People Still Incarcerated
Due to Marijuana

Although marijuana is now legal and normalized, there are people who are still incarcerated due to marijuana charges. There is an estimate of over 40,000 people in the United States in prison to this day for marijuana. And even people who are not incarcerated but have marijuana charges against them still suffer consequences and their life has drastically changed, such as difficulty in finding a job or getting the help they need to get back on their feet. While thousands are facing ongoing consequences over a substance that is now legal, corporations are making millions of dollars of profit in the cannabis market.

In 1996 medical cannabis became legalized, with California being the first state to legalize it. Now most states have legalized the use and sale of medical marijuana, but that leaves thousands of people with marijuana charges to still be incarcerated. ACLU.org says: that, “[i]n the United States, of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88% were for simply having marijuana.” In Virginia, after the legalization of possession and growth of marijuana had become legal, lawmakers were considering giving resentencing hearings to people who are still incarcerated for certain marijuana charges, but the trials for resentencing didn't come out in the final bill. According to Virginiamercur.com, Louise Lucas says: “[t]hat was urgent to me, because now we’re going to be in a situation where you’ve got people still sitting in jail for the very thing that we’ve already legalized.” In response to this issue not coming out on the bill, they decided to make it to where those caught with less than a pound of weed will be charged with a $25 infraction, and those caught growing anything under 50 plants will also be charged $25 or with a misdemeanor. But while they are making more and more lenient laws now, that still leaves the thousands of people left in jail for past charges.

In 2018, Rudi Gammo was operating a Detroit-sanctioned medical dispensary, and allowed suppliers to grow marijuana plants in his home. He was then arrested for it and is now in prison serving 5 ½ years. That same year, Michigan residents voted to legalize adult-use marijuana, which has now become a multi-billion dollar industry for them. To this day, Rudi Gammo is still in prison and has many people, such as Lastprisonproject.org, helping him fight to be free.

Another man who was failed by the law was Ferrell Scott, an inmate in Pennsylvania. Scott was sentenced in 2008, and just four years after he was sentenced to life in federal prison for the sale of marijuana, he learned that it was becoming legal in two states. He thought that would mean hope for him and the laws would also charge for the people in prison, but today 11 states have made recreational use of weed legal and Scott is now at the age 56, still incarcerated. Usatoday.com reports that “Scott and hundreds of other people of color have been living behind bars, watching businessmen like Kevin Murphy, the CEO of one of the nation's most lucrative marijuana companies, get rich. In the first quarter of this year, his company, Acreage Holdings, reported revenue of $12.9 million.”

In another case, a man named Angelos was arrested on 3 counts of selling marijuana for a total of $900. He was sentenced to 55 years in federal prison. This penalty had many celebrities protesting against his charges. In 2016 he was lucky enough to be set free, as President Obama pardoned him and he was released. He now works in cannabis-related criminal justice. According to Forbes.com, “Angelos’s prison story is particularly striking: In 2002 he was a successful music producer in Utah working with Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur’s recording group.” Angelo was successful and making a career for himself until his arrest. Although the only charge against him was selling an illegal substance and he is now released, he still knows how hard it will be for him to find a job or to start a career after being incarcerated.

People who have a record with marijuana charges are still struggling to find employment. According to Forbes.com, “Prior to the onset of the virus, the unemployment rate in this country was about 3.5 percent, historically low, [h]owever, among those who have records, and that includes drug-related ones, the rate of unemployment was almost 30 percent, which was the highest unemployment rate of any discrete population, including during the Great Depression.” Not only is it hard for former prisoners to adapt to the world once again, many people won't employ them, and without a job it is a huge struggle to try and get back on your feet. Many workplaces won’t see past the fact that what the former inmates have charges for are now legal, they are more focused on the fact that they have a record.

One example is a man named Micheal, who had formally served in the military and had kidney disease. When a nurse at the hospital recommended to him that marijuana could help relieve some of his symptomes, he had a relative ship him weed from a state where it was legal. The package was eventually traced back to Micheal and he was arrested for felony possession. That was in Virginia in 2015, a state where marijuana is now legal. Micheal was working for the federal government and with those charges it was impossible for him to move up with his job. After leaving his job his biggest concern is not being able to find a new job due to background checks. Micheal, along with thousands of Americans who are struggling with the same issues of employment, just ask for their record to be cleared so it can be easier to get employment. It would be easier for people with those charges to go back to their old life, but instead they are looking for a second chance in getting their record cleared.

Overall it is unfair for people to still be incarcerated over a substance that is now legal and making companies billions of dollars.