'My Criminality Still Stands,' Pot Prisoner Speaks Out Amid Booming Legal Weed Sales And Biden's 'No One Should Be In Jail' Refrain

The Last Prisoner Project (LPP), a nonprofit dedicated to gaining the release of people incarcerated due to the War on Drugs, is preparing to exert public pressure on Congress and the President to legalize cannabis. 

The organization will be mobilizing a large bi-partisan coalition of US cannabis advocacy, industry and grassroots organizations to lobby in Washington DC on April 18 for 420 Unity Day of action to push lawmakers for reform, to free those still incarcerated and to provide retroactive relief. 

The announcement comes on the heels of President Biden’s recent State of the Union speech, during which he reiterated that no one should be incarcerated for possessing cannabis. This topic will surely be discussed in depth at the upcoming Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Florida on April 16 and 17, 2024. 

In 2023, Biden announced he was pardoning thousands of people convicted for the use and/or simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in DC. The pardons included offenses related to "use and possession on certain Federal lands," provisions that were not covered by Biden’s October 2022 pardon of some 6,500 federal cannabis prisoners.

Pardons are meant to remove barriers to housing, employment and educational opportunities, though they don't expunge criminal records, nor remove anyone from prison for that matter. 

This means that even though 24 states and DC have legalized adult-use sales and that President Biden has said on various occasion that no one should be in jail for possessing or using cannabis, tens of thousands of people remain in state and federal prisons. 

 The Case Of Edwin Rubis 

Edwin Rubis has been in prison for a non-violent marijuana crime since 1998. His release date is 2031. Rubis, a Last Prisoner Project's constituent, recently sent a moving letter to the organization. 

 "It’s been twenty-six years in the making, or let’s say the unmaking of a life I once had," Rubis wrote. "The only friend remaining is this pen and paper. In writing I find comfort. Not out of boredom but to briefly escape the repugnant, shackled way of life I am constrained to live in day in and day out, and to be able to cope with the effects of time-stand-still in an environment governed by mandated orders from my captors. I wish I wasn’t here. But I am."

Rubis also opened up about how he's been coping with this dark reality by using his imagination and dreaming about just jumping in a vehicle, driving and hearing the wind flapping. 

"I dream of an open flame in front of a stove ready to boil water, prepping vegetables and chopping them with a stainless-steel knife, chicken breast on the kitchen top, or for that matter, a steak ready to go on a frying pan to saute, slowly prepping it to my liking. Funny, how imprisonment compels you to miss the simple things in life."

He says that many other prisoners around him try to block out the world to avoid the "incessant longing for their loved ones, and the world they left behind." For Rubis, remembering all the joyful memories is what keeps him sane. "It’s what deters me from allowing this traumatic institutional life to engulf me into its punishing and routinizing effects – trying to make me forget what it feels to be free; this prison experience which slowly gnaws away at my dignity like water droplets slowly dripping on the same spot until it bores a hole to drive a hateful nailing thought of ‘This is your world. Nothing more.'”

Rubis is revolting, he says, and asking, "Where are the decision-makers who see the cruelty of my situation, the harshness of my penance, the brutality of my sentence as unfair and willing to do something about it? Ironically, my criminality still stands even though half the nation is gladly profiting from the same product I am chained for what seems like an eternity."

Despite all this, he’s not giving up. "Nothing will drown me. I believe there’s a good ending to this life story. There has to be." 

Anyone can help release Edwin from prison by donating to his family's fundraiser. 

Increasing Efforts To Effect Change 

The Last Prisoner Project (LPP) is not giving up either. Just last week, the organization sent a letter urging the President to release more than 150 Last Prisoner Project constituents who are currently incarcerated for nonviolent, cannabis-related federal convictions. All of them could easily be released by President Biden with a simple stroke of a pen, should he choose to act, notes the LPP. 

The letter underscores both the hypocrisy and injustice of our nation’s failed approach to cannabis law enforcement. While some (disproportionately Black, brown, and/or low-income) citizens are being criminalized, others (disproportionately white, wealthy, and well-connected) citizens are earning millions of dollars running state-regulated cannabis companies. “This must end," writes the LPP.

Thie LPP is not alone. This week, 36 Congress members urged Biden to grant clemency to people serving time in federal prisons for nonviolent marijuana offenses. The Wednesday move was led by Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chairs Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR).

“The continued incarceration of these individuals continues the racist legacy of the War on Drugs, contradicts the current societal and legal trends regarding marijuana, and represents an unnecessary burden on our morals and justice system,” the letter to Biden says. "Until the day Congress sends you a marijuana reform bill to sign, you have a unique ability to lead on criminal justice reform and provide immediate relief to thousands of Americans,”

See Also: Weed Could Be Biden's Ace Up The Sleeve Against Trump If He Would Fulfill His Campaign Promises

The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference is returning to Florida, in a new venue in Hollywood, on April 16 and 17, 2024. The two-day event at The Diplomat Beach Resort will be a chance for entrepreneurs, both large and small, to network, learn and grow. Renowned for its trendsetting abilities and influence on the future of cannabis, mark your calendars – this conference is the go-to event of the year for the cannabis world. Get your tickets now on bzcannabis.com – Prices will increase very soon!

Photo: Courtesy of sakhorn via Shutterstock