A U.S. citizen who\u2019s imprisoned in Russia over low-level possession of medical marijuana should be reclassified by the State Department as a \u201cwrongfully detained\u201d person, a coalition of bipartisan senators said in a new letter.<\/p>\n
The letter, led by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), argues that Marc Fogel is facing a \u201cdisproportionate 14-year sentence\u201d over possessing less than an ounce of cannabis that he\u2019s registered to use as a medical marijuana patient in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
They told Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Fogel meets several criteria to be considered a wrongfully detained person, which would entitle him to enhanced diplomatic resources to secure his release.<\/p>\n
WNBA player Brittney Griner, who was similarly sentenced to nine years in Russian prison<\/a> after she pled guilty to possessing cannabis vape cartridges<\/a> that she was authorized to use in Arizona as a registered medical marijuana patient<\/a>, is already designated as wrongfully detained<\/a> by the State Department.<\/p>\n \u201cMr. Fogel\u2019s recent 14-year sentence to a maximum-security penal colony for possession of less than an ounce of medical marijuana can only be understood as a political ploy by Vladimir Putin\u2019s authoritarian regime,\u201d the senators wrote. \u201cMr. Fogel, a 61-year-old with severe medical conditions, has already been detained for a year. The United States cannot stand by as Mr. Fogel wastes away in a Russian hard labor camp.\u201d<\/p>\n They said that as the State Department continues to \u201cnegotiate the release of Ms. Griner\u201d over a similar, low-level marijuana offense, Fogel\u2019s case \u201cwarrants the same degree of political attention and diplomatic intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe strongly urge the State Department to shift its strategy given the realities of Marc Fogel\u2019s situation and act immediately to designate him as \u2018wrongfully detained.\u2019 Such a designation will provide the warranted level of support to Marc Fogel\u2019s family after a year of communication with Mr. Fogel only via mail and, most importantly, will require the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs to secure Mr. Fogel\u2019s freedom. We cannot allow Mr. Fogel to be used as a political pawn by Vladimir Putin.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter<\/a> was signed by nine senators, including a few that have previously taken hostile positions on cannabis reform.<\/p>\n Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jon Tester (D-MT), Steve Daines (R-MT), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) joined Casey on the letter.<\/p>\n Notably, they pointed out that that Fogel has \u201clived with chronic pain for decades\u201d and, after multiple surgeries failed to relieve his pain, \u201ca doctor recommended medical marijuana as an opioid alternative to treat his chronic pain\u201d in 2021.<\/p>\n That tacit recognition of cannabis as an opioid alternative is especially interesting considering the wide range of domestic marijuana policy views represented by the signatories.<\/p>\n \u201cThough Mr. Fogel did violate Russian law by bringing 17 grams of marijuana to the country, his sentence is grossly disproportionate to similar cases,\u201d they wrote. \u201cAs Russian lawyers have pointed out, the most common sentence in similar cases is five years of probation.\u201d<\/p>\n This also comes a few weeks after other bipartisan members of Pennsylvania\u2019s congressional delegation similarly pled with the State Department to escalate Fogel\u2019s case<\/a>, drawing parallels between his and Griner\u2019s cannabis-related convictions.<\/p>\n Last month, a senior White House official said on a press call that\u00a0the administration has been \u201clooking at\u201d Fogel\u2019s case \u201cfor a while now\u201d<\/a>\u2014but no announcements have been made and he is not a part of the since-offered prisoner swap deal involving Griner and Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year sentence over alleged espionage in Russia.<\/p>\n Beyond the discrepancy in how the Biden administration has treated the Griner and Fogel cases, advocates have taken issue with the fact that the president is spending so much political capital to help one American who is detained for cannabis in Russia while refusing to take meaningful action to fulfill campaign promises to decriminalize marijuana domestically and free people who are incarcerated for it in U.S. prisons.<\/p>\n Biden did make his\u00a0first public comment on marijuana policy since taking office<\/a>\u00a0last month, reiterating that he doesn\u2019t believe people should be incarcerated over the plant.<\/p>\n But even with the executive authority to grant mass pardons to people with federal cannabis convictions, the administration is\u00a0still in the process of exploring its clemency options<\/a>, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently said.<\/p>\n Russia, for its part, has taken a particularly strong stance\u00a0against reforming cannabis policy at the international level<\/a>\u00a0through the United Nations. And it\u00a0condemned\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 San Francisco Officials Ready To Authorize Safe Drug Consumption Sites Despite Governor\u2019s Veto<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Bipartisan Senators Demand Justice For Another U.S. Citizen Imprisoned Over Medical Marijuana In Russia<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A U.S. citizen who\u2019s imprisoned in Russia over low-level possession of medical marijuana should be reclassified by the State Department as a \u201cwrongfully detained\u201d person, a coalition of bipartisan senators said in a new letter. The letter, led by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), argues that Marc Fogel is facing aContinue 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\/56757"}],"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=56757"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56758,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56757\/revisions\/56758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Bipartisan Senators Demand Justice For Another U.S. Citizen Imprisoned Over Medical Marijuana In Russia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"