On February 2nd, a California federal judge granted an early, compassionate release to Luke Scarmazzo, a man who had served 14 years in prison for operating a state-legal medical marijuana dispensary.
In 2004, Scarmazzo and his business partner, Ricardo Montes, opened a medical marijuana dispensary in Modesto called California Healthcare Collective. Though the business was legal at the time under California’s Proposition 215, the DEA raided the dispensary and arrested the two business partners in 2006.
The judge acknowledged that the legal landscape surrounding marijuana has changed significantly since Scarmazzo was first arrested, stating, “Defendant Scarmazzo is certainly correct when he argues that there have been ‘dramatic changes in the legal landscape concerning the sale and use of marijuana’ over the fifteen years since he was sentenced, including ‘changes in [state] marijuana laws, Congress’s perspective, public sentiment, the Justice Department’s enforcement policies, and…case law.’ This is particularly true in California where defendant was operating his marijuana dispensary.” The judge also acknowledged that, compared to the past, marijuana offenders are now receiving significantly shorter sentences.
Scarmazzo and Montes were both sentenced in 2008 on identical charges, including manufacturing marijuana and possession with intent to distribute, as well as operating a continuing criminal enterprise (known as the “Kingpin Statute”). They both faced 22 years in federal prison. However, Montes, who served as CEO of the dispensary, was pardoned under the Obama administration. In 2017, Scarmazzo also petitioned but was denied.
Luke Scarmazzo and family members | Image via Mission Green
Since then, advocates have actively been working on getting Scarmazzo released. His two main advocates are individuals who have also been convicted on cannabis charges but have since been pardoned— Alice Johnson, a criminal justice reform activist, and Weldon Angelos, founder of advocacy group Mission Green. Angelos served in prison with Scarmazzo for seven years and has been advocating for him for a decade. Both Johnson and Angelos were released under the Trump administration; Scarmazzo was told he would be pardoned as well but was denied last minute.
“Luke’s story is one of the most tragic of our criminal justice system. I said back in 2021 when Trump denied him that pardon that day was the saddest of my advocacy career–this is the proudest,” Angelos told Forbes.
He also stated, “In Luke’s case, it’s more about changing policies and social norms around marijuana in the legal landscape, how it’s changed so radically. The government said that’s very speculative because it comes down to a prosecutor’s decision, basically. But the judge today ruled against that and said, ‘No, no one’s being charged in California today.’”
California NORML stated that Scarmazzo was the last federal prisoner to be locked up for medical marijuana charges in the state. However, there are still many individuals who are serving time for other cannabis-related offenses throughout the country, including California— many of which are actions that are now considered legal in other states. This serves as a reminder that, despite the progress that has been made in recent years, there is still much work to be done toward a more equitable justice system; and that impactful progress is possible and happening with the hard work of activists like Weldon Angelos, Alice Johnson, NORML, and many more.
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