Accessible Healing: Understanding Plant Medicine

Melissa Lavasani

Melissa Lavasani is Founder and Executive Director of Plant Medicine Coalition, a Washington DC based organization advocating for all plant medicines and their synthetic derivatives at National and State levels. Prior to that, Melissa proposed DC’s Initiative 81, "The Entheogenic Plant and Fungus Policy Act of 2020,” after entheogenic plants and fungi helped her overcome severe postpartum depression. As Chairwoman, she successfully ran the Decriminalize Nature DC, the campaign supporting the historic passage of Initiative 81. After psilocybin and ayahuasca helped her reclaim her life, Melissa was motivated to change laws in the District of Columbia so that other residents would not face the same fear of investigation, arrest, and prosecution for using psychedelics to heal themselves. Born to Iranian immigrants in Washington DC, Melissa currently lives in Capitol Hill with her husband, Daniel, and two children Lola (6) and Ramsey (3).