*Karly Cramer doesn’t try to rewrite her past. The Arizona mother readily admits she broke the law while operating a medical marijuana delivery service that eventually grew into a thriving business. Looking back, she says the biggest mistake wasn’t getting caught—it was the emotional burden her choices placed on her son.
“I regret what I did to my son,” Cramer told EURweb’s Lee Bailey (watch the full interview below). “It caused stress on my son, and people knew about it because they put me in the newspaper. It caused embarrassment to him.”
Today, after serving six months in jail and completing probation, Cramer has dedicated herself to advocating for nonviolent cannabis offenders through her social media initiative, “Jailed For Weed.”
From Single Mom to Cannabis Entrepreneur
Cramer said she entered the cannabis business in 2009 while raising her son alone in suburban Phoenix.
What began as a way to earn extra income quickly became a full-time business serving medical marijuana patients in Arizona using cannabis sourced from Northern California.
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“I was a single mom, and I was operating a medical marijuana delivery service, and it was in the gray market,” she said. “If you’re operating in a gray market, you are breaking the law.”
She said many operators believed they were working within a legal loophole involving patient-to-patient transfers for medical marijuana cardholders. That belief, however, did not prevent state authorities from shutting down the operation.
“I knew I was breaking the law,” Cramer acknowledged. “I just didn’t think they’d come enforce the law.”
The Price Her Family Paid
Although her son knew she operated a marijuana delivery service, Cramer said she never directly discussed the legal risks with him.
Instead, she said he quietly carried the weight of knowing something wasn’t right.
“He was keeping secrets for me,” she said. “He couldn’t tell his friends.”
When she was arrested during his senior year of high school, those fears became reality.
The night before his birthday, Cramer said, he couldn’t reach her for nearly a full day after she was taken into custody.
“He knew something was wrong,” she recalled. “He knew I would never do something like that.”
Years later, she said that memory still hurts.
“I caused him stress, and I do regret that greatly.”
Today, her son is 26, and Cramer says they have rebuilt their relationship.
“I’m sure he has trauma from it, but we have a great relationship,” she said. “He understands what I do. He supports what I do.”
Why Her Sentence Was Different
Cramer considers herself fortunate.
She received a six-month jail sentence followed by probation, a punishment she believes was far lighter than many people convicted of similar nonviolent cannabis offenses.
She credits several factors, including having no prior criminal history, facing state rather than federal charges, and being able to hire an experienced attorney.
“At the end of the day, it was that I had the resources to pay for a really good attorney,” she said. “I got off very, very lucky.”
That experience also changed how she views the criminal justice system.
Cramer believes many defendants facing marijuana charges lack the financial resources to mount an effective legal defense, leaving them with far harsher outcomes than she received.
Voices From Behind Bars
The following videos feature incarcerated individuals sharing their own accounts of how nonviolent cannabis convictions changed their lives and why advocates say sentencing reform remains an urgent issue.
Turning Regret into Advocacy
After completing probation, Cramer launched “Jailed For Weed” in 2025 to spotlight people she says remain incarcerated for nonviolent cannabis offenses despite changing marijuana laws across much of the country.
“I just could not believe what we do to people and how we treat them,” she said. “I’m like, ‘I have to bring attention to this. This is insane.'”
The platform, which operates through Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, shares interviews with incarcerated individuals, their families, and others affected by lengthy marijuana sentences.
Cramer also volunteers with Freedom Grow, a nonprofit that supports cannabis prisoners through commissary assistance, books, clemency petitions, and compassionate release efforts.
While she acknowledges breaking the law herself, she believes the punishment imposed on many nonviolent marijuana offenders no longer reflects the nation’s evolving views on cannabis.
She hopes increased public awareness will encourage policymakers to reconsider those cases.
“The best thing that ever happened to me is that I went to jail,” Cramer said. “Because it opened my eyes to what was going on.”
Today, she hopes that experience can help shine a light on people she believes have been left behind as marijuana laws continue to change across the United States.
Learn more at:
@jailedforweed on IG
@jailedforweed on TikTok
@karlycramer her personal IG
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