Out of Jail: Recent Developments for the Veterans of The War on Cannabis

What with all the talk of new medical cannabis markets opening up in South Dakota and Mississippi, not to mention the highly anticipated adult-use opening of New York, it would be easy to forget that cannabis was at one point, you know, illegal across the states at one point. But 40,000 cannabis convicts are still serving time in the United States alone, according to the Last Prisoner Project, a cannabis prisoner advocacy group. In addition, 350,000 people were arrested for cannabis in 2020 alone, mostly in states where it still remains illegal, according to the FBI. Overseas, where cannabis laws are even harsher, such as Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, the death penalty is still applied and even carried out some cannabis offenses as well. (Under the “Kingpin” provision of the Federal Death Penalty Act, even US cannabis cultivators and distributors could presumably be sentenced to death if they were moving over 60,000 plants or kilograms.)

However, the past few years have shone some glimmers of hope for a general end to the War on Drugs, with long-overdue moves to undo its sordid legacy. And while even Biden’s promise to commute the sentences of cannabis prisoners has moved quite slowly since it was last discussed by his press secretary Jen Psaki in September, the cannabis industry has continued to move forward with its own solutions in response

THE PRISON-TO-GROWSITE PIPELINE

In the sere grasslands of California’s Central Valley and the Hudson Valley of New York, cannabis entrepreneurs have reclaimed symbolic territory from the War on Drugs. What was once the Claremont Custody Center in Coalinga, CA is now the epicenter of Evidence, an adult-use cannabis brand founded by reggae music artist Damien Marley and Marley’s manager Dan Dalton. They’ve occupied the 20-acre site since 2016 when Coalinga opened up its zoning to cannabis businesses, clearing out the city’s debt with their purchase. Since then, they’ve made the most of their location with their branding, packaging their cannabis in mock-up evidence bags and making edibles in the penitentiary kitchen.

Roughly 3000 miles away, the cannabis multistate operator Green Thumb Industries has started up its own cannabis cultivation/manufacturing compound at a former medium-security prison in Warwick, NY. Purchased for $3.3 million, Green Thumb is pouring $150 million to refurbish the location. Afterwards, they plan on hiring 100 people. In keeping with their hiring practices at other facilities, Green Thumb is open to hiring people with former records as well.

BREAKING FREE

On Evidence’s website, you’ll see drug war statistics — $3.6 billion to enforce cannabis laws nationwide, $130 billion estimated dollars earned in federal taxes after the first five years of national cannabis legalization — all over the website, as well as the tagline “We grow weed at a prison to help people get out of prison for weed.” To fulfill this part of their mission, Evidence donates a dollar from every product sold to the Last Prisoner Project. In addition to advocating for the release of cannabis prisoners and rehabilitating them, Last Prisoner Project also lobbies newly legal states such as Virginia for cannabis resentencing. They’ve achieved the most visibility for their efforts, most notably from actor/cannabis farmer Jim Belushi, who has promoted their efforts on his reality show Growing Belushi on Discovery.

Coming up behind them is the Weldon Project, an advocacy program started by Weldon Angellos, a drug war prisoner who gained a pardon by President Trump during his final days in office. Through this and the affiliated Mission [Green] Initiative, Weldon also works to release cannabis prisoners, and launched an NFT project with the Black Comics Alliance, the blockchain company Burn1 and Snoop Dogg in January to benefit their company. Along with NORML, the Libertas Institute and several other criminal justice reform nonprofits and cannabis industry associations wrote a letter urging Biden to keep to his campaign promise and free federal cannabis prisoners.

FIRST IN LINE

And finally, former victims of cannabis prohibition ­— or their relatives — will receive first consideration for adult-use retail cannabis licenses when they are awarded in New York. Announced by the Office of Cannabis Management’s Chris Alexander, the policy reverses the usual pecking order in formerly medical adult-use states, where established medical cannabis players get a first crack. Alexander noted, however, that applicants would also need to demonstrate to the state that they could also run successful businesses. However, Alexander believes this will bring many otherwise successful business entrepreneurs: “We’re confident that those people exist.”

For those that make it through the eye of the needle, they’ve got some enviable perks: they can lease business space directly from the state, which eliminates the premium usually tacked onto cannabis businesses by private landlords, as well as ground-floor positioning in a market estimated to be worth $7 billion.