Keith Stroup - NORML Founder/Legal Counsel

Keith Stroup is a Washington, DC public-interest attorney who
founded NORML in 1970.
Stroup obtained his undergraduate degree in political science
from the University of Illinois in 1965, and in 1968 he graduated
from Georgetown Law School in Washington, DC. Stroup first
smoked marijuana when he was a first-year law student and has
been a regular smoker since.
Following two years as staff counsel for the National Commission
on Product Safety, in 1970 Stroup founded NORML and ran the
organization through 1979, during which time 11 states
decriminalized minor marijuana offenses. Stroup has also
practiced criminal law, lobbied on Capitol Hill for family farmers
and artists, and for several years served as executive director of
the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
(NACDL).
In 1994 Stroup resumed his work with NORML, rejoining the
board of directors and serving again as Executive Director
through 2004. He is currently NORML’s Legal Counsel.
In 1992 Stroup was the recipient of the Richard J. Dennis
Drugpeace Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of
Drug Policy Reform presented by the Drug Policy Foundation; in
2004 he received a special award from the NORML Board of
Directors for founding NORML; in 2007 he received a Lifetime
Achievement Award from MassCann NORML; in 2010 he received
the Al Horn Award for Advancing the Cause of Justice from the
NORML Legal Committee; in 2012 he received the High Times
Lifetime Achievement Award; and in 2017 he received a Lifetime
Achievement Award from the Marijuana Investors Conference.
In 2013 Stroup published the history of NORML entitled It’s
NORML To Smoke Pot: the 40 Year Fight for Marijuana Smokers’
Rights.