Efforts to release Jeff Mizanskey, the only man in Missouri serving a life-without-parole sentence for a nonviolent marijuana charge, are continuing this month with help from Show-Me Cannabis and Change.org.
Show-Me Cannabis has bought billboard space on I-70 near Kansas City (and near Sedalia, where Mizanskey was arrested). The billboard features a photo of Mizanskey and says: "Life without parole for cannabis? It's time we fix our unjust marijuana laws."
A photo of the billboard, which is on I-70 in Saline County, not far from where Mizanskey was arrested in Sedalia, can be seen above.
John Payne, executive director of Show-Me Cannabis, says this will be the first of several billboards the pro-legalization group will put up regarding the state's marijuana laws. In addition to Mizanskey, the group is planning to feature other victims of current marijuana laws, including people who need to use medicinal marijuana.
See also: VIDEO: Meet Jeff Mizanskey, Missouri's Only Inmate Sentenced to Death in Prison for Pot
But billboards aren't the only way Mizanskey, who is nearing 21 years in prison for racking up three marijuana felonies (the biggest being only six pounds of pot), is getting attention for his plight.
According to Tony Nenninger, an attorney who has helped garner attention for Mizanskey's clemency efforts, a press conference will be held this month in Jefferson City to deliver a Change.org petition to Governor Jay Nixon asking for Mizanskey's release.
"There are over 360,000 online signatures that will be reduced to paper and carried up the steps to the governor's office," Nenninger tells us.
The press conference will be held at 1 p.m. on April 28 near the capitol rotunda.
See also: 20 Years for $40 of Crack, 10 Years for 2 Oz. of Pot? It Happens in St. Louis, Not Just Out West
Jeff Mizanskey was convicted under Missouri's "Prior and Persistent Drug Offender" statute, the only drug-specific three-strike law in the country. Each of his felonies were for marijuana, the largest being approximately six pounds, which he didn't even have on him. To read the details of Mizanskey's story, go to:
- How a Missouri Man Could Die in Prison for Weed
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