Biden’s Oct. 6 announcement that he would grant mass pardons for anyone convicted of a federal crime for simply possessing marijuana does not go far enough for protesters, who plan to wear green and gather at 10 a.m.
According to White House officials, Biden’s announcement will not result in anyone being released from prison because there is no one currently in federal prison solely for simple possession of cannabis. The White House has insisted the pardons fulfill a 2020 campaign promise and would apply to about 6,500 people nationwide who received federal convictions for simple possession of marijuana on their records since 1992.
The Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit working on cannabis criminal justice reform that lobbied the White House on this issue, has estimated that there are roughly 2,800 people in federal prison from marijuana-related convictions, a statistic the organization said stems from a 2021 report from Recidiviz, a nonprofit that uses technology and data to build tools for criminal justice reform.
Adam Eidinger, a longtime cannabis activist and co-founder for DC Marijuana Justice, which worked to legalize the drug in the city, said protesters will first rally in the morning by the White House and then will sit in front of the Democratic National Committee headquarters, where some people will smoke marijuana at 4:20 p.m.
“The greatest civil rights tragedy of the modern era is putting people behind bars for cannabis,” Eidinger said. “If we get any kind of interest from the White House, and they are willing to schedule meetings with representatives of those protests, then I imagine that we’ll call off civil disobedience and declare victory.”
Although public perception around marijuana has shifted significantly, organizers worry about the people who were convicted and sentenced before this more widespread acceptance. Marijuana is now legal for recreational adult use in Washington, D.C., two territories and 19 states. It is on the ballot in five more states next month.
Organizers say the country must reckon with the ways harmful policies during the war on drugs disproportionally affected Black and Brown communities, through discriminatory policing practices and marijuana sentencing laws. White entrepreneurs make up most of the legal market as Black people continue to account for a bulk of marijuana-related arrests nationwide.
The protest organizers, including local marijuana advocacy groups, sent a letter to the president requesting he use his executive authority to release at least 100 people federally incarcerated on cannabis-related charges. They argue that there are thousands of people serving long-term prison sentences for activities involving amounts of marijuana “that are far less than what dispensaries routinely handle on a daily basis,” the letter reads.
One of those people is Richardo Ashmeade, who pleaded guilty in November 2008 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana. He was sentenced to nearly 22 years. He is currently incarcerated at a medium-security federal prison in Welch, W.Va. with an expected release date of April 2, 2027.
While incarcerated, he stays in touch with his four children and falls back on a Jamaican saying, where he is from: “You don’t know your strengths, until you don’t have an option but to be strong.”
He gives his daughters relationship advice and tries to be present in their lives — whatever it is they are going through. One daughter is in law school, so he has been studying law as he also fights his case pro se. Another daughter is studying nursing, so he ordered books about the topic to be able to talk with her about her interests.
Ashmeade requested to be released from prison during the coronavirus pandemic, but was denied. In court records filed by the government in opposition to his request for compassionate release, prosecutors included that Ashmeade was an “integral part” of a drug offense that lasted over 7 years and one that included between 3,000 kilograms and 10,000 kilograms of marijuana, the seizure of more than $2,000,000 in cash, multiple foreign bank accounts and properties and the use of a firearm by a co-defendant.
But in the more than 14 years Ashmeade has been incarcerated, he’s followed news coverage of a “thriving cannabis industry that we actually helped create. There are big companies on the stock market … making so much money, more than we ever dreamed of.”
“It seems like a slap in the face, to tell you the truth, for Biden to pardon just for simple possession right before midterm elections just to get some clout. It’s very disheartening and it’s actually a let down,” Ashmeade said. “We feel in here like he has actually forgotten about us, the guys who have received draconian sentences.”
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