Billy Dekle, a marine veteran, and Charlie Cundiff have been incarcerated since 1990 and 1991 respectively for marijuana conspiracy. However, Mother Jones reports that they will be released as a part of President Obama’s clemency plan. Last summer, Mother Jones reported that at least sixty people have been given life without parole for marijuana offenses, some of which are pointless, such as serving as go-betweens in minor pot deals involving undercover cops.
President Obama’s clemency, doubling that which was granted last summer, is a movement dedicated to reducing the federal inmate population and give relief to those that have been unfairly sentenced because of the war on drugs. This clemency is definitely a good thing for the marijuana movement, but it is not enough to meet the needs of the 10,000 prisoners former Attorney General Eric Holder said would be released thanks to the Obama administration. For the dozens of other marijuana reformers, the 94,000 federal drug offenders, and the 35,000 inmates who have applied, this will come as a disappointment.
“For an activist like me who works with marijuana lifers and who has been working directly with these two men [Dekle and Cundiff], the news does not get much better than this,” said Cheri Sicard, former vice president of the CAN-DO Foundation. “At the same time, I am deeply disappointed for the many marijuana lifers left behind. I am in regular contact with them and their families, and I know the anticipation that comes with waiting for the clemency announcements, as well as the subsequent devastating blow it is to not see their names on the list.”
The United States is home to almost five percent of the world’s population yet still has the highest number of people in jail, holding almost 25% of the world’s prisoners. Since the war on drug began in the 70’s, the amount of people in prison went up dramatically while the population increased at a much slower rate. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ data, federal prisons hold almost 200,000 people for drug offenses.
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