Introducting Kari Boiter, Montana’s first-ever Ganjier
Kari Boiter is an award-winning community organizer, policy analyst and communications strategist. Through a groundbreaking partnership with Purple Cow, she recently became Montana’s first Certified Ganjier™, one of only 250 people worldwide to be awarded the prestigious designation. To earn the Professional Trade Certification from the Ganjier program, Kari had to successfully pass a series of rigorous tests, including a written assessment and two practical exams. To prepare, she underwent approximately 200 hours of study and practice, including hands-on, in-person instruction in California’s Emerald Triangle, long considered the birthplace of the modern marijuana market.
Prior to completing the cannabis sommelier certification program, Kari earned international acclaim for coordinating the legal, media and political strategy to fully exonerate the Kettle Falls 5, a family who was federally prosecuted under harsh drug conspiracy laws for a state-legal medical marijuana garden. After five years of legal wrangling, acquittal at trial on all original charges, and convincing Congress to change federal law, the U.S. Department of Justice eventually admitted that it lacked the authority to prosecute. The case was dismissed in 2018 with ALL property seized by the federal government being returned, an outcome once thought by many to be virtually impossible.
Currently, Kari is President of the Board of Directors for the Women’s Organization for National Prohibition Reform. The newly-formed nonprofit is a modern-day rebirth of a nonpartisan group founded nearly a century ago to overturn the 18th Amendment, which outlawed alcohol. With 1.5 million members in its infancy, W.O.N.P.R. was so successful that founders were able to disband just five years after the work began. Today, the organization is dedicated to the advancement, education and empowerment of women who are actively working to reverse the continuing harms of prohibition-based policies.
In addition to making history with her revolutionary campaign strategies, Kari is an only parent to a precocious young boy, which inspires and informs her activism in new and different ways. She presently serves on the Citizen Police Advisory Board for the City of Billings, as a classroom representative for Head Start Policy Council, and as Chair of the local Continuum of Care (CoC), which is a collective of social service providers that are working collaboratively to end homelessness in Yellowstone County. Kari is also a member of the Leadership Council for the statewide CoC, along with serving on the coalition’s Ad Hoc Governance Committee, and as the Local Coordinator for District 7. In her free time, Kari enjoys karaoke, dancing, and live music, exploring the outdoors, attending community events, and volunteering for causes that count.
