Pubdate: Wed, 02 Sep 2015
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248

LIFE SENTENCE FOR POT IS DROPPED

(AP) - A man sentenced to life without parole on a marijuana-related 
charge was freed from a Missouri prison after being behind bars for 
more than two decades - a period in which the nation's attitudes 
toward pot steadily softened.

Family, friends, supporters and reporters flocked to meet Jeff 
Mizanskey, 62, as he stepped out of the Jefferson City Correctional 
Center into a sunny morning, wearing a new pair of white tennis shoes 
and a shirt that read, "I'm Jeff & I'm free."

His release followed years of lobbying by relatives, lawmakers and 
others who argued that the sentence was too stiff and that marijuana 
should not be forbidden.
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