent, Sara Brittany accompanied the UN Security Council on a handful of missions, including to the AMISOM base in Somalia and the Presidential Palace in Kenya, State House. She also covered the unregulated cannabis trade during the Blood Diamond Wars in Sierra Leone. Her work appears in numerous business and top-tier media outlets worldwide, from The New York Times to Global Cannabis Times, the latter of which came about after she was reader-voted onto the Top 100 Most Influential People. SB has a skill set and experience that’s tough to match. In 2018, Bruce Linton, then CEO of Canopy Growth, labeled her a “unicorn” due to her decade-plus of navigating communications, cannabis, culture shifts, and her drug policy news desk at the United Nations simultaneously. At the time, Canopy Growth offered her a position as VP of Global Government Relations. Throughout her storied career, SB has served as Chief Communications Officer for two publicly traded cannabis companies, a robotics company, one publicly traded psychedelic biotech company, and has handled PR for artists, including Grammy-nominated Thievery Corporation and their Radio Retaliation world tour. SB possesses expert-level 17 years of knowledge of the cannabis industry, including cultivation and cloning, and has consulted with multiple successive leaders of the Jamaican Cannabis Licensing Authority, as an advocate for lowering the barriers to entry for Indigenous farmers. She also possesses over five years of leadership experience in the emerging psychedelic/biopharma industry. As a public speaker, she has addressed numerous conferences worldwide, including Benzinga, Collision in Canada, and Cannatech in South Africa. Her published portrait and editorial photography have appeared in The Guardian, New York Times, and Rolling Stone. Polaris Images currently represents her photography. Dr. Somerset currently resides in New York City and Jamaica, with her trusty Germaican Shepherd, Axim Aslan.