Signatories include 4-Time Grammy-award winning recording artist Drake, former NBA Star Al Harrington, World Champion Boxer Badou Jack, rapper & activist Killer Mike, Meek Mill, NFL Player Julio Jones, NBA star John Wall, elected officials, law enforcement, and prominent advocates

A live-streamed event with NBA star Al Harrington and others and will be moderated by Politico will air today at 11:00AM PST to discuss the letter and emphasize the call for clemency. Los Angeles, CA and Phoenix, AZ,

September 14, 2021 // -- Weldon Angelos, President of The Weldon Project, an organization dedicated to ending incarceration for cannabis, and Erik Luna, the Amelia D. Lewis Professor of Constitutional & Criminal Law at Arizona State University and Director of the Academy for Justice at ASU’s Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, announced today that they co-wrote and signed a letter to U.S. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. requesting a general pardon to all persons subject to federal criminal or civil enforcement on the basis of a nonviolent marijuana offense.

The letter includes signatures from 150+ artists, athletes, producers, lawmakers, law enforcement officials, academics, business leaders, policy experts, reform advocates, and other professionals, including celebrities like Drake, Killer Mike, Deion Sanders, and Al Harrington. Angelos, Luna, Harrington, and Ralo will also participate in a live-streamed event today and moderated by Politico reporter Mona Zhang, at 11 a.m. Pacific time to discuss the letter and reinforce the case to provide clemency to all federal nonviolent marijuana offenders.

“The harms of incarceration are obvious, but the pains of federal marijuana convictions transcend prison walls, making it more difficult for someone to get a job, access affordable housing, and receive an education. A conviction can forever limit an individual’s constitutional rights and can put the American dream further out of reach for an entire family. Enough is enough. No one should be locked up in federal prison for marijuana,” the letter says, noting that three-quarters of the states have now abandoned the federal government’s blanket criminal ban in favor of safe, regulated legal access to marijuana for adults and/or those with qualifying medical conditions.

The request to U.S. President Biden comes at a time when an overwhelming 68% of U.S. adults support the federal legalization of cannabis, and 1 in 3 Americans live in states where cannabis is legal for adults to use. Yet, more than a half-million individuals are arrested each year for marijuana-related offenses, sometimes with devastating consequences including the possibility of incarceration.

“It’s time for the federal government to say the drug war is over when it comes to marijuana,” said Professor Luna, a two-time Fulbright Award winner whose scholarship often explores the criminalization of victimless crimes. “With the stroke of a pen, President Biden can help end the national criminal prohibition of marijuana, a crude policy that has wrought havoc for nearly a century.”

The Weldon Project is named after Weldon Angelos who was an up-and-coming musician when he was sentenced to a 55-year prison term in 2003 for selling less than $1,000 dollars’ worth of cannabis. Federal prison and sentencing laws for drug crimes carry mandatory minimums, even for first-time offenders like Angelos, that are often stiffer than state laws. Angelos was eventually released from prison in 2016 after serving 13 years of his term. After being released, he founded the Weldon Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and launched the Mission Green, an initiative dedicated to securing clemency for those currently incarcerated for cannabis and create pathways to expungements or pardons so that they may go on to live meaningful lives.

The letter to President Biden emphasizes that a full pardon of federal marijuana offenders is consistent with the U.S. Constitution and past practices of presidents from both political parties.

“In 1974, President Ford established a program of conditional clemency for Selective Service Act violators. In 1977, President Carter issued a categorical pardon to all Selective Service Act violators, closing the book on a costly and painful war. President Biden has the power to do the same for the federal war on marijuana. Through his act of constitutional grace, a general clemency will send a clear and powerful message that our country is truly taking a new course on criminal justice policy and practice.”

In December of 2020, Angelos was fully pardoned by the president.

“When Biden ran for president, he promised to take action and use the pardon power of the presidency to release those serving prison time for marijuana and pardon their felony convictions,” said Angelos. “At a time when dispensaries are as prevalent as liquor stores in some states, it is time for President Biden to now make good on that promise.”

The stories of those who this would help are compelling. For instance, Drake, Lil Baby, Meek Mill, Killer Mike, and dozens of other hip-hop artists signed on the letter in support of their friend and fellow rapper Ralo, who is facing 8 years for a nonviolent marijuana offense. “I appreciate my friends and peers in the hip-hop community, such as Drake & Killer Mike, for supporting my clemency because it’s just not right that corporations are allowed to violate federal law and become millionaires while people like myself go to prison for years,” Ralo said. “This is hypocrisy. But I am hopeful that Joe Biden will honor his campaign promise and grant us clemency, without delay, so that we can return home to our families and communities.”

Luke Scarmazzo is currently serving 22 years for operating a state compliant medical marijuana dispensary in Modesto, CA. “I was sentenced to 22 years in prison for operating a state legal medical marijuana business. I've served 14 years of that sentence. The letter delivered to President Biden today demonstrates that the public no longer supports these incarcerations,” Luke said. “And I pray the President fulfills his campaign promise of releasing cannabis prisoners and expunging our records. The country is urging him to act.”

The full text of the letter can be accessed at https://cannabisclemencynow.org

About The Weldon Project

THE WELDON PROJECT is dedicated to funding social change and financial aid for those who are still serving prison time for cannabis-related offenses. Through extensive partnerships throughout the legal Cannabis industry, THE WELDON PROJECT launched the MISSION [GREEN] initiative to raise the bar for awareness, social justice, and social equity by providing unique ways for cannabis businesses and consumers to participate in a nationwide campaign aimed to provide relief to those who have been negatively impacted by prohibition. For more information, visit https://www.theweldonproject.org/.

About the Academy for Justice

The Academy for Justice (A4J) is a diverse team of reform-minded scholars from a number of different institutions who believe that knowledge is the most important tool to address the array of problems confronting the American criminal justice system. A4J’s experts come from different backgrounds, and each of brings different perspectives, experiences, and methodologies to bear on criminal justice reform work. As a scholarly collective, A4J’s approach to criminal justice reform is interdisciplinary, pragmatic, and non-partisan. The shared mission is to bridge the gap between academia and on-the-ground criminal justice reform by making scholarly research and ideas accessible to policymakers, stakeholders, journalists, and the public. For more information visit http://academyforjustice.org/.

Media Contact

Weldon Angelos President– The Weldon Project wangelos001@gmail.com

Jennifer Jost Communications Manager – Academy for Justice jennifer.leigh.willis@asu.edu

Alison Guernsey, a law professor specializing in federal criminal defense, reported today on the sad fate of Jaime Benavides, who:

“was 49-years old when he died of COVID in @OfficialFBOP custody on April 4. Mr. Benavides had started his 30-month sentence for a marijuana trafficking on August 13, 2019. At the time of death, he had served 20 months of that sentence, w/ only ~6 remaining. The last 4 months of life must've been difficult. Mr. Benavides was first diagnosed w/ COVID on 12/18; was considered "recovered" on 12/28; and yet was hospitalized on 3/25 as his "condition worsened." He is the 11th person the BOP listed as recovered, only to watch die.”

According to the Department of Justice, Benavides was a resident of Hebbronville, Texas, when he:

“…attempted to drive a tan Chevrolet pick-up truck through the Border Patrol Checkpoint near Hebbronville. Upon arrival, a K-9 alerted to the possible presence of concealed narcotics in the truck. Authorities conducted an X-ray examination which revealed anomalies in the truck’s diesel tank. They found a hidden trap door connecting the toolbox to the diesel tank which resulted in the discovery of nine bundles of marijuana.

The drugs had a total weight of  weighing 58.5 kilograms with an estimated street value of $48,000.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an intolerable situation vis-a-vis non-violent marijuana offenders in federal prison. Those who have already been infected are at risk for re-infection or serious long term effects, and the probability of immunocompromised individuals in prison developing more dangerous mutations that evade even vaccine immunities is significant.

We continue to call on President Biden to offer relief to individuals like Mr. Benavides by creating a systematic clemency initiative to release all non-violent federal marijuana offenders.

President Joe BIden has long recognized that “too many people are incarcerated in the United States – and too many of them are black and brown”. Following the protests - both peaceful and violent - that erupted after the death of George Floyd, Biden said in May 2020 that “These last few days have laid bare that we are a nation furious at injustice. Every person of conscience can understand the rawness of the trauma people of color experience in this country, from the daily indignities to the extreme violence, like the horrific killing of George Floyd. Protesting such brutality is right and necessary. It’s an utterly American response. But burning down communities and needless destruction is not. Violence that endangers lives is not. Violence that guts and shutters businesses that serve the community is not.”

The Presidential pardon power was expressly created with the idea that the President can uniquely bring healing to a divided nation and quell the fury of those who may go beyond civil protest. In the Federalist 74, Alexander Hamilton said, ““... [I]n seasons of insurrection or rebellion, there are often critical moments, when a well-timed offer of pardon...may restore the tranquility of the commonwealth; and which, if suffered to pass unimproved, it may never be possible afterwards to recall.”

The history of the American Presidency is replete with examples of the pardon power being used for these ends. About a third of our Presidents, dating back to the beginning of our Republic, have used systematic pardons. Presidents Washington, Adams, Madison, & Buchanan pardoned participants in various rebellions and insurrections; Jefferson pardoned those convicted under the Alien and Sedition Acts; Lincoln & Johnson granted amnesty to former Confederates; Harrison & Cleveland pardoned bigamists of the Mormon Church; Theodore Roosevelt pardoned participants in the Phillippine insurrection; Wilson & Franklin Roosevelt pardoned thousands of alcohol felons; Coolidge pardoned military deserters in WWI; Truman pardoned convicts who served in the armed forces; Kennedy pardoned drug offenders sentenced to mandatory minimums; Ford & Carter pardoned violators of the Selective Service Act.

At this time in history, with states sanctioning legal marijuana commerce, and investors, corporations, and others becoming enriched by an industry while thousands are still serving time for marijuana possession, only President Biden can bring justice and healing for the nation by the use of a systematic pardon program for Americans who are or have been incarcerated for marijuana offenses.

Cooper, 41, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility for parole in 2014 for his participation in a conspiracy to distribute marijuana — his third strike — and had been serving his sentence at a federal prison in Louisiana.

But his prospects for an early release improved in 2017 when changes in California’s law reduced both of his prior drug convictions from felonies to misdemeanors.

Cooper was one of more than a dozen people whose sentences for crimes related to marijuana were commuted by President Donald Trump during his final days in office.

See his video here.

On December 22nd, 2020, United States President Donald J. Trump pardoned Weldon Angelos. In a statement, the White House said:

Today, President Trump granted a full pardon to Weldon Angelos.  Mr. Angelos’ pardon is supported by Senator Mike Lee, Senator Rand Paul, Alice Johnson, former U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman, and others.

Mr. Angelos is an active criminal justice reform advocate and champion of giving second chances. Because of mandatory minimums, Mr. Angelos was sentenced in 2002 to 55 years’ imprisonment for selling marijuana and carrying a handgun in the course of dealing.  The presiding judge called this excessive sentence “unjust and cruel and even irrational.”

Mr. Angelos was eventually released by judicial order after serving 13 years in prison, and committed to changing the world for the better through criminal justice reform advocacy. His story has been cited as an inspiration for sentencing reform, including the First Step Act, and he participated in a Prison Reform Summit at the White House in 2018.  In his own words, Mr. Angelos wants “to become whole again and put the bad choices in the past and continue changing the world for the better.”

Rep. Bass Enters Firsthand Account Of COVID In Prison Into Hearing Record

December 2, 2020

Press Release

WASHINGON - Today, Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), Chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime entered the following testimony from Donte Westmoreland into the record of the subcommittee's oversite hearing on the Bureau of Prisons.

"Chairwoman Bass, Ranking Member Jordan, and Members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime:

"My name is Donte Westmoreland.  Six weeks ago, I was sitting in a cell at the Lansing Correctional Facility in Kansas, serving nearly an 8-year sentence for allegedly selling (1pound) of marijuana. I received this very lengthy sentence even though I had a no criminal history score. . Fortunately, after serving nearly 4 years of my sentence, it came to light that prosecutors had concealed exculpatory evidence and my conviction was overturned.

"I grew up in Stockton, California where I was raised by my grandmother. My mother had many challenges of her own which put me in position to be the sole supporter for our family. It was difficult maintaining a household financially I had my two younger brothers and my grandmother was receiving public assistance at the time. I focused mostly on being a caregiver for my grandmother, I was an athlete in high school and graduated in 2013. My dream was to keep moving forward with my education, but I knew that was unlikely given the circumstances of my situation. My grandmother encouraged me to visit colleges she would say,’’ There is more to life than just taking care of me, experience life you only have one’’. I knew deep down that was not possible, but it encouraged me to visit universities across the states, including Kansas.

"This was interrupted by my arrest on March 8, 2016. I chose to take this case to jury trial because I felt I was not guilty of the crime in addition I was forced to go to trial with sick unprepared counsel. Right before my trial, my grandmother, the woman that raised me, suffered extreme distress. She ended up passing away during the trial and my 10 and 11-year-old brothers were placed in the foster care system, where they remain today. And on May 22, 2017, I was sentenced to serve nearly an 8-year prison term which was ironically my youngest brother's birthday.

"There have been a few moments that really brought everything home for me. One came while I was watching TV in prison and saw a news story saying that Missouri, the state right next to me, had legalized medical cannabis and was issuing licenses for cultivators and retailers and talked about billions of dollars of wealth that was going to be generated by the legal industry. But there I was sitting in prison for allegedly doing the same thing. What was criminal in Kansas was considered entrepreneurial in the bordering state of Missouri.

"Another moment I can never forget came when I learned that COVID had infected other prisoners and guards in the prison I was incarcerated in. I did all I possibly could to protect myself, but that’s difficult when you have no control over the people who are housed with you, and you have no control over the air you breath and limited access to personal protective gear. It’s really terrifying, just waiting and hoping you don’t get it. In the end, despite my best efforts I became infected with the virus. At the moment I felt as if I was sentenced to death for a first-time marijuana offense. I recovered, but five prisoners and two guards that were in the same facility died from COVID.

"I knew some of them personally-- here today, gone tomorrow.  I honestly did not know what my future held at that point.

"My charges are still pending. It is still possible that I could be returned to prison to serve out my nearly 8-year sentence, if prosecutors in Kansas choose to put me on trial again, but I’ve been encouraged lately. I’ve been encouraged that the citizens of all five states that had cannabis reform initiatives on the ballot decided to approve those measures, including in conservative states like North Dakota and Mississippi. I have also been encouraged by the Biden Administration's announcement that they intend to make federal cannabis reform a priority. And I’m really encouraged to have been invited to submit this written testimony to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime.

"My story is not unique. Today 40,000 people are serving prison sentences for non-violent cannabis convictions, even though cannabis has been completely legalized in ten states and made legal for medical purposes in a large majority of states. These prisoners are disproportionately people of color, who are four times more likely to be arrested on cannabis charges than are white people. Sometimes they were traveling from a state where their possession of cannabis would have been legal or just a minor offense but had the bad luck of being pulled over in one of the states that still has not passed reform legislation, as was the case with my arrest. Today, I am trying to rebuild my life and avoid being sent back to prison in Kansas. I cannot get time back, but I can make the most of the time I have now. I very much hope that this subcommittee and Congress will take whatever steps are necessary to make sure that in the future nobody else has the kind of experience that I had.

"Thank you for the opportunity to share my story."

We are also glad to see coverage of this testimony from Marijuana Moment.

On December 2, 2020, the American Medical Association sent a letter to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, both of California, opposing the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act (HR 3884) and in support of the US Senate bill the Cannabidiol and Marihuana Research Expansion Act, stating:

It is the AMA’s position that cannabis is a dangerous drug and as such is a serious public health concern. We oppose legalizing the sale of cannabis for adult use and support stronger public health messaging on the health effects of cannabis and cannabinoid inhalation and ingestion. AMA policy opposes state-based legalization of cannabis for medical use and supports the traditional federal drug approval process for assessing the safety and efficacy of cannabis-based products for medical use. The AMA is especially concerned about the consequences of its use, particularly in high-risk populations such as youth, pregnant women, and women who are breastfeeding. With respect to criminal penalties, the AMA believes that public health-based strategies, rather than incarceration, should be utilized in the handling of individuals possessing cannabis for personal use. In order to promote public health and safety, research on the impact of cannabis legalization and decriminalization also is encouraged and information derived from such activities should be widely disseminated. At its recent November House of Delegates policymaking meeting, the AMA adopted new policy calling for a study on the expungement, destruction, and sealing of criminal records for legal offenses related to cannabis use or possession.

The AMA is very concerned with the growing public support and legislative efforts at all levels of government to legalize marijuana and the medical use of cannabis. This has resulted in many individuals using marijuana-derived products that have not been approved by the FDA. This seems to be the reverse of what a safe and effective medical marijuana framework should be. The AMA believes that scientifically valid and well-controlled clinical trials conducted under federal investigational new drug applications are necessary to assess the safety and effectiveness of all new drugs, including potential cannabis products for medical use. Cannabis and its compounds, in particular CBD, has been found to have some therapeutic benefits. However, legal and regulatory barriers to cannabis and cannabinoid research have left physicians and patients without the evidence needed to understand the health effects of these products and make sound clinical decisions regarding their use.

Accordingly, the AMA believes the focus of federal efforts first should be on removing such barriers to research. We support adequate and well-controlled studies of marijuana and related cannabinoids in patients who have serious conditions for which preclinical, anecdotal, or controlled evidence suggests possible efficacy and the application of such results to the understanding and treatment of disease. We urge the House of Representatives to facilitate and support such research, as S. 2032 would do, rather than legalizing cannabis now.

While we are glad the American Medical Association supports research into marijuana as a drug, we are more grateful to see that they support a public health approach to marijuana possession offenders.

A recently published report from Impact/Justice “Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison” tells us that:

A person sentenced to prison in the United States serves three years on average. That’s more than 3,000 meals behind bars (far more for people serving longer sentences), all typically high in salt, sugar, and refined carbohydrates and low in essential nutrients—a diet that for decades everyone else has been advised to avoid. The food itself and the conditions under which it is served are harmful to physical and mental health and can erode self-esteem, with immediate and long-term impacts.

The damaging and degrading prison food experience is a symptom of a larger systemic malady: our dependence on a dehumanizing criminal justice system to address harm. Like every other aspect of mass incarceration, this is an issue of racial and economic injustice: Lower-income communities of color, where affordable healthy food is scarce, disproportionately lose members to prison and then struggle to support them when they return home in worse health. In this way, prisons function as out-of-sight food deserts, perpetuating patterns of poor health in communities that already experience profound inequities.

Certainly it would be within the purview of the American Medical Association to address the pervasive harms of incarceration, including those of malnutrition, lack of access to medical care, and other issues faced by offenders whose only crime is possession or distribution of marijuana. We urge The American Medical Association to call for the release and pardon or expungement of offenses from non-violent marijuana criminals — a step that is only possible by passing the MORE Act.

Last Friday a federal marijuana reform bill, the MORE Act, was passed by the US House of Representatives.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis here noting:

H.R. 3884 would federally decriminalize cannabis (marijuana), expunge the records of people convicted of federal cannabis offenses, and require resentencing of some federal prisoners. As a result, CBO estimates, thousands of current inmates would be released earlier than under current law. In the future, decriminalization also would reduce the number of people in federal prisons and the amount of time federal inmates serve. In total, over the 2021-2030 period, CBO estimates that H.R. 3884 would reduce time served by 73,000 person-years, among existing and future inmates. CBO's analysis accounts for time served by offenders convicted of cannabis-only crimes and by those convicted of another crime in addition to a cannabis offense.

Federal prisoners generally are not eligible for federal benefit programs. By reducing the prison population, CBO estimates, H.R. 3884 would increase the number of federal beneficiaries, compared with current law, and thus increase direct spending for federal benefit programs by $636 million over the 2021-2030 period.

CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation estimate that H.R. 3884 would increase revenues, on net, by about $13.7 billion over the 2021-2030 period by creating business income, compliance, and occupational taxes; those increases would be partially offset by allowing certain deductions for business expenses associated with trafficking controlled substances.

H.R. 3884 also would impose an excise tax on cannabis products manufactured or imported into the United States, which would be deposited into the Opportunity Trust Fund established by the act. CBO estimates that the Department of Justice would spend about $3.0 billion from the fund over the same period to provide job training and legal aid, among other services, to people harmed by the "war on drugs." The Small Business Administration would spend about $2.7 billion over the ten- year period for state and local grants to make loans to cannabis-related small businesses that operate in the cannabis industry and help governments develop cannabis-licensing rules.

Finally, the act would reduce the Bureau of Prisons' costs to house inmates by reducing both the number of inmates in federal facilities and the aggregate time they serve. CBO estimates that provision would result in net savings of about $1 billion over the 2021-2030 period, assuming appropriation actions consistent with anticipated changes in prison populations.

Yesterday Professor Doug Berman at Sentencing Law & Policy noted that:

In 2013, the federal prison population reach a peak of around 220,000 total prisoners.  As we close out 2020, the latest BOP numbers at this webpage report "Total Federal Inmates" at only 154,125.  A 30% decline in the federal prison poplation in less than a decade strikes me as something to be thankful for, and the last time the federal prison population was this low was way back in the year 2000.  (That said, any celebration of positive federal carceral trends should be tempered the fact that BOP still reports that more than 30,000 federal prisoners are over age 50, and that nearly 50% of persons in federal prison are servng time for drug offenses despite widespread acknowledgement of the many failings of the war on drugs.)

While we don’t have a good estimate of the number of federal prisoners incarcerated for nonviolent marijuana offenses, we’ve heard estimates as high as 15,000. In 2017, US Senator Cory Booker noted that there were 17,000 federal offenders serving time for non-violent drug offenses, including DOJ data from 2012 indicating there were roughly 11,500 nonviolent marijuana offenders.

Signatories include Grammy-award winning singer NBA champion Kevin Garnett, music industry executive Jason Flom, movie producer Scott Budnick, former Governor Gary Johnson, Koch Industries Executive Mark Holden, rapper Baby Bash, fashion model Jeremy Meeks, and recent clemency recipient Alice Johnson

Los Angeles, CA – November 25, 2020 – Today, the Weldon Project’s Mission Green Initiative, cofounded by former music producer and criminal justice reform advocate Weldon Angelos, in partnership with the CAN-DO Foundation, announced that it organized and submitted a celebrity endorsed letter to President Trump calling for the release of those serving prison time for non-violent cannabis-related offenses. The letter includes of list of roughly 25 individuals, many of whom are serving prison sentences for following state law or running state compliant medical cannabis dispensaries.

Among those who signed Angelos’ letter are NBA champion Kevin Garnett, music industry executive Jason Flom, movie producer Scott Budnick, a former United States Attorney, former Governor Gary Johnson, fashion model Jeremy Meeks, and recent clemency recipient Alice Johnson, whose sentence was commuted by President Trump in 2018 at the behest of Kim Kardashian West.

“Our nation’s view of cannabis has evolved, and it is indefensible to incarcerate citizens based on the unduly harsh attitudes of past generations,” the letter states.

“You and you alone have the power to call out a grand hypocrisy of prior administrations. While cannabis became a thriving, legal market and enriched many, your predecessors ignored the people who were—and are—serving long federal terms for doing the same thing.”

Weldon Angelos, who helped organize the letter, stated: “It’s ridiculous that we currently have a billionaire in the cannabis industry, yet we are keeping select individuals in prison for doing the exact same thing. This is just another example of a wasteful and destructive criminal justice system. I firmly believe President Trump will strongly consider fixing some of the most egregious sentences that we have brought to his attention. He’s the first president on modern history to commute a number of sentences in his first few years in office. Traditionally, pardons and commutations happen at the end of a presidency, and so this pattern gives us some comfort that we will get justice for some of them.”

You can download the full letter here.

For More Information:

Weldon Angelos President, The Weldon Project wangelos001@gmail.com

Amy Povah CAN-DO Foundation amypovah@gmail.com

Further coverage from Marijuana Moment here.