Richard became active in drug policy reform issues in the late '60s. In 1972, he joined in the California Marijuana Initiative effort as the Solano Co. coordinator and editor of the initiative's newspaper, Grass Roots Gazette. "It was a very intense effort," says Richard. "From folks like Leo Paoli, Mike Aldrich, Gordon Brownell, and Tod Mikuriya, plus visits to northern California county coordinators and various state gatherings I learned much about our issues."

More recently Richard has been active in support of the Journey for Justice wheelchair trips of medical marijuana patients in Wisconsin and Florida; as well as assisting Canadian activists with Constitutional Challenges and other efforts.

Richard is a member of the Board of Directors of Educators For Sensible Drug Policy (EFSDP). Locally, Richard is an active member of the Ohio Patient Network, the Drug Policy Forum of Michigan, and Michigan NORML.

Richard is a retired Army military personnel officer. He currently lives in upper Michigan. Richard is pictured here (on the right) discussing The Netherlands Media Awareness Project with Fredrick Polak, MD of the Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation, Amsterdam.

You can contact Richard at rlake@mapinc.org - but please understand that he receives over 500 email messages each day. Thus he can not possibly answer each email that should have a response quickly and keep up with his first priority duties.