With every purchase, the consumer receipt will include original content documenting the cost one incarcerated individual has paid in lost years with loved ones, family celebrations and life opportunities.
Dialed In will also make a direct contribution to Last Prisoner Project for each purchase. The nonprofit is dedicated to cannabis criminal justice reform.
A limited-edition Freedom Receipt gummy will be available in all Dialed In markets. The product brings the campaign’s message into the retail environment where consumers experience the benefits of legalization every day.
“We believe being part of the legal cannabis industry comes with a responsibility to acknowledge that history,” said Max Vansluys, President and Head of Business Development at Dialed In. “Freedom Receipt is our way of putting that reality directly in front of consumers and asking what we can do about it.”
Vansluys added that the campaign is not about making consumers feel guilty for participating in legal cannabis.
The campaign highlights people still living with the consequences of prohibition. Last Prisoner Project Executive Director Stephanie Shepard was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on a first-time, nonviolent cannabis offense and served nine years before her release in 2019, followed by five years of probation.
“I lost nine years of time with my friends and family because of a first-time cannabis offense,” Shepard said. “You cannot put a price on that time.”
Another story belongs to Parker Coleman, who is serving a de facto life sentence of 60 years for a marijuana conspiracy charge despite no violence of any kind. Unless he receives clemency, he will be in his 80s when released.
Ismael Lira has spent more than 20 years in prison after being sentenced in 2006 to life without the possibility of parole for possession with intent to distribute cannabis.
“I am living this sad truth,” said Lira, who noted his case rested on evidence from a DEA agent recently convicted on multiple counts of falsifying evidence and records.
The campaign is designed not to diminish legalization’s progress but to acknowledge the gap between that progress and the people still affected by prohibition.
“The progress of legalization is real, but legalization did not erase the harm caused by prohibition,” Shepard said.
She noted that people and families still live with the consequences of cannabis criminalization while others participate in a legal and increasingly successful industry.
For Dialed In, the campaign continues a long-term commitment to cannabis justice. The company believes businesses that benefit from the legal industry have an obligation to support efforts addressing prohibition’s ongoing consequences.
“It’s about realizing how much has changed while also recognizing what hasn’t changed,” Vansluys said.
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