Shaleen Title is an Indian-American attorney and longtime drug policy activist who is a Distinguished Cannabis Policy Practitioner in Residence at the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. She currently serves as vice-chair of the Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition. She is a frequent lecturer and consultant on cannabis policy and has testified in front of governmental bodies around the world about restorative justice in marijuana laws.

From 2017-2020, she was appointed by the Massachusetts governor, attorney general, and treasurer to serve as one of five inaugural commissioners of the Cannabis Control Commission, the agency tasked with regulating legal and medical marijuana in the commonwealth. Described as “the people’s weed watchdog” in Boston Magazine’s 2019 Power List, she was widely recognized during her term for her focus on racial justice and her efforts to make the cannabis industry more fair and inclusive.

Previously, in her role as a founding board member of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, she led the creation of the MCBA Model Bill, the first state-level model bill created to give states guidance to implement a process of reinvestment and reconciliation. She also served as a trustee for Students for Sensible Drug Policy and a board member of the National Lawyers Guild. She is a co-founder of THC Staffing Group, a recruiting firm focused on inclusion in the cannabis industry.

Shaleen has been interviewed by outlets including PBS NewsHour, Politico, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, The Guardian, Vice News, and several NPR stations, and she has written guest op-eds for The Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, Commonwealth Magazine, and Boston Business Journal. She holds a business degree, law degree, and graduate degree in accounting from the University of Illinois and was previously a part of the multistate tax group at Deloitte Tax.

Selected Honors and Awards