David Downs

Leafly Senior Editor David Downs received a Literary Excellence Award from Oaksterdam University in 2022. On the cannabis beat since 2009, he’s published three books, including the best-selling cannabis crop science book ‘Marijuana Harvest.’ Downs’ work has appeared in San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, Scientific American, Wired, Rolling Stone, The Onion A/V Club, Columbia Journalism Review, High Times, Billboard, and many more. Downs was the Americans for Safe Access Journalist of the Year 2020 for his vape safety reporting, which is cited by the New England Journal of Medicine, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Downs has guest lectured at Loyola Marymount University Law School’s Journalism Law School, as well as UC Berkeley Extension. He's contributed to Continuing Education of the Bar’s Marijuana Law Hub, sponsored by University of California and the State Bar of California. 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.