BREAKING THE PAPER SHACKLES: AN INSIDE LOOK AT STUDENTS FOR SENSIBLE DRUG POLICY’S  NATIONWIDE EXPUNGEMENT RESOURCE FAIR SET TO REPAIR THE HARMS TO INDIVIDUALS CAUSED BY CANNABIS PROHIBITION

Primary Press Contact: Maya Tatum, Press Secretary, mayaatatumm@gmail.com 

Secondary Press Contact: Kat Murti, SSDP Executive Director, kat@ssdp.org

#420WeekofUnity

#BidenRelease420Prisoners

#DescheduleCannabisNow

Washington, DC – On April 17 at 10 am Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is launching our Breaking the Paper Shackles project—a nationwide expungement program to advance impactful policy reform and help individuals overcome the devastating collateral consequences of a criminal record that can impede access to employment, housing, and education—at the 420 Week of Unity. We are partnering with Freedom Grow, Blaze Responsibly, National Cannabis Festival, Ascend Co-Lab for Social Equity, and Green Thumb Industries to host three expungement fairs over the week at which we will provide state-specific legal guidance to local residents and festival attendees. 

“While recent years have seen many important drug policy wins, Students for Sensible Drug Policy is committed to uplifting and empowering the communities that have been most severely negatively impacted by harmful drug policies throughout all the work we do,” says Kat Murti, SSDP Executive Director. “By offering record expungement services, we hope to create a more inclusive and equitable society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.” 

The obstacles people face when having cannabis-related charges are astronomical. “If we truly want to end recidivism and empower individuals to be productive citizens, we need to help them move forward with clearing their records so they no longer have the burden of a paper shackle,” says Chirali Patel of coalition partner Blaze Responsibly. 

Due to an incredibly complex and confusing patchwork of laws related to criminal record-keeping, one of the biggest blocks to an individual clearing their record is a lack of access to information about how to even start the process. 

At the heart of the Breaking the Paper Shackles project is a series of concise, state-specific guides on expungement and record sealing, created by legal experts from coalition partner Blaze Responsibly, that allow even those without a law degree to begin the process for themselves and which will form the backbone of SSDP’s upcoming resource fairs.  

Creating the guides has also underlined the need for drastic policy reform around the country. Despite growing support for marijuana legalization across all demographics, there are nearly 3,000 Americans who are serving long-term sentences—some life sentences—in federal prison (and tens of thousands more at the state and local levels) for conduct involving amounts of cannabis that are far less than what dispensaries handle daily. 

Marijuana arrests have not stopped, and tens of thousands of victims of the War on Drugs around the United States—including many of those who helped build what is now the legal cannabis industry—face ongoing discrimination and seemingly insurmountable obstacles to obtaining education, housing, and employment, blocking their ability to advance their quality of life and leading to a continuous cycle of economic hardship.

“It is not enough to simply treat the symptoms of bad cannabis policy; we must fix the problem at its root cause,” says Murti.  “The quickest and most effective way to ensure these people receive justice—and to prevent future miscarriages of justice—is through mass executive clemency and sweeping policy change.”

The resource fair is meant to help restore a sense of self to individuals impacted by cannabis prohibition. Friday, April 19th at the National Cannabis Festival, SSDP will host a Fireside Chat, where people impacted by cannabis prohibition and others working on this issue will have an opportunity to share their stories and speak to the importance of not only decriminalizing cannabis but also why retroactive relief and record clearing is imperative to pushing cannabis reform forward. In a world where stigma oftentimes drives people into isolation, SSDP is inviting folks to come out and learn about expungement across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 

“Expungement is important to clear the past for a greater future. No one deserves the shame that comes with having a criminal record. Especially over a plant,” says Valerie Douroux, an SSDP alum whose cannabis charges derailed her career as an educator, and who was a recipient of the first of President Biden’s two mass cannabis pardons.

“Expungement of all cannabis sentences is vital for several reasons. The collateral consequences and the collateral sanctions that are applied to individuals after they have paid their dues runs deep,” says Randy Lanier, CEO of FreedomGrow and a former professional race car driver who was sentenced to life in prison for marijuana charges in 1988 and spent close to three decades behind bars before being released in 2014. “Applying for a job, a loan, or housing can cause applications to be tossed into a trash can. The statement of being a convicted felon puts the brakes on those individuals applying. It is only fair to expunge all cannabis convictions to give these citizens a fair chance at becoming a successful citizen.” Randy Lanier, CEO Freedomgrow

“The time for federal cannabis legalization is now. No one should be imprisoned for this medicinal plant, let alone serving life sentences. SSDP’s  expungement resource fairs are designed to help those with cannabis-related charges clear their record and move forward in life. These charges are barriers to countless peoples’ futures while businesses are profiting from cannabis sales,” says Karley Snyder, SSDP Board Chair, Pittsburg Community Chapter.

See below for the full schedule of times and locations.

Date, Times, & Location: 

• Wednesday, April 17 – 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET, 4th floor at MLK Library, 901 G St. NW Washington
• Friday, April 19 – 3 p.m. – 8 p.m., SSDP Booth at National Cannabis Festival
• Saturday, April 20 – 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., SSDP Booth at National Cannabis Festival

Join us for the largest bipartisan coalition of cannabis justice advocates for a week-long series of events – @ssdpoffical’s #420WeekofUnity. Learn more at ssdp.org. 

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is the largest global youth-led network dedicated to ending the War on Drugs. Founded in 1998, SSDP comprises thousands of members in hundreds of communities around the globe, including 100+ chapters in the United States. SSDP mobilizes and empowers young people to participate in the political process, pushing for sensible policies focusing on those that directly impact students and youth.