Snoop Dogg carrying the flaming torch through the French suburbs at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics last summer meant many things to many people. When the lanky rap icon first released his Doggystyle debut back in 1993, marijuana possession (and usage) was illegal in all 50 states, and most people imagined smoking cannabis freely only in faraway Amsterdam cafés. Ever since 2012 brought in the first recreational use laws in the U.S., 24 states have legalized weed for that purpose and 38 states for medicinal use. Now no one bats an eye at a blunt-smoking rapper like Snoop performing at the Olympics’ closing ceremony. Attitudes around cannabis have come a long way, but not as far as most people might think.
The Last Prisoner Project organization recently celebrated its five-year anniversary with a fundraiser in midtown Manhattan: the Journey to Justice Gala in the theater district’s Sony Hall. The event featured hosting comedian Guy Torry, performers Stephen Marley, Damien Marley and dead prez, hip-hop legend Fab 5 Freddy and testimonials by formerly imprisoned marijuana traffickers turned entrepreneurs to highlight the project’s mission of “freeing the tens of thousands of individuals still unjustly imprisoned.”
Classical treatments of rap songs like Kanye West’s “Runaway” by a live jazz quartet floated through the air as guests mingled with hors d’oeuvres and wine, some even sparking up in their black-tie tuxedos. Invitees quickly noticed that each of their tables contained a QR code leading to family grant programs and donation information for the commissary funds of those currently imprisoned on marijuana-related offenses.
My table included Real Housewives of Potomac alumna Dr. Wendy Osefo, her husband Eddie Osefo, co-founder of the Happy Eddie cannabis brand, and his business partner, COO Brian Albanese. Since 2021, even Fab 5 Freddy launched his own successful cannabis brand, B Noble (named for Bernard Noble, a former prisoner who served seven years in jail for the equivalent of two joints’ worth of marijuana). I managed to hitch a ride to the THC NYC museum afterparty with Vladimir Bautista and Ramon Reyes, cofounders of the Happy Munkey cannabis lifestyle brand—which represents the fraternal camaraderie found among weed enthusiasts.
Before the Marleys performed an acoustic “Get Up, Stand Up,” before dead prez rocked everyone with “Hip-Hop,” the crowd heard several moving speeches from the former incarcerated and their families. Receiving a Cannabis Reform Hero Award from JoJo Simmons (son of Rev. Run), activist-poet Richeda Sinclair gave touching testimony about her father Ricardo Ashmeade and his 22-year prison sentence for a cannabis offense.
Black Americans are arrested for violating marijuana possession laws at nearly four times the rates of white Americans. Because many former prisoners speaking from the stage weren’t of color, it felt most refreshing to hear from people like Richeda Sinclair, Kyle Page, the formerly incarcerated constituent ambassador of the Last Prisoner Project, and Michael Thompson, released from a Michigan prison in 2021 from a decades-long sentence for a low-level cannabis sale.
DJ Keith Shocklee of hip-hop’s famous Bomb Squad production team wrapped up the evening on a musical note after a fundraising auction raised more to support the legal, policy and reentry service programs run by the Last Prisoner Project. For more information, see LastPrisonerProject.org.
