HAF Welcomes New Executive Director Taylor West

It is with great pleasure that I am announcing the Healing Advocacy Fund’s new Executive Director, Taylor West. A veteran drug policy advocate, Taylor is well-suited to build on HAF’s central policy, advocacy, and communications role in state-level access to psychedelic care, and we are thrilled to have her taking the helm.

After serving as an advisor to the 2020 Oregon Psilocybin Services Initiative campaign, Taylor was a key strategic leader for the 2022 Natural Medicine Health Act campaign in Colorado. HAF stands on the cusp of an incredible new era that will bring psychedelic healing to millions in this country. Getting it right—ensuring that there is safety, access, and accountability in the system—in Oregon, Colorado and the states to come is crucial if we want to build on this momentum.

Healing Advocacy Fund’s new Executive Director, Taylor West

In addition to her work on the Oregon and Colorado initiatives, Taylor’s background includes years of leadership in both psychedelic and cannabis policy reform. Most recently, she served as a philanthropic advisor to major donors seeking to support careful expansion of the psychedelic field, as well as co-creating the inaugural UC Berkeley Psychedelics Survey in conjunction with the Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics. She has also served as the deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, held senior positions on several high-profile electoral campaigns, and spent four years in Washington, D.C., working on a variety of communications and government relations projects.

Please join me in welcoming Taylor to her new role. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to share a congratulatory note. As for me, this transition is not a farewell, but a “see ya later.” While I am leaving the Healing Advocacy Fund at the end of May, my passion for advancing both psychedelic and broader drug policy reforms at the local, state, national, and even international level is stronger than ever. I am incredibly excited about the prospect of exploring what shape that may take after a much-needed break this summer.

Signing off for now,
Sam Chapman