This article discusses allowing medical marijuana for prisoners and argues for broader reforms. It summarizes that a judge ruled inmates have a right to medical marijuana in New Mexico, which could impact other jails and prisons. The article then argues that private, for-profit prisons prioritize profits over rehabilitation and that harsh drug laws disproportionately impact minorities and exacerbate mass incarceration. The article concludes that providing inmates with medical marijuana and rehabilitation programs could help reduce prison populations and costs to taxpayers.

1. 1/12/2021 Pot for Prisoners and How It is a Big Win for Cannabis Advocates
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/pot-for-prisoners-and-how-it-is-a-big-win-for-cannabis-advocates 2/16
MEDICAL MARIJUANA FOR JAIL INMATES
f i d i i i

2. 1/12/2021 Pot for Prisoners and How It is a Big Win for Cannabis Advocates
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/pot-for-prisoners-and-how-it-is-a-big-win-for-cannabis-advocates 3/16
Pot for Prisoners and How It is a Big Win
for Cannabis Advocates
Medical marijuana for inmates could have huge rami cations on the justice system
Posted by:
Reginald Reefer on Tuesday Jan 12, 2021
Pot for Prisons & Perhaps We Should Rethink the Whole
Prison Thing

3. 1/12/2021 Pot for Prisoners and How It is a Big Win for Cannabis Advocates
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/pot-for-prisoners-and-how-it-is-a-big-win-for-cannabis-advocates 4/16
A BIG Win for Cannabis Activists (https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/2021/01/02/district-judge-ruled-inmates-
have-right-medical-marijuana/4107923001/) in New Mexico as “A state district judge in Albuquerque ruled this week that
Bernalillo County's Metropolitan Detention Center must allow qualifying patients access to medical marijuana, in a victory for
advocates that could have far-reaching implications for jails and prisons”.
While some may sco at the idea of giving prisoners access to medical cannabis, I would argue that one could go even
further. After all, the United States has the largest prison population on the planet – yes, even more prisoners than in
China. [Source (https://www.statista.com/statistics/262961/countries-with-the-most-prisoners/)]
How can “The land of the Free” house more prisoners than Communist China? Simple really – prohibition had a major
role to play in all this. And of course, the “Tough on crime” ideology that was ever present in political circles during the
1980s and 1990s.
However – as we can see, these policies have not worked and while there is a very strong potential for legalizing
cannabis in 2021, the problem fundamentally lies in several ‘issues’.

4. 1/12/2021 Pot for Prisoners and How It is a Big Win for Cannabis Advocates
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/pot-for-prisoners-and-how-it-is-a-big-win-for-cannabis-advocates 5/16
Prison for Pro t Schemes
Unethical Policies targeting the disenfranchised for political gains
An ine ective Prison System
We’ll be expanding on these three points throughout the rest of this article.
For Pro t Prisons should be abolished!
Here’s some insane facts that will blow your mind;

5. 1/12/2021 Pot for Prisoners and How It is a Big Win for Cannabis Advocates
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/pot-for-prisoners-and-how-it-is-a-big-win-for-cannabis-advocates 6/16
From 2000 to 2016 the number of people housed in private prisons increased ve times faster than the total prison population.
Over a similar timeframe, the proportion of people detained in private immigration facilities increased by 442 percent. [Source
(https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/capitalizing-on-mass-incarceration-u-s-growth-in-private-prisons/)]
And from the same source;
Private prison companies face a challenge in reducing costs and o ering services necessary to maintaining safety in prisons
while also generating a pro t for shareholders. The primary approach to controlling spending is by maintaining lower levels of
sta bene ts and salary than publicly-run facilities. Labor costs normally account for 60 to 70 percent of annual operating
budgets. Such savings, though, risk compromising safety and security within prisons
This is a problem because the idea of a prison is to “Correct the Behavior of the O ender”. This is why they call them
“Correctional Facilities”.
But as you can see, when pro t is the motivation – correction simply isn’t “pro table”. Rather, having repeat o enders
becomes your main source of income because the more prisoners you have – the more money you can syphon o the
government.
Let’s not forget the slave labor programs they have in these facilities where inmates works for pennies. It is literally the
only form of slavery that legally exists in the United States and the Federal government and the DOJ are the biggest
“buyers” of these slave-produced goods.
Why do we have prisons if it doesn’t serve the purpose of “correcting” the individuals’ ways?
Unethical Policies Swells Prison Populations
I’ve spoken countless times about how cannabis laws have helped the government steal property and imprison people
for non-crimes.
These policies usually target the most disenfranchised groups within society. When one of these “targeted minorities”
end up in prison – they get a record. The record makes it impossible for them to get loans or even decent jobs.

6. 1/12/2021 Pot for Prisoners and How It is a Big Win for Cannabis Advocates
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/pot-for-prisoners-and-how-it-is-a-big-win-for-cannabis-advocates 7/16
This leads to the obvious solution – crime! Which when they are caught, get sentenced for longer until eventually they
spend the rest of their days behind bars – never actually contributing to society but living o society’s dime.
For Pro t Prisons take clear advantage of this. The prison population will continue to grow as long as we have unethical
laws on the books.
Prison doesn’t “Correct” is puts you in a greater bind
As mentioned above, once you are in prison – you’re fucked! Very few people get to crawl out of that hole and not only
are the prisoners a ected, their families as well since they no longer have the full force of their family unit to tackle their
challenges.
This is because prisons in America aim to “punish” rather than correct. While there are certain “skills” one can learn from
the programs in prison – your GED won’t land you a job in a digital economy. Furthermore, for the violent o enders –
there’s no real follow up to help “deal with the violence” in the individual.
Rather, the prisoner is thrown in with other violent people and in turn, violence begets violence. The same goes for
every other prisoner. Where are the programs to help teach them to master their emotions, to become more critical of
their choices and to think before they act?
It simply doesn’t exist.
The Argument for Weed in Prison
In order to reduce costs to the tax payer, introducing cannabis to the prison system has many advantages.
It helps keep the population healthier
It helps keep the population calmer
It can be used to help ween o addicts from harder drugs

7. 1/12/2021 Pot for Prisoners and How It is a Big Win for Cannabis Advocates
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/pot-for-prisoners-and-how-it-is-a-big-win-for-cannabis-advocates 8/16
These are just a few basic bene ts.
But coupling this with programs designed to give the inmate a chance of making it on the outside, showing them how to
manage their emotional intelligence, make strategic nancial decisions and you know – help correct their behavior – I’m
sure you’ll have fewer repeat o enders and over time, the prison population will begin to wane.
Nonetheless, the fact that inmates [at least in New Mexico] may have access to medical cannabis is a great start.
MARIJUANA AND PRISONS, READ MORE...
(https://cannabis.net/blog/news/prisons-to-grow-facilities-ending-the-
racist-war-on-drugs)
CONVERTING PRISONS TO MARIJUANA GROW HOUSES, READ THIS! (https://cannabis.net/blog/news/prisons-to-grow-
facilities-ending-the-racist-war-on-drugs)
What did you think?

8. 1/12/2021 Pot for Prisoners and How It is a Big Win for Cannabis Advocates
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/pot-for-prisoners-and-how-it-is-a-big-win-for-cannabis-advocates 9/16
Keep reading... click here
(https://cannabis.net/blog)
0 0 0 0 0 0
Leave a Comment:
Submit
What are your thoughts?
Please log-in (https://cannabis.net/login) or register (https://cannabis.net/register) to post a comment.

9. 1/12/2021 Pot for Prisoners and How It is a Big Win for Cannabis Advocates
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/pot-for-prisoners-and-how-it-is-a-big-win-for-cannabis-advocates 10/16
NEWS (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/NEWS) INTERVIEW (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/INTERVIEW)
SEXY (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/SEXY) LOCATIONS (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/LOCATIONS)
SPORTS (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/SPORTS) TECHNOLOGY (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/TECHNOLOGY)
PERSONAL STORY (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/PERSONAL-STORY) VOTE (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/VOTE)
MEDICAL (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/MEDICAL) VIDEOS (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/VIDEOS)
EVENTS (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/EVENTS) VAPING (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/VAPING)
OPINION (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/OPINION) B2B (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/B2B)
DABS (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/DABS) SMOKE (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/SMOKE)
HOW TO (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/HOW-TO) STRAINS (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/STRAINS)
CATEGORIES

10. 1/12/2021 Pot for Prisoners and How It is a Big Win for Cannabis Advocates
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/pot-for-prisoners-and-how-it-is-a-big-win-for-cannabis-advocates 11/16
FUNNY (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/FUNNY) HISTORY (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/HISTORY)
RECIPES (HTTPS://CANNABIS.NET/BLOG/RECIPES)
FEATURED

11. 1/12/2021 Pot for Prisoners and How It is a Big Win for Cannabis Advocates
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/pot-for-prisoners-and-how-it-is-a-big-win-for-cannabis-advocates 12/16
MEDICAL
Why You Should Never Take Opioids and Cannabis Together
The researchers set out to analyze the impact of mixing both substances for pain relief by polling 450 adults who suffered from moderate to severe pain for over
3 months. Some of the subjects used only opioids for pain relief, while others combined both pot and opioids. The researchers found that the subjects who

12. 1/12/2021 Pot for Prisoners and How It is a Big Win for Cannabis Advocates
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/pot-for-prisoners-and-how-it-is-a-big-win-for-cannabis-advocates 13/16
(https://cannabis.net/blog/medical/why-you-should-never-take-opioids-and-cannabis-together)
consumed both apparently also ended up consuming more booze cocaine and tobacco compared to their counterparts who only took opioids
EVENTS
DEA Overwhelmed By Tell The Truth About Cannabis Petition