One Movement, Two Boards
We’re a member-led movement rooted in lived experience. Our boards include people with lived or living experience (meaning they use or have used drugs), impacted loved ones, and allies who share a commitment to health, dignity, and evidence. We’ve worked intentionally to build a diverse leadership team, with board members from across Maryland bringing different perspectives, skills, and local relationships to the work.
Below you will see You’ll see two boards listed below: the Maryland Alliance for Sensible Drug Policy and the Maryland Fund for Sensible Drug Policy. The Alliance is our 501(c)(4), focused on legislative and political advocacy. The Fund is our 501(c)(3), focused on education and community organizing. They are separate organizations with separate boards, but we work closely day to day, side by side, to grow the same statewide movement.
Finally, you’ll also find our Executive Director, who supports both organizations and helps keep the whole effort moving forward.
Alliance Board
Anthony Hebert
Chair
Lived/Living Experience ◦ Prince George’s County
Anthony Hebert is a community-focused leader with over 20 years of experience in business administration, real estate, and public policy. Based in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) region, he brings a strong record of strategic leadership, civic engagement, and mission-driven service to his role as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Maryland Alliance for Sensible Drug Policy.
Currently an Executive Administrator, Anthony supports executive leadership through project coordination, legislative advocacy, budget development, and operational management. His professional background includes influential roles at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, where he championed human rights initiatives, built cross-sector partnerships, and led national outreach campaigns.
A lifelong advocate for equity and public health, Anthony leverages both his professional expertise and lived experience to inform the Alliance’s strategy and impact. His leadership is grounded in a deep commitment to advancing sensible, compassionate, and effective drug policies across Maryland and the broader DMV region.
Stephanie Hutter-Thomas
Secretary
Lived/Living Experience ◦ Allegany County
Dr. Stephanie Hutter-Thomas is a rural public health educator, researcher, and workforce development leader based in Western Maryland. Her work bridges lived experience, data, and community engagement to strengthen harm reduction efforts and the peer support workforce across Maryland’s most underserved regions. Shaped by decades of work in Appalachian communities, she brings a systems-level understanding of how policy decisions land on real people, especially those navigating substance use, poverty, and stigma. She joined the Maryland Alliance for Sensible Drug Policy to help elevate the voices of people with lived experience and ensure policy is informed by those closest to the impact. She hopes the Alliance will advance humane, evidence-based drug policy statewide. Outside of work, she’s deeply rooted in local arts and community organizing
Diana Philip
Treasurer
Ally ◦ Baltimore City
Diana Philip is a seasoned systems advocate focused on protecting and advancing civil liberties and human rights through policy reform, legislation, and impact litigation. With a passion for progressive and controversial issues, she has served in a variety of roles within movement work, such as regional director at ACLU of Texas, project director at the Texas Advocacy Project (gender-based violence), founding director of Jane’s Due Process (youth rights), founding director of the Abortion Care Network, policy director at FreeState Legal (LGBTQ rights), and executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland. During her tenure at MD NARAL, Philip and her staff helped launch various coalitions and workgroups while developing 13 proactive pieces of legislation (eight passing into law) and submitting testimony on an average of 75 bills each year during the Maryland General Assembly (labor, education, environment, criminal justice, poverty, and other intersecting issues).
In addition to having served as a founding board member of the Baltimore Abortion Fund, MOMCares, Corner Team, and now the Maryland Alliance for Sensible Drug Policy, Philip currently serves on the boards of Skatepark of Baltimore, Maryland Legislative Agenda for Women, Economic Action Maryland, and FreeState Justice. She started her consulting firm, DMP Advocacy, LLC in 2023, serving coalitions and nonprofits engaged in policy reform efforts in issues such as reproductive freedom, consumer protection, voting rights, drug policy, and child welfare advocacy. Philip’s interest in helping to launch the Maryland Alliance for Sensible Drug Policy stems from seeing the results of the war on drugs while she was with the ACLU and how bad drug policies negatively affect survivors of interpersonal violence and pregnant individuals.
Jeni murphy
Lived/Living Experience, ◦ Talbot County
Jeni Murphy is a passionate advocate, survivor, and storyteller dedicated to breaking the silence surrounding many current issues. image0.jpegDrawing from lived experience and years of community-based work, she has transformed pain into purpose—using her voice to empower others, promote healing, and foster meaningful conversations about safety, resilience, and hope. Through writing, speaking, and advocacy, Jeni works to raise awareness and support survivors.
A resident of Easton in Talbot County, Maryland, Jeni is a Maryland Food Bank’s Speakers Bureau. Currently working as a Community Health Outreach Worker dedicating her professional efforts to supporting initiatives within a local health department. Jeni enjoys sharing her lived experience navigating systems of care related to many different areas in life. She has presented at the Food Bank’s Partner Symposium, Division of Early Childhood's Annual conference and contributed her perspective to a news segment focused on summer hunger.
Jeni is also actively involved within recovery communities, supporting grassroots recovery advocacy and amplifying the voices of individuals with lived experience. Through this work, she helps connect communities, promote recovery-oriented systems of care, and advance peer-led solutions at the state level.
Jeni is deeply committed to uplifting underserved, unhoused, and food-insecure populations. Outside of her advocacy work, she enjoys spending time with her daughters—especially her eight-year-old, who keeps her on her toes.
Ron Phillips
Lived or Living Experience ◦ Baltimore City
I am currently a member of the Bridges Coalition and an employee of the Charm City Care Connection, in Baltimore, Maryland. I'm convince that I am a casualty the war on drugs and hope to be a part of the movement that changes the culture, stigma and language that is associated with drug use and the overdose epidemic.
James Peak
Lived/Living Experience ◦ Baltimore County
James Peak is an advocate and campaign professional based in Baltimore County, Maryland, with experience in grassroots organizing, legislative advocacy, and political campaigns. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Management of Aging Services from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and brings a people-centered approach to his work in public policy and civic engagement. James focuses on building strong organizations, forming meaningful partnerships, and leading coalition-based efforts that create real impact. He is especially committed to amplifying the voices of communities that are too often unheard, ensuring that underrepresented populations are included in conversations that shape policy and public outcomes. His work is driven by collaboration, equity, and a belief that effective advocacy starts with listening.
Fund Board
Kris McGinnis
Chair
Lived/Living Experience ◦ Frederick County
Kris McGinnis is a woman in long-term recovery from alcohol misuse, having lived alcohol-free since September 3, 2007. Her lived experience informs her passionate work in behavioral health, peer support, and drug policy advocacy.
Kris brings deep insight to the intersections of recovery, mental health, and peer integration in clinical settings. Kris believes strongly in the power of lived experience to shape compassionate, effective care and drug policy.
As overdose rates rise and public awareness of mental health grows, she is committed to speaking boldly about the realities of substance use, challenging the stigma that still surrounds it, and demanding policies that reflect compassion and science. Kris is a strong advocate for substance use awareness, stigma reduction, and sensible drug reform that centers dignity, equity, and recovery. Kris believes that those of us with lived or living experience have a responsibility—and a unique ability– to raise our voices, do the work, and advocate fiercely until everyone who needs a path to healing can find one.
Stephanie Hutter-Thomas
Secretary
Lived/Living Experience ◦ Allegany County
Dr. Stephanie Hutter-Thomas is a rural public health educator, researcher, and workforce development leader based in Western Maryland. Her work bridges lived experience, data, and community engagement to strengthen harm reduction efforts and the peer support workforce across Maryland’s most underserved regions. Shaped by decades of work in Appalachian communities, she brings a systems-level understanding of how policy decisions land on real people, especially those navigating substance use, poverty, and stigma. She joined the Maryland Alliance for Sensible Drug Policy to help elevate the voices of people with lived experience and ensure policy is informed by those closest to the impact. She hopes the Alliance will advance humane, evidence-based drug policy statewide. Outside of work, she’s deeply rooted in local arts and community organizing
Diana Philip
Treasurer
Ally ◦ Baltimore City
Diana Philip is a seasoned systems advocate focused on protecting and advancing civil liberties and human rights through policy reform, legislation, and impact litigation. With a passion for progressive and controversial issues, she has served in a variety of roles within movement work, such as regional director at ACLU of Texas, project director at the Texas Advocacy Project (gender-based violence), founding director of Jane’s Due Process (youth rights), founding director of the Abortion Care Network, policy director at FreeState Legal (LGBTQ rights), and executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland. During her tenure at MD NARAL, Philip and her staff helped launch various coalitions and workgroups while developing 13 proactive pieces of legislation (eight passing into law) and submitting testimony on an average of 75 bills each year during the Maryland General Assembly (labor, education, environment, criminal justice, poverty, and other intersecting issues).
In addition to having served as a founding board member of the Baltimore Abortion Fund, MOMCares, Corner Team, and now the Maryland Alliance for Sensible Drug Policy, Philip currently serves on the boards of Skatepark of Baltimore, Maryland Legislative Agenda for Women, Economic Action Maryland, and FreeState Justice. She started her consulting firm, DMP Advocacy, LLC in 2023, serving coalitions and nonprofits engaged in policy reform efforts in issues such as reproductive freedom, consumer protection, voting rights, drug policy, and child welfare advocacy. Philip’s interest in helping to launch the Maryland Alliance for Sensible Drug Policy stems from seeing the results of the war on drugs while she was with the ACLU and how bad drug policies negatively affect survivors of interpersonal violence and pregnant individuals.
Abby Aposporos
Lived/Living Experience ◦ Montgomery County
I am a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist, currently working as a Supervisor of an Overdose Prevention team at “Us Helping Us”, as well as an independent contractor for “Recovery Guides”. Through my own personal experience with substance abuse, I have dedicated my life to finding creative solutions to unique problems that those in active addiction face. I am a firm believer in meeting people where they are at, and that every human responds differently to different solutions. My goal is to continue to be a living example of hope, and to show others how to put one foot in front of the other, as someone who had once lost “everything”. Aside from my passion to helping those living with substance use disorder, I am a performing musician that plays 11 different instruments.
Jessie Dunleavy
Impacted Loved One ◦ Anne Arundel County
Motivated by all she learned through her son’s struggles—from learning disabilities to a mental health diagnosis and ultimately drug addiction—Jessie Dunleavy is an advocate for drug policy reform and is committed to combating stigma and other impediments to reducing the harms of drug use.
In coming to terms with the loss of her son, the injustices he endured, and the realization that his death was preventable, she found solace in the commitment of those whose advocacy preceded hers. Grounded in science and dedicated to justice, these researchers, journalists, and health care workers restored her hope that humanity and compassion could triumph over the criminalization and marginalization of those who suffer.
Beyond lending her voice through opinion editorials, speaking engagements, broadcast interviews, and social media, she has joined forces with like-minded groups at the national, state, and local levels including the Drug Policy Alliance and Mobilize Recovery Family Caucus. She serves on multiple committees, several with her county health department, and lobbies within the Maryland General Assembly.
She has a master’s degree in library and information science and served as an academic librarian for nearly a decade at the outset of her career. Subsequently, she spent thirty years as an administrator in a pre-kindergarten through grade twelve college preparatory school where her work entailed community outreach and written communication including a blog in which she offered general parenting advice on a range of topics.
She is the author of Cover My Dreams in Ink, a memoir chronicling her son's life, with the aim of inspiring sensitivity for those who are different and compassion for those whose battles arise from uncontrollable circumstances rather than faults of character.
She lives in her hometown, Annapolis, Maryland.
Dimitric Chase
Lived/Living Experience ◦ Baltimore City
I work for The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) as a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist under a grant that work with the older community in drug use. My life in prison shaped me to help others as I become the "Greatest me". I have lived experience, I believe my story and turn out around can be written to a movie. I joined the Fund because I believe with all heads working towards a goal it can be done. I hope to see the grow of the Fund & Alliance to the public eye. One human detail about me is that I'm dedicated & hungry for this work field.
Executive Director
Thomas Higdon
Lived/Living Experience ◦ Baltimore County
Thomas Higdon co-founded the Maryland Alliance for Sensible Drug Policy to fight for policies that treat people who use drugs with dignity, not punishment. His motivation is deeply personal. After more than two decades of illicit drug use, Thomas lived through the fallout: broken relationships, unemployment, homelessness, and repeated encounters with the criminal justice system. He also cycled through over a dozen treatment programs, many of which caused more harm than healing. Over time, he came to a hard truth: while drug use was part of the problem, the systems meant to help often made recovery harder. In the process of rebuilding his life, he found a deeper purpose in pushing for change.
Alongside his lived experience, Thomas brings a broad range of professional expertise. He has organized communities with Clean Water Action, fought for policy reform with the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development and the Bloomberg American Health Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, and led direct service programs at the Maryland Food Bank and the CASH Campaign of Maryland. His career has taken him through organizing, program management, and public policy, all driven by a commitment to building something better for people who are too often left behind.
Thomas is also an active volunteer in efforts to reform drug policy and strengthen recovery support systems in Maryland. He has served as a state organizer with the Recovery Advocacy Project and chaired the Drug Policy Workgroup for the People’s Commission to Decriminalize Maryland. He currently serves on the leadership team of the Baltimore County Recovery Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC) and is a member of the Baltimore County Behavioral Health Advisory Committee.
He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Eckerd College and a J.D. from Tulane University. He has completed certificate programs in Public Administration at Florida State University and Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University. He is also a Project Management Professional (PMP), a Certified Association Executive (CAE), and a graduate of Leadership Baltimore County.
Thomas lives in Baltimore County with his wife, Kathryn, his stepson, Parker, and their dog, Luna. He’s a humanist, a member of the Towson Unitarian Universalist Church, and enjoys reading, swimming, biking, and running.
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