Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Cannabis Offense Walks Free
45 years ago today, John Lennon released Some Time in New York City, a protest album, which featured the song “John Sinclair.” The song protested a 10-year jail term for two pre-rolls of cannabis that was imposed on songwriter John Sinclair. “It ain’t fair, John Sinclair, in the stir for breathing air,” Lennon sung in 1972. Ironically, 45 years later people like Corey Ladd are still getting thrown in prison for personal amounts of cannabis. Fortunately however, Ladd was finally released from a 20-year jail sentence after multiple appeals.
Ladd’s girlfriend was eight months pregnant when he was sent to jail in 2011. Because of two past possession charges, he was charged as a habitual offender and automatically sentenced to twenty years in jail without the possibility of parole.
Ironically Corey Ladd was released from prison today after serving five years of his originally 20-year sentence for simple cannabis possession. After his first appeal, his 20-year sentence was only reduced to 17 years. On June 9, Ladd’s sentence was reduced to 10 years, and because he had already served five, he was eligible for parole on June 12. “The sheer harshness of the sentence shocks the conscience . . .” the state appeals court wrote in its decision. “Far too much authority has been usurped from judges under the pretext of appearing ‘tough’ on crime.”
Ladd was able to embrace his five-year-old daughter Charlee for the first time outside of prison walls. The prison-based system for cannabis enforcement tears families apart, and it’s especially evident in Ladd’s case. Simple substance possession is the number one most arrested offense in the United States.
Now a free man on parole, Ladd plans on taking his daughter to her first day of kindergarten, something that he’d never be able to do with his original sentence. If Ladd’s sentence wasn’t reduced, he wouldn’t have seen his daughter until see was 17 years old. Thousands of other Americans are in prison over minor cannabis possession charges. Harsh sentencing practices for drugs needs to changes.
