Editors’ Note: “Freedom Fighter of the Month” has long been a popular feature in High Times Magazine, dating back to the 1990s. Today, we’re bringing it back as a monthly column. Send your nominations to kariboiter@gmail.com with the subject line “Freedom Fighter of the Month.” Tell us who you think we should recognize, why, and how to best contact that person, and we’ll add them to our growing list of unsung heroes to highlight in communities like yours.
Jason Washington is a man of conviction. It’s apparent in the way he speaks, the actions he’s taken, and the companies he’s built. Today, Washington is a self-made entrepreneur with successful businesses inside and outside the cannabis industry. But the path that brought him here is long, winding, and riddled with legal minefields.
Washington is among 34 state-licensed cannabis caregivers in Montana who were federally indicted after simultaneous raids on two dozen businesses across the state in 2011. But unlike 31 other defendants who pleaded guilty in exchange for leniency, Washington chose to go to trial. In a judicial system where 97% of cases are resolved through plea bargains, and an even smaller percentage are acquitted, the odds were stacked against him.
“Sometimes courage takes a different kind of person,” says Washington. “Even if I had gotten 20 years, I wanted my son to have an example of when you feel convicted and strongly about something, you stand up and you fight for it, no matter what it is. There’s right and there’s wrong.”
Six of Washington’s business associates were indicted along with him, from the head of cultivation to his accountant. Absent from the indictment were two of Washington’s business partners. Washington believes their cooperation with prosecutors played a pivotal role in the case. “There …
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Author: Kari Boiter / High Times
