The ice cream giant with 46 years of tradition is speaking out for cannabis justice once again.
For this year’s 4/20 cannabis holiday, Ben & Jerry‘s is working with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and AZ Justice Project to spread one message: Legalization without justice is half-baked. Ben and Jerry’s is supporting the ACLU’s call for state governors across the country to grant sentence reductions or pardons, legally known as clemency, to people serving cannabis-related sentences. Even in states like Arizona, which legalized cannabis and voted for expungement in 2020, there are still at least 200,000 people with cannabis convictions on their records.
“It’s not enough to decarcerate people convicted for cannabis-related offenses. To truly achieve cannabis justice, we also have to do what’s necessary to ensure people are no longer haunted by these convictions,” stated Palika Makam, Ben & Jerry’s U.S. Activism Manager. “Countless people are still incarcerated and continue to be burdened by convictions for cannabis-related offenses even in states where cannabis is legal.”
Previous Efforts
This is not the first time Ben & Jerry’s has called for cannabis justice. In 2022, in a joint effort with the ACLU, it demanded the Senate pass cannabis justice legislation. Last year, Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen launched a non-profit cannabis line, Ben’s Best Blnz or B3, to help right the wrong of the War on Drugs, with 100% of the profits benefiting minority-owned…