Politics
Mike Tyson Thanks Trump For Releasing Federal Marijuana Prisoners, Saying He Hopes More Will Soon Be Freed
Retired boxer Mike Tyson is thanking President Donald Trump for his decision to free two people who were serving time for federal marijuana convictions last week—but he is making clear that even more acts of cannabis clemency should follow.
“No one should lose decades of their life for nonviolent cannabis offenses,” Tyson told Marijuana Moment in reaction to the president’s action.
Trump on Thursday commuted the sentences of Jerry Haymon IV and Kevin Harden, effectively ending their sentences and putting them on the path to being free.
“I want to thank President Trump for giving Jerry Haymon and Kevin Harden a second chance,” Tyson told Marijuana Moment.
“I hope this is only the beginning for those still waiting to rebuild their lives,” he said.
The clemency applications from Haymon and Harden were both accompanied by a letter Tyson wrote to Trump in which he praised the president for his administration’s moves to federally reschedule marijuana, which the boxer had publicly pushed for in advance.
“There are Americans still sitting in federal prison for the very conduct your order addresses, waiting to see if your historic words will extend to them,” he wrote. “With two-thirds of Americans in support of marijuana legalization, not more punishment, the politics align with common sense policy. Yet individuals remain behind bars under outdated federal laws for conduct that today would not result in prison in much of the country.”
“Granting clemency to non-violent marijuana offenders would reunite families, restore lost opportunity, and write the final chapter of the federal war on marijuana—a chapter that only you have the power to close,” Tyson said in the letter. “It would be a legacy moment: bold, decisive, and right. I respectfully urge you to act.”
Haymon was given a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence in federal prison for his participation in a marijuana distribution conspiracy, and had been living in home confinement for the past year.
“Today is an amazing day that I will never forget,” Haymon told Marijuana Moment on Friday after receiving the news of his commutation, saying it feels like he has been “reborn again.”
Thirty-six members of Congress sent a letter to then-President Joe Biden in support of Haymon’s request for clemency.
While Biden issued mass pardons to people who committed federal marijuana possession offenses, he did not heed calls to free people serving time in federal prison for involvement in selling cannabis.
Haymon’s case was championed by Weldon Angelos, founder of the criminal justice non-profit The Weldon Project who received a cannabis-related presidential pardon during Trump’s first term.
“I also recognize Weldon Angelos and The Weldon Project for their tireless work bringing people home,” Tyson told Marijuana Moment.
Harden, the other person that Trump granted clemency to on Thursday, had been serving a 30-year sentence after being convicted of conspiracy to distribute marijuana.
His co-defendant in the cannabis case, James Romans, was granted clemency by Trump in 2021 on the final day of his first term in office.
The two cannabis commutations are part of a broader package of clemency grants the the president issued last week.
Trump’s move to free a handful of cannabis prisoners comes as his administration of moving forward with the process of federally rescheduling marijuana.
Attorney General Todd Blanche in April issued an order that immediately reclassified state-licensed medical cannabis, as well as marijuana products approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to Schedule III.
Under a separate order he signed, the DEA hearing was held to consider more comprehensively moving marijuana to Schedule III. An agency judge is currently considering a recommendation on the issue, and then the DEA administrator will issue a final determination.
During the hearing, DEA officials charged with defending the cannabis rescheduling proposal highlighted testimony on marijuana’s medical benefits and its relative safety compared to other substances such as alcohol and opioids.
Earlier this year, Trump pardoned a former NFL star who was convicted of trafficking 175 pounds of marijuana.
At the start of his second term, the president fulfilled a campaign promise by commuting the life sentence of Ross Ulbricht, a man who was convicted of running a dark web illicit drug market.
Tyson, for his part, spent time talking with Pennsylvania lawmakers last year about why that state should legalize marijuana.
Image element courtesy of Super Festivals.
