Dr. Nicola Erb has proudly served as a Law Enforcement officer, investigator, and leader for the past 30 years. During her career she has had the opportunity to work for a variety of department structures including university policing, large municipal policing and mountain resort policing; all of which have a distinct focus on community-based service. Due to the convenience of shift work, Dr. Erb was also able to deeply engage in consulting services for federal, state and local entities in order to increase community centered collaborations aimed at improving the quality of life during a large part of her career. Nicola has served on numerous drug task forces, three of which were new to their community and has provided state and national training on a wide variety of drug-related issues, most notably the National Jewish Health Methamphetamine Exposure Studies, where she was an epidemiologist on the studies. Dr. Erb completed her doctoral studies in Human and Organizational Development on the topic of Drug Endangered Children and has been a part of the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children since its inception. She served locally as a D.A.R.E. officer and has a deep passion for youth and drug prevention issues, thus taking on numerous projects involving families, teens, and children. Serving in the state of Colorado as an Interim and Assistant Chief, Nicola has witnessed the impacts to the youth population with the legalization of marijuana, intertwined with the vulnerability of the teen brain and provided presentations on this topic locally and nationally. Nicola actively seeks research published in this topical field and actively speaks and presents on the area of teens and the impact of marijuana. Dr. Erb currently works as a consultant, educator and reserve police officer in her local mountain community in Colorado.