In October 2012, rock singer Melissa Etheridge recorded a radio ad for Colorado‘s Amendment 64, telling voters that marijuana had helped her through chemotherapy for breast cancer and that adults should be allowed to use it legally. The spot, released by the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, put one of the best-known cancer survivors in American music behind the first successful legalization measure, and Etheridge has stayed one of the most visible celebrity voices on cannabis ever since.
What Happened
On October 12, 2012, NORML reported that the Amendment 64 campaign had released a radio ad featuring Etheridge, set to run on Colorado radio stations and on Pandora. In it she described how cannabis eased the nausea and pain of chemotherapy when prescription drugs had not, and said the experience changed how she saw the people arrested for using it.
Her argument went beyond medical use. She said she had once simply accepted laws that treated marijuana users as criminals, but now believed it was wrong to arrest adults for it and wrong to leave the trade to gangs and cartels. She asked Colorado voters to let adults possess limited amounts and to regulate and tax sales, a pitch that matched the campaign’s “regulate it like alcohol” message. Westword noted that she also sat on the advisory board of the Marijuana Policy Project, one of the groups behind the campaign.
Why It Mattered
Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2004 and went through surgery and chemotherapy. She performed bald at the 2005 Grammy Awards, and that October she talked openly about using “medicinal marijuana” during treatment in an interview with NBC’s Dateline.
By 2012 that history made her a credible messenger. Campaigns for adult-use legalization needed voters who were not cannabis users themselves to see prohibition as a policy failure, and a Grammy-winning cancer survivor who said she had changed her mind was the kind of voice they wanted.
What Happened Next
Colorado voters approved Amendment 64 on November 6, 2012, with about 55 percent of the vote, according to Ballotpedia. Washington passed Initiative 502 the same night. Our full account of that election is in Colorado and Washington Legalize Marijuana (2012).
Etheridge moved from endorsing cannabis to working with it. In 2014 she partnered with Greenway Compassionate Relief, a Santa Cruz medical dispensary, on a cannabis-infused wine tincture sold only to California medical patients, CBS News reported. Her 2019 album The Medicine Show opened with the single “Faded by Design,” which Rolling Stone described as an ode to plant medicine. A 2021 USA Today roundup of celebrity cannabis brands listed her company, Etheridge Botanicals.
Her advocacy took a harder turn in May 2020, when she announced that her son Beckett Cypher had died at 21 of causes related to opioid addiction, Variety reported. She then started the Etheridge Foundation, which funds research into plant-based and psychedelic treatments for addiction and had raised more than $1 million by late 2025, according to the Orange County Register.
Where It Stands in 2026
Adult-use cannabis has been legal in Colorado for more than a decade; current possession limits and buying rules are in our Colorado marijuana laws guide, and California’s are in our California guide. Federally, marijuana outside state medical programs is still Schedule I, as our federal laws page explains.
Melissa Etheridge and Marijuana FAQ
Did Melissa Etheridge use marijuana during cancer treatment?
Yes. She has said publicly since 2005 that she used cannabis to cope with the effects of chemotherapy after her 2004 breast cancer diagnosis.
What was Melissa Etheridge’s Amendment 64 ad?
A radio spot released in October 2012 by the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, in which she urged Colorado voters to legalize and regulate marijuana for adults.
Did Amendment 64 pass?
Yes. Colorado voters approved it on November 6, 2012, with about 55 percent of the vote.
Does Melissa Etheridge have a cannabis business?
She made a cannabis-infused wine tincture with a Santa Cruz dispensary in 2014 and was later reported as co-founder of Etheridge Botanicals.
Originally reported by The Weed Street Journal; rewritten and updated in October 2026 with what happened next.
