It has to be WE

My name is Jeremy Grove, inmate 32201-171 of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. To a lot

of America, that is all I will ever be. To a special group of people, I am looked at as a victim. A

victim of a war against a plant that is the cure to what ills us. I believe all cannabis is medicine,

and Americans should have the right to use cannabis. I believe everyone in prison for cannabis

deserves a completely fresh start. I believe that all cannabis convictions should be wiped off the

books and everyone whose sentences have been impacted by those crimes should be

resentenced. I know I am not alone in this belief because of the support I received through my

darkest times.

The term “Cannabis Prisoner of War” was introduced to me through a Freedom Grow

Forever newsletter. At the time, I was sitting in a six by nine cell with a desk, bunk beds, the

toilet/sink combo, and a shower. It was the beginning of covid and transfer of inmates had been

completely shut down. I was living the harshest punishment in America and I certainly felt

forgotten. To have a newsletter that was so incredibly thoughtful for someone in the position I

was in. They had little word puzzles and the story of Randy Lanier. Stephanie Landa had

pictures of herself putting commissary envelopes in the mail. I realized in that moment I wasnt

alone. That there were people who cared about me and that felt the injustice I felt. That saw me

as a brother and friend even though we had never met. I “fished” (the act of sliding items under

the door and through the hallway using thread from blankets) the newsletter to all the other

inmates on the range.

With my time I started writing but to make the security pen stable enough to hold I

needed the sticker off of a bottle of head and shoulders. The only things we could buy off

commissary were hygene items. I didnt have money on my books as far as I knew but I checked

the box for Head and Shoulders and hoped. When I received the commissary I got the shampoo

and a receipt that showed I still had some money left. As it turned out, Last Prisoner Project had

put money on my books which is how I made the pen I ended up writing a 620 page novel on.

After my 11 months stint in the SHU and transit I ended up at Fort Dix in New Jersey. Upon

arrival I started receiving post cards from prisoner writing campaigns. Every day, 10-12 post

cards for a week. They had been sitting in the mail room at Fort Dix waiting for me to arrive. The

emotions I felt after the experience I had just been through were profound. Strangers expressing

their sympathy for my situation, sharing my belief that cannabis is the cure for opiate addiction.

They over-riding them was “we read your story and agree with you”. To this day I still do not

know what they were reading from. I dont know what was in whatever bio they read. I was in

prison. I had no idea what was going on out here, but I knew Last Prisoner Project and Freedom

Grow Forever were organizations with which I shared a common goal.

Since I was released I attended the National Cannabis festival in 2023 and helped at the

LPP booth. It was incredible to meet the people who had supported me while I was in my

darkest times. In 2024 I was able to take a much more active approach to activism for those still

in prison for the plant. I attended the lobby week and was able to meet lawmakers and the

candle light vigil was an absolute highlight of my life. It is what led me to spending time in

Washington with Travis making a video interviewing people about their awareness of so many

people being still locked up for a plant. To even have a community and people who believe I

was wrongly incarcerated, that I’m more than just a felon, that I deserve a place in the

movement means so much to me.

This leads me to today. I am making a call for Unity. I am calling for 10 ex cannabis

prisoners to take on the cases of 10 individuals still incarcerated. Learn about their cases like

only people who have been through the system can. Talk to their families, read through their

transcripts, and look for what they have accomplished in prison. Use an action in front of the

White House to create attention for the 10 individuals still inside. Try our best to get Alice

Johnson to hear our pleas and take our request to the President of the United States.

I am a cannabis activist because I carry the pain. I carry the experience. I carry the love

having strangers believe in me brought. Thats why everything I write, everything I do, everything