Jeff Mizanskey Petition Asks That Life Sentence For Marijuana Possession Be Commuted

The Jeff Mizanskey petition has been gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures demanding that the Missouri man be released from his life-without-parole sentence for a non-violent marijuana possession charge.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, after a toddler was forced to smoke weed, the video of a child smoking a marijuana joint went viral.

Mizanskey is apparently a one of a kind case in Missouri. He was convicted under a drug specific three strikes law called “Prior and Persistent Drug Offender” for possessing marijuana. The final and third arrest was for five pounds of weed that were not physically located on his person. In fact, it’s claimed by the arresting officer that Jeff’s third conviction came about because he happened to be a “helper” for marijuana transaction being targeted by a sting operation. Even though Jeff technically did not own the weed he was arrested along with the drug dealers.

The ironic part of the whole story is that now Washington state and Colorado have made recreational marijuana usage legal, while Alaska may be following suit and other states are considering either making basic possession legal or are focused solely on medical purposes. Jeff has already served 20 years out of a license sentence handed down during when the War on Drugs was a large political movement.

Jeff Mizanskey’s son, Chris, has been attempting to have his father freed from doing life in prison for pot. Previous unsuccessful appeals were made in 1995, 1997, and 2011, but Chris believes that since his father did not have a history of violence he should be offered clemency:

“Over the 20 years he has been in that little cell, he has watched as violent criminals, rapists, and murderers have ‘paid their debts’ and left—sometimes just to return a few months later.”

Attorney Tony Nenninger has been working with Chris and hopes his work may help other families:

“To think that somebody is getting this extreme a punishment is terrible. [It is] the single most striking example of a bad law. It’s bad for society.”

Nenninger plans on delivering a Change.org petition to Missouri Governor Jay Nixon asking for Mizanskey’s release.

John Payne, executive director of Show-Me Cannabis, says his organization bought billboard space off of highway I-70 in order to highlight the Jeff Mizanskey petition. The billboard says, “Life without parole for cannabis? It’s time we fix our unjust marijuana laws.” Do you agree?