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ROCHESTER, Minn.-After recreational cannabis was legalized in Minnesota in August 2023, the state began working towards expunging cannabis related records.
Travis Cullen, the owner and CEO of Laughing Waters Smoke Shop, is a big advocate for marijuana and the release of non-violent offenders in cannabis-related cases.
Cullen told KIMT he was arrested at the age of 21 for trafficking 700 pounds of marijuana from California to Minneapolis. After his arrest, he spent eight years in federal prison.
With his experience, he wants to help other non-violent marijuana prisoners.
Through his business he partnered with groups like Freedom Grows and Our Last Prisoner Project to raise awareness and funds for inmates. The funds go towards prisoners commissary and help with legal fees associated with expungement.
Cullen has been working with prisoners who have been in federal prison for years because of marijuana.
He says, “It’s a tough system, it’s a very dangerous place. I’m really I’m free and I feel like I can be the voice through my store, the store at laughing waters has enabled me to have a voice for these guys locked in these cells.”
Cullen is working with others in the cannabis community as well as politicians to help change laws for inmates currently in jail.
”}]] A local business owner is advocating and raising funds for non-violent inmates with cannabis related records Read More