This Man Got 55 Years For $1000 Worth Of Cannabis, Now He's Shaking Up Washington DC For Criminal Justice Reform

For years, proponents of cannabis legalization have argued that criminalizing the plant serves no rational purpose.

Weldon Angelos, a prime example of an individual subjected to unjust incarceration for a cannabis offense, agrees.

"If you're in prison for cannabis, it's an injustice, no one should be in jail for cannabis," Angelos told Maureen Meehan, Benzinga cannabis editor and those gathered in Chicago last month at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference.

Angelos was given a 55-year prison sentence at the age of 24 for less than $1,000 worth of cannabis. His case attracted national attention and sparked a broader conversation about the severity of cannabis-related punishments.

He was released from prison in 2016 and did not want to waste time but rather help those who were unfairly sentenced for cannabis possession.

Angelos' Mission

After founding a nonprofit called the Weldon Project, he worked on changing the law, which led to the passing of the First Step Act in 2018.

The measure "took away prosecutors power to send someone like myself away for, you know, the rest of my life for a little bit of cannabis," Angelos explained.

But, to help those still in prison, he launched the Mission Green Initiative with the aim of changing cannabis policies at the federal level.

Over the years, cannabis giants like Verano Holdings Corp. VRNO VRNOF, TerrAscend Corp. TSND TSNDF and Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. CURA CURLF, to name a few, stepped up to support Angelos' mission.

"I'm really happy that the industry is stepping up," the criminal justice reform advocate said. "We can't have a two-tiered system where some people profit from cannabis while we're keeping people in prison to serve decades-long sentences."

After all, there are roughly 2700 people incarcerated in the federal system and tens of thousands more on the state level, still waiting for criminal justice reform.

"In federal prison, you got people right now serving 60 years for a cannabis-only offense," Angelos highlighted.

Congress Is The Biggest Problem

Having experience working with both the Trump and Biden administrations on setting free those unjustly incarcerated for cannabis possession, he identified Congress as the biggest obstacle.

"The president can only do so much with executive orders. Governors can only do so much," Angelos continued. "But it's up to Congress to change this and make it permanent."

To that end, he and his team previously urged Congress members to act on the issue.

"We launched a Republican outreach effort to work with people like (US Sentaros) Mike Lee and Rand Paul that are more sensible when it comes to criminal justice issues and especially cannabis policy," he said, calling on their GOP colleagues to "step up and be consistent and not hypocrites."

Asked about what he recommends to those who want to fight for the cause, he said: "They need to put pressure on their elected officials," he said, adding that it's "the only way because only Congress can fix this problem."

Photo: Courtesy of Benzinga