A coalition of more than 20 U.S. senators has filed a resolution condemning the arrests of American citizens in Russia, including a Pennsylvania medical cannabis patient, Marc Fogel, who is serving a a 14-year sentence over simple possession of marijuana.<\/p>\n
Sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), the measure was filed to mark the one-year anniversary of the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich over unfounded allegations of espionage.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy introducing this resolution, we\u2019re yet again bringing to light the cruelty of the Russian government,\u201d Durbin, who also chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a press release on Tuesday. \u201cAs fellow Americans, we demand the release of all American citizens who face arbitrary arrests by the Russian government.\u201d<\/p>\n
The senator said in a floor speech on Thursday that Fogel\u2019s arrest over possession of medical cannabis he was prescribed in a legal state resulted in a \u201cludicrous 14-year sentence in Russian labor camps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who is among the prime cosponsors, said Fogel was \u201cdetained for carrying a small amount of medical marijuana, which was prescribed by his doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Marc has now spent over a year of a fourteen-year sentence in a Russian prison because of a bogus \u2018large-scale drug trafficking\u2019 conviction. A fourteen-year sentence is absurd\u2013even by Russian standards,\u201d he said. \u201cThe bottom line is that Marc\u2019s punishment simply does not match the crime. We must bring Marc, and all other unjustly detained Americans, home.\u201d<\/p>\n
The whereas section of the resolution notes that, in 2021, \u201cthe Government of the Russian Federation arrested United States citizen and international schoolteacher Marc Fogel for possession of medical marijuana prescribed by his physician, then sentenced him on June 16, 2022, to an excessive 14-year sentence in a Russian labor camp.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe measure<\/a> states<\/a> that Congress \u201ccondemns the arbitrary arrest and continued detention of United States citizens Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, Marc Fogel, and Ksenia Khavana, and United States permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza by the Government of the Russian Federation.\u201d<\/p>\n Other cosponsors of the resolution<\/a> include: Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Bob Casey (D-PA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Angus King (I-ME), Patty Murray (D-WA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Peter Welch (D-VT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).<\/p>\n Lawmakers have made repeated pleas for the State Department to escalate Fogel\u2019s case, including by formally designating him as wrongfully detained. The resolution also urges that designation.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve pointed out that his situation is comparable to that of WNBA player Brittney Griner, who also served time in a Russian prison over possession of cannabis oil that she also lawfully obtained as a medical marijuana patient in Arizona before being released as part of a prisoner swap<\/a>\u00a0that the Biden administration negotiated.<\/p>\n Last July, bicameral legislators also\u00a0filed a pair of congressional resolutions that condemn Russia for incarcerating Fogel<\/a>\u00a0over simple possession of medical cannabis.<\/p>\n The resolutions were introduced shortly after\u00a0family of Fogel visited the White House<\/a>\u00a0to meet with high-level officials and also raise attention to his case with members of Congress.<\/p>\n Signatories also filed a bill last June that would require the State Department to explain to Congress why it has not designated Fogel<\/a>, as well as other Americans detained abroad, as \u201cwrongfully detained.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul also sent a letter to the secretary of state that month, imploring the administration to \u201cimmediately\u201d escalate diplomatic efforts to secure Fogel\u2019s return<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2022, more than two dozen members of Congress called on the State Department to\u00a0step up diplomatic efforts to secure the release of Fogel<\/a>, calling his incarceration over marijuana that he used to treat chronic pain \u201cunconscionable.\u201d<\/p>\n The White House said that year it was actively investigating Fogel\u2019s case<\/a>, and lawmakers have been keeping the pressure on to ensure it\u2019s doing all that it can to secure his release.<\/p>\n When asked about the administration\u2019s work to secure the release of other Americans like Fogel who are imprisoned abroad, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre\u00a0deferred to the State Department<\/a>, arguing that \u201cevery case is different\u201d and saying she didn\u2019t want to get ahead of any ongoing diplomatic efforts.<\/p>\n Casey also led a letter with other senators last year<\/a>\u00a0that similarly asked the State Department to classify the citizen, an American teacher, as \u201cwrongfully detained.\u201d That came shortly after other bipartisan members of Pennsylvania\u2019s congressional delegation again\u00a0pleaded with the State Department to escalate Fogel\u2019s case<\/a>, drawing parallels between his and Griner\u2019s cannabis-related convictions.<\/p>\n As State Department spokesperson Ned Price explained last year, officials take into account 11-point criteria when determining\u00a0whether a given case amounts to a wrongful detention<\/a>. For example, if the U.S. has reason to believe that due process is being impaired, that the person was arrested solely because they are a U.S. national or that they are innocent of the stated charges, that would warrant a wrongful detention designation.<\/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 condemned Canada for legalizing marijuana nationwide.<\/p>\n Democrats Have \u2018Better Ideas\u2019 For Marijuana Policy Than The GOP, Poll Of Cannabis Consumers Finds<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Senators Condemn Russia Over American Citizen\u2019s \u2018Ludicrous\u2019 Incarceration For Medical Marijuana<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A coalition of more than 20 U.S. senators has filed a resolution condemning the arrests of American citizens in Russia, including a Pennsylvania medical cannabis patient, Marc Fogel, who is serving a a 14-year sentence over simple possession of marijuana. Sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), the measureContinue 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\/73932"}],"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=73932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73933,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73932\/revisions\/73933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Senators Condemn Russia Over American Citizen\u2019s \u2018Ludicrous\u2019 Incarceration For Medical Marijuana<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"