Trent Bouhdida

At the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amy, a cannabis marketing executive in Arizona, felt especially bad for incarcerated men and women. Prison was bad enough; the thought of the pandemic causing so many prisoners to be locked down constantly, not even allowed into the dayroom, was disheartening. In her late 40s at the time, and single, Amy took it upon herself to write to a dozen inmates. "Think of me as the cool aunt," she told some of them, making sure that the connection would stay strictly platonic. Since she worked in the cannabis industry, she was well aware that some Americans have actually been sentenced to life in prison for marijuana offenses, while violent offenders were getting released in a fraction of that time. How unfair, she thought, as she hand-picked some non-violent men (and even some women) who were convicted of a cannabis-related crime and wrote them a letter. Some replied almost immediately. Others never wrote back. In this interview, Amy shares her e…

Over the course of three months in 2015, PenPals.Buzz member Trent Bouhdida sold undercover officer Ronald Elcock (call me Kev) a total of one ounce of marijuana. Eight months later, he was arrested by two U.S. Marshalls, while attempting to drive his wife (who had recently given birth) to a job interview. He never made it to the job interview, but he did make it to the county jail. And after two mistrials, and a relentless prosecution, Arizona prosecutors finally found a jury who would convict him. Bouhdida received over 16 years in state prison for selling what is, in most states, completely legal. Why would Arizona undercover officers devote months of time to bust a law-abiding 21-year-old father who had a 3-month-old son and was working full time in customer service? Why not go after people committing real crimes? And how is it possible that any judge in any court in any state in America could ever sentence someone to 16 years for selling an ounce of weed, and be able to sleep wel…