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Steve DeAngelo, Father of the Cannabis Industry

Written by texashempreporter on . Posted in CBD News & Business.

Texas Hemp Reporter: It is quite an honor to speak with you Steve. Most interviewers would ask this kind of a question toward the close, I’ll flip the coin. What is the future of cannabis?

Steve: The future of hemp is to become the most profitable cash crop on Earth. Dollar per dollar volume cannabis will begin to outsell actually any other single product. Here’s some statistics, since legalization in California alcohol use is down by 25%.. in most areas where legalization has occurred alcohol use reduction is between 15 and 20%. And I should mention Pabst Blue Ribbon has come out with a non-alcohol hemp tonic.

So many products can be replaced with hemp-based ones that are equal in price or cheaper to construct. If you press hemp seeds you get a wonderful emerald thick liquid that is bio-fuel for diesel engines. If you mix hemp seed oil with 10% ethanol, also derivable from hemp, you have a perfect bio-fuel for any diesel engine. Grind hemp seeds up you get hemp milk, a delicious beverage to put in your coffee or granola. Take a truck. Some of the truck’s body could be made from plastic from hemp oil, the engine could run on hemp diesel, the boxes the truck carries could be hemp fiber, the socks and shoes of the driver could be hemp..

Hemp is the toughest fiber, much tougher than cotton. They found wills and bequests from the middle ages where people would bequeath their hemp linens to new generations because they don’t wear out. The Levi

company has come out with jeans that are 30% hemp. That’s because they see that hemp is eco-friendly and sustainable. Using hemp paper and for furniture we could eliminate the need to cut down trees. Hemp wood is 20% stronger than oak and 100 times faster to grow.

There’s something like 25,000 products that are hemp-derived.

Texas Hemp Reporter:  You’ve co-founded or founded about ten businesses and organizations. Are you a counter-cultural hero?

Steve: I don’t think it is very heroic for someone to refer to themselves as a hero. I think that I am very lucky to have seen the light at a young age and to have the skills to organize things. I love to found, I love to get a business going then as it grows and others can manage it I move onto to something new. As far as the counter culture is concerned.. look the hippies gave us the personal computer right? The hippies gave us organic food to eat, the hippes gave us the electric car, introduced the west to yoga.

Texas Hemp Reporter: I personally believe there is a strong subculture surrounding the whole CBD thing, and medical marijuana. Do you think we can tap into this culture to make the industry more compassionate? To “love the plant” as you say?

Steve: Yeah. I believe so. Look we better, we’re destroying this planet real fast, we as consumers have a mission and we better act on it. I didn’t start

out to create a new industry but a new kind of industry. As with our Last Prisoner Project I approached the industry for support and they came through. In only a year and a half we have seen the release of thousands around the world, some due to Covid 19 petitions. Michael Thompson was released after serving 24 years of a minimum 40-years sentence. He was the longest serving non-violent prisoner  of Michigan. All for selling 3 pounds of marijuana.

Also we hope to widen the investment in new licensees, as with Arc-view. We are interested as much in how not to invest.. there is a large disproportion of new cannabis licenses in disadvantaged communities. We have to see black and brown people thriving in an industry they had a lot to do with founding. We need to find out how to support, create capital flow, sustain, educate and see those people grow.

Texas Hemp Reporter: I have been studying some of your writings. From your website, “A Lesson From Another Teacher” it is exciting because you’re talking about medical psychedelics.

Steve: Yes. I was traveling over four continents meeting with growing cannabis ventures when right in my hometown of Oakland California the city decriminalized natural visionary plants making psychoactive substances the lowest priority of the Oakland Police Department. I have always wanted to see visionary plants decriminalized as a Drug Reform activist. Also as a person who has incorporated psychedelics and cannabis into my own spirituality.

If you follow the history you know of cannabis, from the oldest known usages in central Asia, if you go east you find that marijuana became central to Hindu culture in India, and Buddhism such that it is a medicine in the Ayurveda canon. Excavations have found cannabis in temples, around statues, if you travel to Japan, the indigenous religion of Shinto, there will be a long hemp rope at the entrance to Shinto temples.

It has been shown in Israel use of cannabis as a grave offering, especially young women who had died in childbirth. And in Egypt it was burnt to clear temples. Really everywhere it is woven into the spiritual practices of peoples. It was central to ancient Greece, as were many other psychoactive plants. It wasn’t until Rome solidified their empire making Christianity the state religion which banned all psychoactive plant use. You see all those old Greek statues that are missing arms and such, that was hordes of Christians who would come in and search out anyone using any psychedelic plant, take them out of their homes and execute them. Even all those philosophers of the Academy which gave us western civilization they were using all sorts of psychoactive plants.

Interview conducted by Sana v’Ritzvah

Steve DeAngelo is a globally recognized cannabis leader who was dubbed “the father of the legal industry” by former Speaker of the California Assembly & 41st Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. From grassroots community campaigns to appearing on national television networks and every uphill battle for legalization in between, his trailblazing work and creation of a model medical cannabis dispensary that set best practices for an entire industry make him one of the world’s top cannabis experts, foremost thought leaders, and recognized entrepreneurs.

Steve is Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Harborside, now a publicly-traded company on the Canadian Securities Exchange with California dispensary locations in Oakland,  San Jose, San Leandro, and Desert Hot Springs-only the second dispensary in California to feature a drive-thru. The vertically integrated California cannabis company founded in 2006 has more than 300,000 registered patients. Rooted in Steve’s belief that cannabis use should be wellness centric, Harborside was one of the first in the nation to support comprehensive cannabis education for seniors, veterans, and families with severely ill children. Featured in numerous high profile media pieces and winning multiple awards, including Best Dispensary in California (2017), Harborside continues to set the industry gold standard and is a leading advocate for diversity, environmental sustainability, and economic justice in the cannabis sector. 

Steve is also Co-Founder of Steep Hill, Inc., the first commercial cannabis lab in the country, and Co-Founder of Arcview Group, the first cannabis investment firm. Steep Hill has grown to become a world leader in cannabis science and technology with extensive expertise in lab testing, remote testing, genetics, research and development, and intellectual property licensing. Arcview angel investment network now includes more than 600 accredited investors and has raised over $270 million for 200 cannabis-related companies to date. Steve formerly served Arcview as Vice President; the firm remains dedicated to galvanizing progressive drug policy reform by empowering a responsible, profitable industry.

Early on as an activist, Steve was skipping school to attend anti-war demonstrations and eventually dropped out to join the Youth International Party – also known as the Yippies. He went on to become the lead organizer of the annual Fourth of July Smoke-In in D.C., carrying the position for a decade. Steve graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland. He also opened a legendary D.C. counter-cultural gathering place that became known as a refuge for local cannabis and peace activists during the Reagan-Bush era, including William Kunstler, Wavy Gravy, and author Jack Herer. Steve helped Jack Herer edit and publish the manuscript for his soon-to-be-famous book, “The Emperor Wears No Clothes,” and became a lead organizer of the first Hemp Museum and Hemp Tour. He created his first cannabis business, Ecolution; the company was one of the first to ride an industrial hemp boom, manufacturing hemp clothing and accessories for retail sales in 50 states and 21 countries during the ’90s.

Continuing to stand tirelessly for legalization and decriminalization of cannabis around the globe, Steve remained at the forefront of the cannabis reform movement, playing a pivotal role in the passage of Initiative 59-Washington D.C.’s medical cannabis law. After a legal battle lasting four years with the U.S. Department of Justice, he ultimately succeeded in defending their multiple attempts to close Harborside. He helped to pass Prop 64, California’s adult-use law, and making history on January 1, 2018, made the first legal cannabis sale in California’s first moments of legal recreational use.  

As an industry pioneer and progressive leader, Steve attracts global invitations to present and appear before audiences of thousands, reaching beyond cannabis and inspiring action toward restorative and equal justice, individual and community wellness, and cultural change for the sustainability of earth and humankind. At SXSW 2019, he gave the first-ever cannabis-themed keynote to be featured at the conference and was invited to return as a featured presenter the very next year.  A reputable and known American cannabis leader, advocate, and educator, he appeared by invitation to renowned Oxford Union in Great Britain for the 2017 ‘War on Drugs’ debate sessions. Appearing before audiences around the world is a natural progression of Steve’s life work. As a prime advocate of diversity, sustainability, and social justice, he carries his message to help build a world that lives by the same values cannabis can teach.

Steve is the author of The Cannabis Manifesto: A New Paradigm for Wellness, and an originator of the wellness approach to understanding cannabis. His acclaimed book is a compelling account of a personal journey with cannabis that outlines numerous solid arguments for legalization while presenting research-backed benefits of the plant. In its first week of release, the title became number one bestseller in the Wellness category on Amazon-the book’s guiding statement: “Cannabis is not harmful, but prohibition is.” Steve DeAngelo’s special feature presentations for keynote delivery include The Cannabis Renaissance Global Edition, Whole Plant Medicine is the Best Medicine, North American Roots: The Cannabis Plant & Prohibition’s Truth, and The Cannabis Creed (debuting at SXSW 2020).

Steve’s great success and persevering advocacy draw top tier national media attention. In 2009 he was the subject of a NY Times cover, the first-ever by the publication to include a feature story on legal cannabis. He has appeared nationally on all major media outlets, including FOX, CBS, CNN, NBC, CNBC, and extensively in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today. Special feature media projects include a starring role in Weed Wars, the first cannabis-oriented reality T.V. show (Discovery Channel), Ask Steve DeAngelo weekly web series by Green Flower Media, and development of entertainment works under DeAngelo Bros. Productions, a company founded by Steve DeAngelo and brother Andrew DeAngelo. A podcast and weekly television show documenting Steve’s travels to cover cannabis culture globally are coming in 2020 to Free Speech T.V. (FSTV), a 24-hour independent television network currently available in 37 million U.S. homes.  

Steve is the recipient of the 2015 High Times Lester Grinspoon High Times Lifetime Achievement Award and was named one of the most influential people and “gatekeeper of the industry” in 2015 by the International Business Times. In 2016 he was named one of the seven “Most Powerful People” in America’s cannabis industry by Fortune. Most recently, he was honored with the Peter Tosh Equal Rights Award and inducted into the Marijuana Business Daily Hall of Fame. 

Steve believes that an ethical and politically engaged industry will be the most powerful force in spreading cannabis reform to every corner of the planet. As Founder of the Last Prisoner Project (2019), he will not stop until the last cannabis prisoner is free. As host of the Radio Free Cannabis podcast-launched in 2020, his role as an activist seeking global unity for equal justice, advocating for human rights around the world, for cannabis legalization across planet earth, and the end of criminalizing medicinal plants worldwide, continues. 

Steve DeAngelo

Father of the Legal Cannabis Industry
Global Cannabis Ambassador

Founder of Last Prisoner Project
Host of Radio Free Cannabis Podcast
Author of The Cannabis Manifesto

stevedeangelo.com | Website

Steve DeAngelo | LinkedIn

@steve.deangelo Instagram 23K+ followers

@TheSteveDeAngelo | Facebook 4K+ followers

@stevedeangelo | Twitter  29K+ followers

Awards Highlights:

2019 MJ Biz Award 2019 Hall of Fame Inductee
In the computer industry, there’s only one Bill Gates. In the automotive space, only one Henry Ford. And the marijuana world has only one Steve DeAngelo –MJBizDaily recognizes Steve DeAngelo

2019 Peter Tosh Equal Rights & Justice Award
Recognized for making an outstanding contribution to the struggle of basic equal rights for all.
2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from California Cannabis Awards
2019 MGO ELLO Honoree
2019 Cannabis Business Awards Hall of Fame Inductee

2019 Harborside’s KEY Takes Home Top Spot at High Times Cannabis Cup Bay Area

2015 High Times Lester Grinspoon Lifetime Achievement Award

Social Media Hits:
Harborside Desert Hot Springs Grand Opening feat. Steve DeAngelo & Jim Belushi DEC 2019

Marleys LPP Board Public Announcement AUG 2019

Willie Nelson LPP Public Announcement AUG 2019

TD Ameritrade OCT 2019

Top National Media Coverage (Video):
TD Ameritrade The Watch Oct 2019
Fox Business: Varney & Co Jul 2019
Cheddar Interview in Toronto CSE Open Jun 13 2019
BNN Bloomberg in Toronto Jun 2019
Green Market Report
Cheddar Interview SXSW Mar 2019
MSNBC with Jacob Soboroff Jan 2018
ABC Feds Drop Case May 2016

National Media Coverage (Online, Print):

Steve DeAngelo Inductee into MJBiz Hall Of Fame

LA Times-OpEd on Tax-July 15 2019

Green Entrepreneur-HBOR CSE- Jun 2019

CNN Business HBOR CSE June 2019

NY Times Cannabis Goes Industrial Apr 2017

LA Times-Weed Wars-Dec 21,2011

NY Times Don’t Call it “pot” 2010

Do Cannabis Entrepreneurs and Big Business Actually Need Each Other? Inc.com 2015

Forbes-Harborside Going Public-May 31 2019

Variety Magazine-Last Prisoner Project-Jul 15, 2019

Hightimes Magazine-Last Prisoner Project-Jul 2019

Speaking & Appearance Highlights:

SXSW Featured Session March 2019

Oxford Union Debate – This House Would Say No to Drugs feat Steve DeAngelo Mar 2017
Harborside Desert Hot Springs Grand Opening DEC 2019

Arcview Investors Forums

ROTH Capital Partners Conference

Cannaciencia (Bogota, Col)

ExpoCannabiz (Cartagena, Col)
CannabiSalud (Mexico)
High Hopes
CannaTech Israel

MJBizCon

Trailblazers Summit Series
O’Cannabiz (Toronto, ON CAN)
New West Summit

Aspen High

Imperious Expo

NCIA

International Police Association (IPA)

The Father of the Legal Cannabis Industry

Written by Daniel Jones on . Posted in Business.

Cannabis activist and pioneer Steve DeAngelo discusses how hemp can literally save the world, about its likelihood as an industry disrupter, and what cannabis legalization may look like under President Biden.

Don’t at all be fooled by his mellow demeanor or by his trademark pigtail braids and pork pie hat, because Steve DeAngelo is all business. A pioneering activist for the cannabis reform movement, Mr. DeAngelo has dedicated his life to advocating the cannabis plant first and foremost as a connoisseur, but also as an author, educator, investor and entrepreneur. 

He is credited with co-founding Harborside in 2006 as a nonprofit medical cannabis dispensary, when the company was granted one of the first medical licenses in the country. His other achievements are quite impressive: the Discovery Channel miniseries Weed Wars; he was the lead organizer and fundraiser for I-59, Washington D.C.’s medical cannabis initiative; also, Mr. DeAngelo, who studied at the University of Maryland School of Law, successfully litigated against the Department of Justice’s last-ditch effort in 2011 to shut down California’s medical cannabis dispensaries; and he also played a major role in the passage of Prop 64, which legalized recreational cannabis for adults in California.

The Texas Hemp Reporter caught up with the legend himself earlier this year, not long after he parted ways with Harborside Inc, a California-focused cannabis enterprise that is currently a publicly listed company on the Canadian Securities Exchange, where he was co-founder and, most recently, chairman emeritus. 

TEXAS HEMP REPORTER: Is the legalization of cannabis on the federal level likely to happen during the Biden presidency?

STEVE DeANGELO: We are likely to see some significant reform at the federal level. I’m not sure that’s going to include what we would call complete legalization. President Biden and Vice-President Harris have a long history of working with law enforcement. They both have a record ‒ not a good record ‒ of passing and enforcing laws that really hurt a lot of people. Kamala Harris, when she was the attorney general of California, oversaw many, many, many cannabis prosecutions. There are still people in prison today because of her prosecutions for something that is legal now. And after she was elected with a lot of the help from the [medical] cannabis industry, she failed to come to our assistance in 2011 when the federal government tried to shut down the California industry. In fact, in a TV interview, she basically laughed about the idea of cannabis reform. So, with that said, I think both Biden and Harris are creatures of a political center. That’s where they want to position themselves; and now the whole Democratic Party is in favor of cannabis ‒ as well as a big chunk of the Republican Party. And, really, cannabis is the only bipartisan consensus issue between the two parties today. Sixty percent of Americans are in favor of legalization. So I do have faith that Biden and Harris will figure out where the political center is on on this, and the more help we give them to do that, the sooner we’ll see reforms and the more likely they’ll be complete.

THR: Now that you’ve cut ties with Harborside, what’s going to be your biggest focus going forward?

SD: I’m really interested in the ESG space, which to some means “Equity, Sustainability, and Governance.” Some people call it “Environmental, Social, and Governance.” There’s a whole sector of investors for whom the whole sector of ESG investing is a growing and increasingly important sector ‒ probably the most rapidly-growing investor sector today. And on the company side, we have many cannabis companies that are going to be headed up by licensees who receive social-equity licenses. And those licenses frequently have a really difficult time finding financial resources that they need to develop their licenses. So that’s a problem I would really like to help solve, and I think there’s a win-win solution there for equity licensees and for investors who are interested in making an impact. 

THR: Of course you’ll be focusing on the Last Prisoner Project, too. Tell us, essentially, what the nonprofit is fighting for.

SD: The mission of the Last Prisoner Project is really narrow. We hope someday to put ourselves out of business. Its mission is simple: And that’s to make sure that, as this new, global, legal cannabis industry is built, every single person on the planet who’s imprisoned on cannabis charges is released. It comes out of a basic notion of fairness. We shouldn’t keep punishing people for it. In today’s atmosphere, it’s just completely unacceptable for white guys with Ivy-League degrees working on Wall Street to come into legal cannabis and get licenses and grow and sell tons and tons of cannabis at the same time that there’s mostly black and brown people who are imprisoned for cannabis crimes involving far, far smaller quantities. Eighty-seven percent of cannabis prisoners in the federal system are people of color. Our mission is really focused on cannabis prisoners; it becomes a social-justice mission just by virtue of the fact that so much of the prohibition in the United States is racially driven. … What we do is work for the release of prisoners, and then we also work to make their reentry [into society] productive and fruitful.

THR: On your website is a very compelling, convincing video of you saying how hemp can save the world, how it could replace all the materials that are sickening us as well as the planet. Can you expound on this?

SD: For me, it’s all one plant. There’s this unfortunate confusion of terminology that’s come into place, largely because there’s a loophole under hemp regulation to allow ‘hemp to be grown for human consumption’ as long as it doesn’t contain THC. I think that’s really the wrong way of looking at it. For me, there’s just two kinds of cannabis: cannabis that is produced for human beings to consume, whatever its cannabinoid and terpene profile is; and cannabis that’s produced to make something out of. I don’t muddy those definitions up with THC, because THC is just one of 140 different cannabinoids that prohibition has an obsession with. But that doesn’t mean that we should. I absolutely see industrial hemp as being a critical part of the revolution that’s underway here. Mother Nature was incredibly kind to us. She gave us one plant that wakes up our minds and brings us closer in touch with nature, and at the same time gives us the raw materials that we need to build the new economy, a life-affirming economy. Part of it is raising the consciousness with cannabis, and part of it is just the raw material. Hemp is such an extraordinary raw material. Not only can you make everything and anything out of it the way you could with petroleum, trees or cotton; there’s all these other amazing things you can make out of hemp that you can’t make out of petroleum, trees or cotton, like graphene. There’s a company now that’s making hemp graphene, a semiconductor critical in making cell phones. It’s currently mined in Africa at an extraordinary cost, both financial and social. And now a company has figured out how to make it out of hemp. They’re talking of making houses and airplanes and cars out of hemp graphene. The whole outer parts of our buildings and our cars, maybe even our clothing, could be solar-collection devices. Let me be clear: I’m not talking about CBD. I’m not talking about consumable cannabis. That for me is a different conversation. When we look at industrial hemp in the United States, it is underdeveloped for one major reason, and that is because there is no infrastructure in existence to make sure the hemp crop is turned into the products that the market wants. I’ll give you one example. One of the greatest uses for hemp is in textiles. You can make these absolutely super high-quality textiles out of hemp. You can blend them with cotton, you can make it 100 percent hemp. Levi’s right now is making a jean that is 30 percent hemp fibers and 70 percent cotton. They would like to increase the amount of hemp in there. But the hemp fibers, they’ve had to cottonize them. This is an example of infrastructure. Hemp is the longest, strongest natural fiber on the planet, but because cotton has been such a dominant textile fiber in the United States for so long, we don’t have bast-fiber spineries. We don’t have a way to turn hemp fiber into a hemp yarn without doing what Levi’s is doing, which is basically blowing it up and making it into very, very short, and hence very weak, fiber, rather than trying to take advantage of the full qualities of hemp. Just because the infrastructure is not there. So once we have a sufficient commitment of vision and capital to build that infrastructure, then we’re going to see hemp disrupt every single kind of industry you can imagine. Just about anything that is made, hemp is going to disrupt. Because it’s such a great raw material when done at scale. Anything you can make out of other raw materials can be made out of hemp and it’s usually a much higher-quality product and no more expensive. Then there’s all these things that hemp does that nothing else does. Hemp sequesters 20 tons of atmospheric carbon for every hectare that you harvest. That means that we could stop Global Warming just by planting enough hectares of hemp and harvesting them. And then it makes really simple products like hempcrete, a remarkable material that is as strong as concrete, lighter than concrete, more mold-resistant, more fire-resistant, and less expensive, and not only carbon-neutral but carbon-negative. The hempcrete also sequesters carbon as it dries. Hempcrete is probably the place where we have the least infrastructure problem. I would say that the construction-materials sector is probably the place where we will see the disruption of existing industries by hemp in the shortest period of time in North America, because you don’t really need the complicated infrastructure to produce and use something that most builders can use on the building site.

THR: It’s been a pleasure, Mr. DeAngelo. Good luck to you and thank you for all you do for hemp and cannabis.

SD: Thank you so much. Be well.

A Great Day for Michael Thompson, Cannabis Offender

Written by Mina Hegaard on . Posted in News.

An interview with attorney Sarah Gersten

January 28, 2021, Non-violent Cannabis offender Michael Thompson at the age of 69, was released from prison after 23 years behind bars even though recreational cannabis use has been legal more than two years in Michigan. Before he was granted clemency, his first opportunity for release would have been at the age of 87.

Sarah Gersten, Executive Director and General Counsel of Last Prisoner Project and founding member of Michigan Cannabis Freedom Coalition, said, “Today marks a momentous occasion for Michael Thompson, his family, and his countless supporters throughout Michigan and across the country. Unfortunately, it also serves as a stark and somber reminder of the thousands of cannabis prisoners who remain behind bars while others profit off of a now legal industry.”

The Texas Hemp Reporter had the chance to catch up with Sarah a week later:

This is pretty exciting right?

SG: Very exciting, it’s been an incredibly exciting month and even more exciting week.

How often does this happen?

SG:  The release? We have two distinct release programs, one is the clemency commutation side of it, and then compassionate release. Those are the more frequent, more standard; you go through the judiciary. With the clemency campaigns it’s about crafting a compelling narrative of why someone deserves release, so to do that effectively you have to really get to know their family. With Michael Thompson over the past year I have gotten to know him on a personal level so well. We pushed this really robust campaign for him, and he became sort of a national symbol of this issue. For this to happen with someone that has become as high profile as Michael for me personally to be so involved to get to know him, his family it was once in a lifetime really.

That’s so amazing it’s giving me goosebumps. Do you think this is perhaps a benchmark for prisoners in this similar situation?

SG: It’s tricky because we are absolutely pushing these types of campaigns, but the bigger effort that we’re pushing both nationally and on a state level is for broader policy reform that enables the release of anyone still incarcerated for non-violent cannabis offenses. That work is not as personally satisfying because you don’t get to know the prisoners and the families as you do when you’re crafting a clemency campaign, but it will lead to broad systemic reform and impact thousands of individuals.

I was reading about this and he seems like a salt of the earth, pillar of the community kind of guy and it’s so tragic, but what is his plan now for the future?

SG: Before he was incarcerated Michael worked within his community; he had received awards from the NAACP for his work doing violence reduction in Flint MI, where he’s from, and working with teens involved in gang violence. He really continued that kind of work when he was incarcerated. He served as a mentor to individuals serving with him and people often thought of him as a father or grandfather. He should be retiring now, he loves to garden and be outside, but instead he wants to dedicate himself to criminal justice reform and prison reform.

Wow. Did you get to be there when he was released?

I was!  I was actually the one to drive him home! I think because I’m from New Hampshire and it was snowing in MI and a lot of the team was from the west coast. It was awesome.

Do you think this could cause a floodgate of releases?

I do. Through Michael’s case we’ve also been identifying other prisoners in MI that are there for cannabis offenses, that we can submit their clemency petitions for, and through Michaels campaign and advocacy around his case we’ve gotten buy in to reform this issue from the attorney general, to the lieutenant governor, several progressive prosecutors in MI, state law makers. So, through Michael, we’re already pushing this really broad campaign and doing the groundwork to get more individuals in MI out.

What is your goal with the federal work that you’re doing?

Mr. Thompson before his incarceration.

SG: It’s similar federally in that we had spent months advocating with the white house, with the Trump administration for clemency for our federal constituents and three weeks ago he granted clemency to several of our constituents, and I absolutely think that is going to be a symbol of the type of reform that needs to be enacted. What we saw is that the process is fundamentally broken, we need an effective, transparent process and especially for marijuana offenders. There is so much bi-partisan support to provide retroactive relief for those still incarcerated federally. And that was before this most recent signal from majority leader Schumer and other senators to legalize federally. 

Great! Do you see a timeline? Could this happen in the next year or two?

SG: If you had asked me that a week ago, I would have been on the fence, but with Senator Schumer coming out and wanting to make this an issue, within this congress, this year, I absolutely think it could happen.

Fantastic! What has been your biggest hinderance to your goals with the Last Prisoner Project?

SG: I would say stigma. There is still such a stigma attached to cannabis, even in criminal justice circles we often get push back because of our narrow focus. People don’t perceive this as the monumental problem that it is, and the other stigma is just around the idea of what we’re doing. There are so many people in this country, elected officials, that believe if you committed a crime, even if it’s now legal, even though the majority of Americans believe it shouldn’t be a crime, that you should remain incarcerated and that you don’t deserve a second chance. That is why it is so important to raise up the stories of people like Michael. For the people that have that mindset, so they can get his story, and that he deserves a second chance, and that he never deserved to be incarcerated in the first place.

Indeed. How can regular people on the street help? I see on the website you have a call to action to write letters, emails and calls, was that the biggest push for it his release? Was that how it eventually happened? Through the voices of the people?

SG: Yes, I think Michael’s case is a shining example of the power of grassroots organizing and advocacy. Without having hundreds of thousands of people write letters and make calls to the governor and the parole board he would still be incarcerated. People in this moment and climate are really jaded and think what I do won’t have an impact. Michael’s case should show everybody that it absolutely does make an impact and those calls were heard. We really harnessed the collective power of so many people to advocate for Michael.

I will look out for him in the news. He is such a figurehead for this community. It’s an honor to speak with you and I appreciate your time today.

SG: Thank you for telling the story.

For more information about the Last Prisoner Project and to get involved check out their website:   https://www.lastprisonerproject.org/

Images Credit:

Giacobazzi Yanez / Last Prisoner Project

  1. Michael Thompson and family pre-incarceration

2.Release day from left to right: Last Prisoner Project Constituent Donte West, Michael Thompson, Sarah Gersten, and Last Prisoner Project Board Member Erik Murray.

Sarah Gersten Executive Director and General Counsel at Last Prisoner Project