MARIJUANA MOMS

Ask Chanda Macias’ 7-yearold son what she does for a living, and he’ll tell you Mommy’s a doctor. It’s not far from reality. The mom of four owns the National Holistic Healing Center and Marijuana Dispensary in Washington, DC, where possessing and growing small amounts of marijuana is legal. Roughly 1,500 patients depend on Chanda’s cannabis to relieve symptoms of everything from HIV to cancer to mood disorders. “I tell him I dispense medicine,” she says. “It’s the best analogy I can communicate to him.”

Chanda became interested in marijuana while studying for her doctorate in biology in 2001—she traveled to Ethiopia, learning about natural remedies in areas with limited access to modern medicine. Then, after working as a research scientist for Colgate-Palmolive and as the director of the STEM education program at Howard University, she got an MBA in supply-chain management. Upon graduating in 2013, she briefly