Marisa Rodriguez
City and County of San Francisco, CA
Marisa Rodriguez is the Director of the Office of Cannabis for the City and County of San Francisco. In this capacity, she oversees the permitting process for all businesses that cultivate, manufacture, distribute, sell and test cannabis in San Francisco, focusing on access for medical cannabis patients and equitable participation for those negatively impacted by the War on Drugs.
Prior to this role, Ms. Rodriguez was an Assistant District Attorney and Director of Community Relations for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. She supported a variety of criminal justice reform initiatives as a member of District Attorney George Gascón's Communication and Policy team, including the District Attorney’s vision to proactively expunge more than 9,000 marijuana-related convictions eligible for dismissal under Proposition 64. Ms. Rodriguez pioneered innovative programs to address challenges within the criminal justice system by engaging with community members, city agencies, law enforcement, and other stakeholders.
She created the truancy pilot program, “I Am the Change,” to re-engage truant youth in education through the lens of the civil rights movement. She co-founded the San Quentin News Forum, the first forum of its kind to take several San Francisco law enforcement agencies, and most recently the Office of Cannabis, inside the walls of a California state prison. This program was designed to better understand the consequences of criminal justice policy and the impact of the War on Drugs from the perspective of incarcerated people.
Ms. Rodriguez believes that innovations like these will continue to challenge the conventional thinking around the criminal justice system, and create the space for San Francisco to have a world-class, equitable and thriving cannabis industry.
Ms. Rodriguez grew up in San Francisco. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Business Administration from U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and her law degree from the University of San Francisco.