Born January 13th, 1977, Tony Bowles spent much of his early years in St. Petersburg, FL, eventually attending St. Petersburg College and studying liberal arts.

Tony has been involved in the cannabis industry for 20+ years, a long-time patient advocate and organizer with Americans for Safe Access (ASA). He’s currently Chair of the Bay Area Safe Access chapter, and is creator of the original Terpene Flashcards www.terpeneflashcards.com

He has been in Coffee, and Tourism for 20+ years. He studied Tour Management with the International Tour Management Institute in SF. He’s conducted SF and DC city tours, and wine country tours as well. He’s worked with many successful commercial cannabis operations and organized many successful grassroots advocacy campaigns since 2002. He has also been trained by and worked with some of the best in the coffee industry.

He was a plaintiff in ASA’s successful lawsuit against the California Highway Patrol. As an original member of the SF ASA Chapter, he played a role in passing Article 37, SF's medical cannabis law.

He moved to the DC Metro Area in 2008, when ASA opened their national office to focus on influencing Congress and the federal government. While living in Maryland he organized and trained patients around the state of Maryland in concert with Drug Policy Alliance in the interest of passing medical cannabis legislation. He also founded the original ASA-Maryland Chapter and participated in the ASA-DC chapter briefly, before returning to the Bay Area.

Since returning to the Bay Area he has been involved with multiple successful cannabis operations, and political campaigns, including the passing of The Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA), which was established through a series of bills passed by the California State Legislature in 2015 and 2016, as well as The Brownie Mary and Dennis Peron Act, SB 34 in 2019, which allows cannabis to be given out as compassion, and most recently around SB1186, which prioritizes patient health by allowing patients to access licensed stores or licensed deliveries in their area, and by prohibiting jurisdictions from enacting unreasonable restrictions on these businesses.. He is currently involved in legislative efforts at a local, state, and federal level to expand and strengthen patient access to cannabis.

Tony’s deepest desire/intention is to take the knowledge and experience he’s acquired in the 20 years working with cannabis and in patient advocacy, and continue raising awareness and teaching others about the true potential of cannabis; and all the benefits of this amazing plant.