Peter Graca

Peter was born in Denver, Colorado to a family of immigrants. Growing up in and around the city, he eventually attended the University of Colorado–Boulder, where he studied mathematics, economics, and philosophy. One late night in the dorms, he realized how guilty he felt about his sedentary tendencies. Within a week and with no prior athletic experience, he walked onto the university’s rowing team. It turned out to be a significant life choice–years later, Peter finished school as a first-generation college graduate, four-year rower, ACRA, Academic All-American, and men’s team captain.

While in college, Peter worked as an math tutor and research assistant in development economics, eventually securing his first real job as a Market Research Assistant in the oil and gas industry. Although the money was there, he felt new approaches were undervalued and most novel problems had been solved years (or even decades) ago. Starting as an intern, Peter eventually came on full time at DRC as their in-house Analyst. His job blends policy, markets, statistics, and academic writing together, working to provide good research as cannabis transitions from a movement to a market. That transition is still ongoing, so cannabis has a number of big, open economic questions-until they have consensus or prescribed answers, business decisions will require integrated knowledge and unique perspectives, which he hopes to bring. He is eager to contribute to the DRC team further.