{"id":823,"date":"2021-08-31T17:08:50","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T17:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/wp-home\/?p=176462"},"modified":"2021-08-31T17:08:50","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T17:08:50","slug":"free-rudi-gammo-michiganders-demand-gov-whitmer-pardon-medical-marijuana-prisoner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=823","title":{"rendered":"Free Rudi Gammo: Michiganders demand Gov. Whitmer pardon medical marijuana prisoner"},"content":{"rendered":"
Free Rudi Gammo: Michiganders demand Gov. Whitmer pardon medical marijuana prisoner | Leafly<\/title> <!-- Quotes = strings--><!-- No quotes = boolean-->\t <!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v15.9.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ --> <!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. --> <\/p>\n<p> <!-- BEGIN Sailthru Horizon Meta Information --><\/p>\n<p><!-- END Sailthru Horizon Meta Information --> <!-- Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- End Google Publisher Tag --> <!-- Google Tag Manager --> <!-- End Google Tag Manager --> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat --><br \/>\n <!-- Google Tag Manager (noscript) --> <!-- End Google Tag Manager (noscript) --> <title>Leafly<\/title> <title>Leafly \u00ae<\/title> <title>Loading\u2026<\/title> <\/p>\n<div class=\"bg-white fixed flex hidden inset-0 items-start md:h-auto md:items-center overflow-auto\" id=\"age-gate-container\">\n<div class=\"bg-white md:h-auto mx-auto p-lg text-sm w-full\" id=\"age-gate\">\n<p><label for=\"select-country\">Where are you from?<\/label><\/p>\n<div class=\"age-gate__info\">\n<p><button class=\"button\" data-testid=\"age-gate-no-button\" id=\"tou-cancel\">no<\/button><button class=\"button ml-md\" data-testid=\"age-gate-yes-button\" id=\"tou-continue\">yes<\/button><\/p>\n<p><label class=\"checkbox__label my-xl\"><span class=\"text-xs\" id=\"remember-user-label\">Remember me for 30 days. <br \/>I confirm that this is not a shared device.<\/span><\/label><\/p>\n<p class=\"error error--underage hidden\">Darn! You’re not old enough to use Leafly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"hidden age-gate__loading\">Redirecting you to<span class=\"redirect-domain\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-xs mt-auto\">By accessing this site, you accept<br \/>\nthe <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"tou-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/terms-of-use\">Terms of Use<\/a><br \/>\nand <a class=\"py-xl\" data-testid=\"pp-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/info\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"container my-xl\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col md:col-9\" id=\"article-content\">\n<p>In some legal states, the government requires the entire cannabis industry to be vertically integrated. That means stores can only sell cannabis that they grow themselves and handle entirely in-house from \u201cseed to sale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vertical integration is meant to make it easier for regulators, including law enforcement, to keep tabs on the industry. But in Michigan, vertical integration landed Rudi Gammo, a medical cannabis pioneer, in prison, where he\u2019s currently serving a 5\u00bd year sentence. <\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, Sept. 1, Gammo\u2019s attorney, family, friends, and supporters will gather at 10 a.m. at the Oakland County Courthouse in Pontiac, MI, to call for his immediate release and the dropping of all charges against him. The rally is being organized by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lastprisonerproject.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Last Prisoner Project<\/a>. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" alt=\"image-of-poster-for-Michigan-rally\" class=\"wp-image-176463 has-ll lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/free-rudi-gammo-michiganders-demand-gov-whitmer-pardon-medical-marijuana-prisoner-1.jpg,compress&w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/free-rudi-gammo-michiganders-demand-gov-whitmer-pardon-medical-marijuana-prisoner-1.jpg,compress&w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/free-rudi-gammo-michiganders-demand-gov-whitmer-pardon-medical-marijuana-prisoner-1.jpg,compress&w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/free-rudi-gammo-michiganders-demand-gov-whitmer-pardon-medical-marijuana-prisoner-1.jpg,compress&w=1480 1480w\"><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"h-a-pioneering-medical-marijuana-caregiver-1\">A pioneering medical marijuana caregiver<\/h2>\n<p>Rudi Gammo was among the very first people licensed by the City of Detroit to operate a medical cannabis dispensary. He only sold to those with medical cannabis cards issued by the state. He stocked his shelves with cannabis grown in nearby houses that he owned, with each house assigned to a caregiver who tended to the crop.<\/p>\n<p>According to Gammo\u2019s attorney, as well as industry sources active at the time, this was standard operating procedure back when Michigan\u2019s medical marijuana industry was still operating in a legal gray area. But technically, the state\u2019s medical cannabis law forbade that very kind of vertical integration. Gammo\u2019s ownership of the houses put him in violation, even though he had a license to sell cannabis and the state allowed caregivers to grow it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRudi Gammo was convicted of non-violent marijuana offenses when marijuana was still criminalized in Michigan,\u201d his attorney, Barton Morris, recently told <em>Leafly<\/em>. \u201cMarijuana offenses have been decriminalized in this state since 2019, so Rudi\u2019s continued imprisonment is the epitome of injustice. Had he committed the same offenses today, he could not have been given a prison sentence. So it\u2019s past time for Rudi and others in a similar situation to be free from the criminal justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-rally-for-rudi-in-pontiac-1\">Rally for Rudi in Pontiac <\/h2>\n<p>The Sept. 1 rally is expected to bring public attention to Gammo\u2019s situation, and press Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to pardon the caregiver for doing something that is no longer illegal. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cRudi needs to be home with me and our children,\u201d Vida Gammo tells <em>Leafly<\/em>. \u201cHe\u2019s suffered far too much already.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rudi Gammo suffers from chronic stomach ulcers and degenerative joint disease. Last year he was infected with COVID-19 while incarcerated. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a whole year that we didn\u2019t see each other once,\u201d Vida Gammo says. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t hold each other\u2019s hands\u2014nothing. We were barely able to talk on the phone. When he first got diagnosed we filed a motion for his release, but it was denied.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In October, Rudi Gammo learned that his son Santino was diagnosed with leukemia on his sixth birthday. Santino\u2019s now in remission, but is still undergoing treatments.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" alt=\"image-of-rally-poster\" class=\"wp-image-176527 has-ll lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/free-rudi-gammo-michiganders-demand-gov-whitmer-pardon-medical-marijuana-prisoner-2.jpg,compress&w=550 550w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/free-rudi-gammo-michiganders-demand-gov-whitmer-pardon-medical-marijuana-prisoner-2.jpg,compress&w=740 740w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/free-rudi-gammo-michiganders-demand-gov-whitmer-pardon-medical-marijuana-prisoner-2.jpg,compress&w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/free-rudi-gammo-michiganders-demand-gov-whitmer-pardon-medical-marijuana-prisoner-2.jpg,compress&w=1480 1480w\"><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"h-no-problems-until-a-5-a-m-arrest\">No problems until a 5 a.m. arrest<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cWe never had problems with the authorities until the police came to our house at five in the morning,\u201d Vida Gammo says, recalling her husband\u2019s arrest. \u201cRudi had a license from the city, so we didn\u2019t think that could ever happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rudi\u2019s interest in medical cannabis stemmed from witnessing how smoking joints helped a close friend get through cancer treatment. His shop on 8 Mile Avenue was one of Detroit\u2019s first licensed medical cannabis dispensaries. He and his staff served people from all over the city\u2014\u201call walks of life\u201d\u2014with all kinds of ailments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis motivation was helping people, and he did, without creating any problems,\u201d Vida says of her husband. \u201cUnfortunately, I think he\u2019s being unfairly targeted in this case because he\u2019s had a criminal record in the past. He\u2019s been incarcerated before, but that also means he\u2019s paid for whatever he did when he was young. Meanwhile, the crimes he\u2019s incarcerated for now are victimless crimes that aren\u2019t even crimes anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-everybody-s-with-us-but-the-judge-so-far-1\">\u2018Everybody\u2019s with us but the judge, so far.\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The Gammo family has an unlikely ally in their attempt to overturn what they call an unjust sentence: Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald. Earlier this year, McDonald added her name to a motion requesting the court set aside Gammo\u2019s guilty pleas and\/or re-sentence him.<\/p>\n<p>Significantly, McDonald is newly elected to her position. She ran as a progressive prosecutor and unseated a three-term incumbent in the Democratic primary. It was her predecessor, former prosecutor Jessica Cooper, who handled the original case against Rudi Gammo. And it was Cooper who added a conspiracy charge to each of the seven felony charges she brought against him, essentially treating Gammo like a drug lord instead of a city-licensed medical cannabis supplier.<\/p>\n<p>Targeted with the type of prosecutorial tactics meant to take down \u201congoing criminal enterprises\u201d like street gangs and organized crime, Rudi Gammo eventually pled guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence.<\/p>\n<p>He now sits in prison for breaking laws that no longer exist, on draconian conspiracy charges dreamed up by a prosecutor who soon after got voted out of office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody\u2019s with us but the judge, so far.\u201d Vida Gammo says. \u201cWe are hoping that the judge will have a change of heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-prosecutor-gammo-s-conduct-has-been-decriminalized-1\">Prosecutor: Gammo\u2019s \u2018conduct has been decriminalized.\u2019 <\/h2>\n<p>When listing her reasons for supporting the motion to let Rudi out of prison, newly elected prosecutor Karen McDonald refers to her position as coming from \u201cthe people.\u201d That\u2019s because she serves as a public official, entrusted by the citizens to determine which crimes merit prosecution and with what charges.<\/p>\n<p>In this case, McDonald clearly thinks that the prison time Rudi Gammo has already served more than fits the crime. She has written:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote is-style-solid-color\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>As defendant correctly notes in his brief, the conduct for which defendant is incarcerated has been decriminalized. Given that, given the time defendant has already served, and given the hardship continued incarceration will work on defendant in light of his family and health circumstances, the people concur in defendant\u2019s request for relief.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"h-an-appeal-denied-by-judge\">An appeal denied by judge<\/h2>\n<p>On August 20th, this motion from the Gammo family, with McDonald concurring, went before Judge Matis. And was denied\u2014a terribly disappointing ruling, and a surprising one given the prosecutor\u2019s stated position in favor of release.<\/p>\n<p>Gammo\u2019s legal team will soon file a motion for reconsideration, which they describe as a \u201clast attempt\u201d in the appeals process. <\/p>\n<p>If they can\u2019t change the judge\u2019s mind, the only other avenue to pursue would be a potential pardon from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. In Dec. 2020, Whitmer commuted the sentence of Michael Thompson, who served 25 years for selling three pounds of cannabis to an undercover informant.<\/p>\n<p>Michigan voters legalized the adult use of cannabis in 2018 by a wide margin.<\/p>\n<p>Does the governor truly believe it\u2019s the will of the people to keep Rudi Gammo locked away from his wife and children?<\/p>\n<div id=\"author-box\" class=\"p-lg my-xxl bg-white rounded border border-light-grey elevation-low\">\n<div class=\"mb-lg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/free-rudi-gammo-michiganders-demand-gov-whitmer-pardon-medical-marijuana-prisoner.jpg\" alt=\"David Bienenstock's Bio Image\" class=\"lazyload inline-block mr-md rounded-full border border-light-grey\"> <\/p>\n<p>David Bienenstock<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"text-sm\">Veteran cannabis journalist David Bienenstock is the author of “How to Smoke Pot (Properly): A Highbrow Guide to Getting High” (2016 – Penguin\/Random House), and the co-host and co-creator of the podcast “Great Moments in Weed History with Abdullah and Bean.” Follow him on Twitter @pot_handbook.<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"text-sm font-bold underline text-green\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/news\/author\/david-bienenstock\">View David Bienenstock’s articles<\/a> <\/div>\n<div class=\"leafly-sailthru-signup p-lg my-xl bg-white rounded elevation-low border border-light-grey\">\n<p class=\"text-xs pt-lg\">By submitting this form, you will be subscribed to news and promotional emails from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\">Leafly<\/a> and you agree to Leafly’s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/tos\">Terms of Service<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leafly.com\/company\/privacy-policy\">Privacy Policy<\/a>. You can unsubscribe from Leafly email messages anytime.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!-- Chartbeat --> <!-- End Chartbeat --> <!--\nPerformance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: https:\/\/www.boldgrid.com\/w3-total-cache\/ Served from: _ @ 2021-08-31 10:09:00 by W3 Total Cache\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Free Rudi Gammo: Michiganders demand Gov. Whitmer pardon medical marijuana prisoner | Leafly Leafly Leafly \u00ae Loading\u2026 Where are you from? noyes Remember me for 30 days. I confirm that this is not a shared device. Darn! You’re not old enough to use Leafly. Redirecting you to By accessing this site, you accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. In some legal states, the government requires the entire cannabis industry to be vertically integrated. That means stores can only sell cannabis that they grow themselves and handle entirely in-house from \u201cseed to sale.\u201d Vertical integration is meant to make… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/free-rudi-gammo-michiganders-demand-gov-whitmer-pardon-medical-marijuana-prisoner.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}