Marijuana Moment: Marijuana Advocacy Group Launches Holiday Campaign To Send Letters Of Support To People Still Incarcerated For Cannabis

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A top marijuana reform group is encouraging people to participate in an annual holiday letter drive by sending messages of hope and support to those who remain behind bars over cannabis offenses.

The Last Prisoner Project (LPP) has been running the letter-writing campaign for the past seven years, putting a spotlight on the fact that while a majority of states have legalized marijuana for some purpose, there are still thousands of incarcerated people facing the consequences of cannabis criminalization.

The letter drive isn’t necessarily about promoting specific reforms. Rather, it’s meant to simply connect with people who might feel especially pained around the holiday season as they remain locked up over marijuana instead of being able to spend time with their families and friends.

“The holidays can bring a heavy loneliness for those behind bars,” Stephanie Shepard, acting executive director of LPP, said in a press release. “After serving nearly 10 years in prison for a non-violent, first-time cannabis conviction, I know how isolating it can feel to be away from family and friends during this season. I hope people will consider taking a few minutes to write—it means more than you can imagine.”

LPP has an online portal where supporters can send letters to incarcerated people, and it also provides a guide on how to find addresses to physically mail letters to impacted people serving time in prisons across the country.

“You may also host or participate in a letter-writing drive (for example: at your workplace, business or with friends). Suggested settings include holiday parties, work events, front-of-business locations, or shared social media campaigns,” the advocacy group said.

Philip Feng, who is helping lead this year’s holiday letter-writing campaign after serving nearly two years in prison over a non-violent cannabis conviction, said that, while incarcerated, “the hardest moments were the ones when I felt cut off from the world.”

“A single letter could break through that isolation. It reminded me that I still had value, that people on the outside hadn’t forgotten me,” he said. “This drive gives that same lifeline to others who are still waiting to come home.”

In September, LPP and the Balanced Veterans Network (BVN) launched a separate campaign to mobilize military veterans to help convince Republican lawmakers to embrace embrace federal cannabis reform.

Also, while state legislatures considered a number of criminal justice reform bills around marijuana this year, most ultimately failed to make it across the finish line—a trend advocates at LPP described in a review released over the summer the “hidden crisis in cannabis reform.”

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The nonprofit has long pushed for legalization of cannabis to include measures meant to address past drug war harms. In May, the group organized a coalition of marijuana reform advocates that held an event outside the White House to urge President Donald Trump to free those still incarcerated over cannabis.

The rally was part of a “Cannabis Unity Week of Action” helmed by LPP that also involved congressional lawmakers who’ve spoken about their own efforts to advance reform on Capitol Hill. It featured multiple speakers who shared stories about their personal experiences with the criminal justice system and their advocacy work, making the case to the administration that now is the time to put a definitive end to marijuana criminalization.

At the federal level, Trump is facing pressure on multiple fronts to fulfill campaign pledges to federally reschedule marijuana. That wouldn’t federally legalize the plant, but it could signal a softening of the decades-long war on cannabis. While Trump said in mid-August a decision on rescheduling would come within weeks, that hasn’t come to fruition.

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