David Downs

David Downs is an award-winning freelance journalist, and best-selling author whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Rolling Stone, The Onion, San Francisco Chronicle, Billboard Magazine, and many other fine publications.

Downs is the author, co-author, or contributing writer of three cannabis-related books: the best- seller Beyond Buds (2014), The Medical Marijuana Guide Book (2016), and Marijuana Harvest (2016).

Downs covers cannabis policy and legalization in the award-winning, syndicated column “Legalization Nation”, published by the East Bay Express newspaper in Oakland, CA. Downs reports and edits the cannabis culture blog “Smell the Truth” on SFGate.com — a leading Internet news source. The lucky author reviews cannabis products and covers national stories as a Contributing Writer for CULTURE magazine. Downs also co-founded leading cannabis podcast, The Hash, found at TheHash.org, and is the Senior Editor of Cannabis Now Magazine.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from UC Santa Barbara, and was a Fellow at the Medill School of Journalism’s Academy of Alternative Journalism in Chicago.

Downs is a guest lecturer at UC Berkeley, and a contributor to Continuing Education of the Bar’s Marijuana Law Hub, sponsored by University of California and the State Bar of California.

The author lives in San Francisco, CA. with his wife and two children.