To the editor: As somebody who was previously incarcerated for 10 years over a nonviolent, first-time hashish offense, I see the current immigration raid on a authorized California hashish farm as a stark reminder that the warfare on medicine is way from over (“ICE raid at main pot operation clouds image for authorized hashish in California,” July 26). Whereas firms revenue from the sale of state-sanctioned hashish, the employees who make that business attainable — a lot of them immigrants — are criminalized, detained and probably deported.
These are the individuals who plant, prune and harvest the hashish offered in dispensaries throughout California. With out their labor, there is no such thing as a product or revenue. But whereas executives money in, employees are hauled off in handcuffs. That contradiction exposes a deep injustice.
We can not proceed to name this a “authorized” business whereas handcuffing the very employees who maintain it. True justice means defending hashish employees, ending using hashish offenses as grounds for detention or deportation and releasing these nonetheless incarcerated for marijuana.
President Trump has voiced help for hashish reform. His administration should guarantee enforcement insurance policies don’t goal the very folks propping up the business.
Stephanie Shepard, Sacramento
This author is director of advocacy for the hashish reform nonprofit Final Prisoner Venture.
