How Cannabis Legalisation Can Help Remedy Social Injustices

In 1992, Amir Varick Amma was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on drug charges. Convicted of two nonviolent drug felonies, he was unfortunate to be sentenced under the Rockefeller drug laws – resulting in a harsh sentence typically reserved for murderers.

After drug law reforms were passed in New York in 2004 and 2009, a judge reduced Amma’s sentence. He was released after spending 19 years behind bars.

Finding work with a criminal record is no easy feat, and Amma was dismayed to find himself shut out of America’s burgeoning cannabis industry. Most cannabis programs contain some sort of provision that bars convicted drug felons from applying for a license.

“Now that it’s becoming socially accepted, they’re trying to keep us out of the industry,” said Amma. He now works as an organiser at All of Us or None, advocating for the rights of currently and...

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