We Petition The Obama Administration To Pardon the Kettle Falls Five

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On October 2, 2015, three of the defendants in the Kettle Falls Five case were sentenced to needless federal prison terms and fines. Although they were each acquitted of distribution and other charges, the group received sentences for cultivating for themselves collectively as patients under the recommendation of their physicians through Washington State’s medical cannabis program. Despite the local prosecutor declining to pursue charges in state court and a Congressionally imposed spending restriction on medical cannabis prosecutions, the U.S. Department of Justice still opted to waste its limited resources on this case. The sentences alone will cost hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

We urge you to take action to ask President Obama to issue immediate orders of commutation and remission of jail time and fines for Rolland Gregg (sentenced to 2 years, 9 months; 3 years supervised release; $7,500 fine), his wife Michelle Gregg (1 year, 1 day; 3 years supervised release), and his mother Rhonda Firestack-Harvey (1 year, 1 day; 3 years supervised release). Additionally, we are asking for complete pardons of their convictions so that they are no longer considered felons.

The sentences of these three members of the Kettle Falls Five represent one of the greatest absurdities in the ongoing federal crackdown against patients seeking safe and legal access under their state medical cannabis laws. These patients have already suffered greatly as a result of DOJ’s pursuit, enduring years of federal and lost wages associated with defending themselves in federal court. Additionally, the family has had to deal with the loss of Rhonda’s husband and fellow defendant, Larry Harvey, to cancer earlier this year.

Rhonda, Rolland, and Michelle deserve to get on with their lives and return to being the productive members of society that they were before this ordeal began.