Zahra Abbas: A Life of Advocacy, Courage and Community

Remembering Zahra Abbas, a fierce epilepsy and cannabis advocate whose courage, faith, and commitment to her community left a lasting mark on Michigan. Her story is one of resilience, patient advocacy, and turning personal struggle into a mission to help others

AMC - Rooted Michigan Journalist

8/13/20265 min read

Zahra Abbas: A Life of Advocacy, Courage and Community

Some people leave behind a legacy. Others leave behind a movement.

Zahra Abbas did both.

Zahra was a fierce advocate, a devoted Muslim, an Arab American woman, an epilepsy warrior, a cannabis patient and a political activist who spent her life turning her own struggles into a reason to fight for other people.

She was only 35 years old when she passed away on July 28, 2022. But in those 35 years, she made an impact that reached far beyond any single community.

From Patient to Advocate

Zahra lived with severe, drug-resistant epilepsy from a young age. Her condition brought years of seizures, hospitalizations, medications, broken bones, brain surgery and other treatments that failed to give her the quality of life she wanted.

Then, at 28, Zahra decided to try cannabis.

For someone who was deeply committed to her Muslim faith, that decision was not something she made casually. But after conventional treatments had failed her, she was willing to explore another option.

Cannabis changed her life.

According to accounts from Zahra and those who knew her, she experienced dramatic seizure relief after beginning cannabis treatment. At one point, she went years without experiencing a seizure.

For Zahra, this wasn’t about politics. It was about being a patient who had finally found something that worked.

And that experience changed the direction of her life.

Instead of keeping her story to herself, Zahra began speaking publicly about what cannabis had done for her and advocating for other patients who deserved access to the same choices.

She helped gather signatures for Michigan’s 2018 cannabis legalization initiative and became an important voice in Michigan’s emerging cannabis movement.

She Became a Leader

Zahra’s advocacy didn’t stop with cannabis.

She became involved with the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan and worked to raise awareness about epilepsy and the challenges faced by people living with disabilities and chronic illness.

She also became involved in Michigan politics, eventually becoming chair of the Cannabis Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party. She served as a DNC delegate and participated in organizations including the Young Democrats of Michigan and Motor City NORML / Michigan NORML.

She was a woman who refused to be defined by the limitations placed on her.

Instead, she used her experiences to advocate for change.

The Michigan Democratic Party later honored Zahra with a resolution recognizing her life and service to the community. The resolution described her commitment to advocacy and her refusal to allow epilepsy to prevent her from participating in the causes she believed in.

That determination was one of the defining characteristics of Zahra’s life.

A Voice for Patients

What makes Zahra’s cannabis advocacy particularly meaningful is that she approached the issue from the perspective of a patient.

She knew what it was like to need medicine and not have adequate options.

She knew what it was like to live with a condition that other people couldn’t see.

And she knew what it meant to have decisions about your own health controlled by systems that didn’t always understand your experience.

Her advocacy was rooted in personal experience, but it was never limited to herself.

She believed that people living with epilepsy and other serious conditions deserved the ability to explore treatments that might improve their lives.

That belief helped make her an important voice during a pivotal period in Michigan cannabis history.

In April 2018, Zahra appeared before Michigan’s Medical Marihuana Review Panel and spoke about her experience using cannabis for epilepsy. Her testimony became part of the official state record.

She wasn’t simply talking about cannabis policy.

She was talking about her life.

And she was using that life experience to help shape policy for others.

Breaking Barriers

Zahra’s advocacy was also significant because of the communities she represented.

She was a Muslim woman and an Arab American who became a leader in Michigan’s political and cannabis communities.

She was recognized as Michigan’s first Arab American Muslim DNC member/delegate.

That representation mattered.

Zahra was able to bring perspectives into rooms where they weren’t always represented—whether those rooms were political, medical, disability advocacy or cannabis spaces.

She didn’t separate her identities from her activism.

Her faith, her culture, her experience with epilepsy and her experience as a cannabis patient were all part of the person she brought into her advocacy.

And she used that perspective to build connections rather than divisions.

Remembered on the Floor of Congress

When Zahra died in 2022, her loss was felt throughout Michigan’s advocacy communities.

The very next day, July 29, U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib rose on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to honor her.

Tlaib described Zahra as “brilliant, compassionate, and full of love for community.”

She spoke about Zahra’s battle with epilepsy, her experience with cannabis and her dedication to helping others. She specifically recognized Zahra’s leadership as chair of the Michigan Democratic Party Cannabis Caucus and her work advocating for healthcare and alternative approaches.

Tlaib’s tribute was a remarkable recognition of the impact Zahra had made in such a short life.

At a Michigan memorial gathering, Tlaib described her as an “incredible warrior” and spoke about the love Zahra carried for her community.

Those words reflected what so many people who knew Zahra understood.

She didn’t just participate in causes.

She gave them everything she had.

Her Advocacy Continues

Zahra’s life ended far too soon, but her work did not.

The epilepsy community continues to honor her memory, including through programs designed to support and empower young adults living with epilepsy.

Her name also remains part of Michigan’s cannabis history—a time when patients and advocates were fighting to change laws that would ultimately reshape the state.

And today, Michigan’s cannabis community remembers Zahra in another way: the annual Bridgewalk that now carries her name.

The Bridgewalk is only one part of her story, though.

The greater legacy of Zahra Abbas is found in the people she inspired, the patients she advocated for and the barriers she challenged.

She showed what can happen when someone takes the hardest parts of their own life and turns them into a reason to help others.

She could have allowed epilepsy to define her.

Instead, she became an advocate.

She could have kept quiet about what cannabis did for her.

Instead, she spoke.

She could have accepted the limitations placed in front of her.

Instead, she challenged them.

And she could have focused only on herself.

Instead, she spent her life building a better path for the people who would come after her.

Zahra Abbas was a patient who became an advocate, an advocate who became a leader, and a leader whose voice continues to be heard long after her passing.

Her life was short. Her impact was not.

Sources & Further Reading