UFCW Joins Calls for Release of Federal Prisoners Convicted of Non-Violent Cannabis Crimes 

The United Food and Commercial Workers International (UFCW) union is joining Democratic lawmakers in their request that President Donald Trump (R) pardon everyone in prison for all non-violent cannabis crimes. 

Last week, 28 Democratic lawmakers, along with independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT), sent a letter to Trump and his pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson seeking the relief, noting that data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission estimates that there are about 3,000 people federally incarcerated for cannabis trafficking offenses, and some hundreds or thousands more serving mandatory minimum sentences of five years or longer.   

In a statement, UFCW International President Milton Jones said the administration “has the opportunity to rectify the generational harms caused by the ‘War on Drugs,’ and can do so with the stroke of a pen.” 

“The UFCW, as America’s cannabis union, supports federal decriminalization of cannabis. That means contending with the injustices of the past and building a better future with a regulatory framework to ensure that cannabis workers have the health, safety, and labor protections they deserve.” — Jones in a statement 

UFCW represents thousands of cannabis industry workers throughout the U.S. In the statement, Jones added that “Commuting the sentences of people in prison on nonviolent offenses related to cannabis will help deliver justice to them and their loved ones.” 

Neither President Trump nor Johnson has addressed the lawmakers’ letter.