WNBA star Brittney Griner has pleaded guilty to illegally\u2014but she says not intentionally\u2014bringing cannabis vape cartridges into Russia.<\/p>\n
In a Russian court on Thursday, the American basketball player offered a brief guilty plea for a charge that\u2019s punishable by up to 10 years in prison in the country, where marijuana is severely criminalized. This comes as the White House, which previously deemed Griner wrongfully detained<\/a>, faces increased pressure to facilitate her release.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a top Russian government spokesperson asserted that there was nothing improper about the athlete\u2019s February detention at a Moscow airport<\/a>, and he signaled that the U.S. position on the case was somewhat hypocritical considering that the country also continues to criminalize people over marijuana.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to plead guilty, your honor. But there was no intent. I didn\u2019t want to break the law,\u201d Griner said in court, according<\/a> to Reuters, adding that she wanted to delay giving her testimony in order to prepare.<\/p>\n #BrittneyGriner<\/a> silent as she arrives to the courtroom for Round 2 of her trial on drug smuggling charges outside Moscow. No guard dog this time around. pic.twitter.com\/H4IQDq4pLg<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Charles Maynes (@cwmiii3) July 7, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n President Joe Biden recently read a handwritten letter from Griner that asked that the administration not forget about her case or \u201cthe other American detainees\u201d in Russia. \u201cPlease do all you can to bring us home,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n The president also called the wife of Griner on Wednesday to assure her that the U.S. was doing all that it could to secure the her release. However, those efforts have been complicated by the ongoing international tension over Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n Russian officials have made dismissive remarks about attempts by the U.S. to cast the case as improper or political, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexei Zaitsev saying on Thursday that the evidence that Griner broke the law is \u201cindisputable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAttempts to present the case as if the American was detained illegally do not hold up,\u201d Zaitsev said, according<\/a> to the AP. \u201cThe law has been violated, and arguments about the innocent nature of Griner\u2019s addiction, which, by the way, is punishable in some U.S. states, are inappropriate in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n But while the U.S. State Department has said that Griner is \u201cwrongfully detained\u201d\u2014a designation that typically escalates diplomatic efforts to negotiate a release\u2014officials haven\u2019t specifically said why they\u2019ve characterized the case that way. There are several factors that are taken into account when determining whether a person held in a foreign country is considered wrongfully detained.<\/p>\n State Department spokesperson Ned Price talked about the 11-point criteria that goes into those deliberations. If the U.S. believed Griner was innocent or framed, that would certainly be a factor; it\u2019s unclear if the athlete\u2019s new admission of guilt will compromise the diplomatic leverage of the U.S. in the case. However, there are other factors such as political bias against a U.S. national that could constitute a \u201cwrongfully detainment\u201d designation.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, a letter<\/a> signed by nearly 1,200 Black women leaders was delivered to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, imploring the administration to act quickly to bring Griner home. The daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., Bernice King, and former Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile were among the signatories.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile it should not matter because she is an American citizen who is wrongfully detained on foreign soil, Brittney Griner cast her first ever vote in 2020. She voted for you and Vice President Kamala Harris,\u201d the letter says. \u201cMore than prioritizing her immediate return in word\u2014you must do so in deed and make a deal to bring Brittney home.\u201d<\/p>\n But the circumstances around the case are complicated, especially in light of the formal admission of guilt. Russia has taken a particularly strong stance against reforming cannabis policy at the international level<\/a>\u00a0through the United Nations. And it\u00a0condemned<\/a>\u00a0Canada for legalizing marijuana nationwide.<\/p>\n The deputy of Russia\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in March that legalization efforts in the U.S. and Canada are matters \u201cof serious concern for us,\u201d according to a social media post from the office\u2019s official account. \u201cIt is worrisome that several Member States of the [European Union] are considering violating their drug control obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n VA Says Veterans Who Work In Marijuana Industry Still Eligible For Home Loan Benefits, But May Face Challenges With Lenders<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Lorie Shaull\/Wikimedia<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post WNBA Star Brittney Griner Pleads Guilty To Cannabis Charge As Russia Calls Out U.S. Hypocrisy In Maintaining Criminalization<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
WNBA star Brittney Griner has pleaded guilty to illegally\u2014but she says not intentionally\u2014bringing cannabis vape cartridges into Russia. In a Russian court on Thursday, the American basketball player offered a brief guilty plea for a charge that\u2019s punishable by up to 10 years in prison in the country, where marijuanaContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55728"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55728"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55729,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55728\/revisions\/55729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: WNBA Star Brittney Griner Pleads Guilty To Cannabis Charge As Russia Calls Out U.S. Hypocrisy In Maintaining Criminalization<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"