Hip Hop Legends Redman and M1 of Dead Prez join the October 24th action at the White House

Category: Blog | October 18, 2022 By Jason Ortiz Comments are Off

Redman and M1 of Dead Prez join the October 24th action at the White House

Primary contact : Jason Ortiz, 860 639 8101 – jason@ssdp.org

Washington D.C. – Hip Hop legends M1 of Dead Prez and Redman will join the rally for cannabis clemency on October 24th at the gates of White House starting at 10:00 AM. They will be joined by SSDP Student leaders, Formerly Incarcerated individuals, and local cannabis justice activists. The crowd will gather around the Andrew Jackson statue before engaging in expected civil disobedience nearby to draw attention to the lack of people released from federal prison as a result of President Biden’s recent executive order. The Biden administration has admitted that his executive action will not release a single person currently incarcerated for cannabis offenses. The action is being organized by Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), the Last Prisoner Project (LPP) and DC and Maryland Marijuana Justice (DCMJ/MDMJ).

“If President Biden truly wants to repair the harms of our nation’s unjust policy of prohibition, this initial progress must be followed up with bolder action—action that would actually lead to freedom for cannabis prisoners,” stated Sarah Gersten, LPP’s Executive Director and General Counsel.

“I’m outraged that the President would make an executive action on cannabis but release zero of our incarcerated friends and family,” said Kat Ebert, Board Chair of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. She adds, “He’s forcing us to raise our voices to be heard in order for the wider public to understand cannabis prisoners are still not free. On October 24th we plan to make it clear to the Democratic leadership that we won’t accept mostly symbolic actions. We demand clemency for all cannabis prisoners.”

“I’ve called for this protest because Joe Biden made a promise during the last election— a promise to release cannabis prisoners— and he has broken that promise,” said Steve Deangelo, Founder of the Last Prisoner Project. “Not one single prisoner will be released as a result of the recently announced pardons; so I will be at the White House with M1, Redman and hundreds of other cannabis activists at 10:00 AM on Oct 24.”

“DCMJ is joining protests to free all cannabis prisoners because we’ve simply waited too long,” says DC’s Initiative 71 proposer and DCMJ co-Founder Adam Eidinger. “We are excited that students are leading this effort to make tangible gains on freeing cannabis prisoners whose continued confinement is immoral and unjustified.” “While cannabis becomes legal in most of the country to grow and sell, it is unfair to keep our brothers and sisters in cages who risked their freedom to provide medicine to their communities before it was legal. It is past time that we actually right the wrongs of the failed war on drugs.” Kris Furnish, co-founder of MDMJ.

Members of the credentialed media are invited to attend a planning meeting on the eve of the protests at George Washington University. Details can be obtained by contacting Jason Ortiz at 860 639 8101 – jason@ssdp.org .

###