Chris joined MPP in 2013 and currently serves as the Director of Government Relations. Before joining MPP, Chris was a criminal defense attorney and civil litigator in Montana. In 2006, he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, and his experience with the illness led him to become a medical cannabis activist and lobbyist. In 2009, he and several partners started one of the largest medical cannabis providers in the state, Montana Cannabis, and Chris later established a private law practice working exclusively with members of the cannabis community. In 2012, federal law enforcement authorities swept the state, raiding 28 medical providers including Montana Cannabis, which was profiled in the documentary film Code of the West. Chris was charged as a co-conspirator, became a federal felon, and went to work for MPP full-time to advocate for an end to cannabis prohibition. Since then, he has done work in Texas, South Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Alaska. In 2019, Chris concluded a two-year legalization campaign in Illinois, with the state becoming the 11th adult-use cannabis state in the U.S.