After building a cannabis empire and consequentially spending 14 years in Federal prison, Luke Scarmazzo has a unique and captivating take on cannabis reform, and he’s putting his perspective into action. Running a state-legal cannabis dispensary in California is what landed him in prison, but it’s been quite a while since 2006, and his recent release puts him back on the scene with something to say.
While he is advocating for the same types of reform that President Biden is pushing for, he’s no novice when it comes to political fodder. Scarmazzo sees through the administration’s newest PR attempt. He believes that anyone looking for campaign ratings is going to popularize the best parts of their policy stances. Still, in spite of what may be considered political pandering, there’s plenty to be said and done when it comes to cannabis reform.
“There are still 3,000 people incarcerated in federal prison for cannabis, and moving cannabis to Schedule III doesn’t change their sentences,” says Scarmazzo. “While President Biden has issued some pardon proclamations, the real-world impact of the Biden Administration’s cannabis pardons is a net zero. No one was released from prison by the recent proclamations from the Biden Administration. The Biden Administration has not released a single person from prison who has a marijuana-only offense. Both Presidents Biden and Trump have publicly pandered on this issue for political support, but neither has gone far enough to end the injustice.”
While it might seem like he blames the current administration, Scarmazzo believes that there’s plenty of culpability to go around, placing additional blame on the Trump administration, who could have commuted his sentence.
“President Trump had the opportunity to commute my sentence. It was actually approved, and they called my parents and told them to ‘get ready because your son is coming home,’ and at the last minute, due to outside pressures, my commutation was pulled, and I sat in prison for four more years,” Scarmazzo says.
As 3,000 federal prisoners still serve time for non-violent cannabis crimes, Scarmazzo isn’t planning to stay silent. Rather, his book High Price: The Luke Scarmazzo Story (2024, Flower Valley Press) is headed to the shelves, allowing Scarmazzo to speak his authentic truth directly to the public. But Scarmazzo knows that his book may not necessarily create the desired change. He wants politicians, namely President Biden, to take action.
“To truly make progress on this front, all President Biden would have to do is issue a mass commutation to every man and woman who’s incarcerated for cannabis in a federal prison. We must demand that President Biden fulfill his campaign promise to release everyone who’s incarcerated for cannabis and expunge their records,” according to Scarmazzo.
He adds that it would be relatively easy to piggyback off of effective actions that have been taken, including the recent announcement by Maryland Governor Wes Moore that 175,000 pardons for non-violent state cannabis crimes will take place. “Governor Moore is leading the charge by issuing mass pardons to cannabis offenders, including people with sales convictions, and not waiting on the White House to act.”
To learn more about Scarmazzo’s unique perspective on the matter, dive into his latest book release! Scarmazzo encourages readers to continue working on meaningful reform in their own capacity, one step at a time.
