By Matt Ferner

Jeff Mizanskey, a 61-year-old man who was serving life in prison for nonviolent marijuana offenses, walked out of a Missouri prison a free man on Tuesday morning. 

Mizanskey had already spent 21 years behind bars, but was notified by the Missouri Department of Corrections in August that his application for parole had been granted. 

“The Jeff Mizanskey case simply shows that the war on drugs has reached the pinnacle of absurdity,” Tony Papa, manager of media relations for the Drug Policy Alliance, told The Huffington Post. “If there was ever a case that deserved drug war reparation, this is it. Pay the man in full for the time he has served for a nonviolent drug crime. He deserves it.”

Earlier this year, Mizanskey became eligible for parole when Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) commuted his life sentence, while granting pardons to five other nonviolent offenders who had already completed their punishments. Parole was an option that Mizanskey did not have previously because he had been sentenced as a “prior and persistent drug offender” under Missouri’s three strikes law, which was repealed last year.

All three of Mizanskey’s offenses involved marijuana. He was given a life sentence after a conviction for attempting to sell about 6 pounds of pot in a 1993 police sting operation.

“He saw rapists, murderers and child molesters get out of prison while he was sentenced to die behind bars for something that should not be a crime to begin with,” Mizanskey’s attorney, Dan Viets, said upon his client’s release, KOMU-TV reported.

The Free Jeff Mizanskey Facebook page has been posting photos of Mizanskey reunited with family since he was set free Tuesday morning:

Marijuana offenses, mostly involving simple possession, account for roughly half of all drug-related crimes. According …read more

Source:: Weed Feed