EDWIN RUBIS

Incarcerated: 1998   |  Sentence: 20 YEARS

Edwin Rubis, father of three, has served two decades in federal prison – the halfway point of his 40-year sentence for a non-violent marijuana conspiracy offense. Rubis and his family are working with The Weldon Project and other organizations in hopes of bringing attention and clemency to his case. 



Edwin Rubis is serving a de facto life sentence in federal prison for conspiracy to possess and distribute marijuana. Convicted in 1998, Edwin has watched from behind bars as states have continued to legalize cannabis for therapeutic and recreational use, while dispensary owners make billions of dollars in profit. 


In a recent interview with Civilized., Rubis discussed current marijuana-legalization efforts from the perspective of so-called “marijuana lifers,” telling the reporter, "It gives us hope...but at the same time we’re going, ‘wait a minute.’ The months and years keep going by and we’re still here. We have different activists standing up for legalization, but at the same time they’re not speaking up for those in confinement. We need a voice out there to speak up for us.”

Organizations such as the Marijuana Lifers Project and The Weldon Project are working to lend a voice to those who, like Edwin, are imprisoned for non-violent cannabis offenses.


Their advocacy efforts highlight the hypocrisies in marijuana sentencing and bring attention to the need for criminal justice reform and clemency. 


“Thousands of people, many of them minorities, are languishing in federal and state prisons across the country serving cannabis-related sentences, while mostly older white men around the country are profiting from the medical and recreational cannabis industries,” said Weldon Angelos, president and co-founder of The Weldon Project. “We need to address this injustice.”


The Weldon Project is spearheading an advocacy effort focused on getting Edwin’s case and others like his in front of the Biden/Harris administration for clemency consideration. In the meantime, Edwin continues to make his time in prison as productive as possible, working toward a doctorate in counseling.

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