Lester Grinspoon Fund for Drug Policy Collections

The papers of the late Dr. Lester Grinspoon, the Harvard psychiatrist who became a celebrated advocate for reforming cannabis laws, are part of a growing suite of archival collections related to drug policy at the Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center (SCUA), in the UMass Amherst Libraries.

The Lester Grinspoon Fund for Drug Policy Collections celebrates Grinspoon's legacy and supports SCUA’s ongoing efforts to preserve the history of a wide range of drug policy-related work and activism, including the movement to end cannabis prohibition. Grinspoon, whose papers are held by SCUA, was a founding father of the legalization movement and was responsible for groundbreaking research demonstrating the medical and social benefits of cannabis and other psychedelic drugs. Funds raised are enabling SCUA to complete the processing of the Lester Grinspoon Papers and to digitize Grinspoon’s writings, correspondence, and photographs, making all this material available freely online. As the fund grows, it will support SCUA’s work in enhancing access to and promoting scholarship in its drug policy collections, which also include the records of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the Marijuana Policy Project, among others.