Mr. President and Mrs Vice President, 

Many of us voted for you hoping you would do the right thing. 

One of your many promises while running for President, was to (at the very least) decriminalize Cannabis. As someone who was an architect for the failed drug war, it would really mean a lot if you kept to your word on this. Generations of bipoc families have been suffering by an unfair, unbalanced war that destroyed our inner cities. 

Now we see billboards in every legal state. There are many making millions. Including some in your own congress. How can this be happening while we actually have medical refugees seeking treatment and people are still getting arrested. Social equity programs are a pittance. 

It is crazy that a zip code will determine if you can access life saving medicine, medicine to prevent and stop your child from having a seizure, or even be in a legal state but it’s so over regulated and expensive the average patient still has no access. One town you can rake in a fortune while another you can end up in prison. 

Many of these “so called drug dealers” started out and strive to continue to be caregivers. For decades these angels have given everything to help those in need. Now we have corporate groups coming in lobbying for arbitrary rules to prevent those veteran caregivers. Patients in real need have been left out of the equation as they aren’t good for their return of investment. 

These guys took care of our aids patients and Vietnam vets when the system failed them. Many are still waiting to be released from prison. Few will ever be able to touch the plant they loved again. 

With COVID the system is failing. The research has been done. Cannabis is a medicine, a wellness product, and plastic alternative . It can open up a whole new industry x3 with countless amounts of ancillary businesses around it. Do the right thing. Don’t just decriminalize cannabis. Find a way that patients, caregivers, prisoners of war, can flourish along side the new customers the industry can bring. 

Listen to the stories of all the people who were saved by Cannabis from opioids and other pharmaceuticals. 

-hint clemency and irs forgiveness pathways would be a good start. 

-A Cannabis Refugee Mom