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The U.S. Senate has approved a resolution calling for the release of a U.S. citizen incarcerated over marijuana in Russia, emphasizing that he was a lawful medical cannabis patient in Pennsylvania using state-legal products as an opioid alternative.<\/p>\n
About two months after the legislation from Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) cleared committee<\/a>, the full chamber passed the resolution under unanimous consent on Tuesday. The measure also calls on President Joe Biden\u2019s federal government to step up efforts to secure his release.<\/p>\n The resolution says the 14-year sentence that Marc Fogel received after being convicted of \u201clarge-scale drugs smuggling\u201d over possession of a half-ounce of cannabis is politically motivated and disproportionate, especially when taking into account the fact that he was using marijuana for medical purposes in accordance with a doctor\u2019s recommendation.<\/p>\n \u201cMarc Fogel has undergone three back surgeries, a spinal fusion, a hip replacement, and two knee surgeries to correct various injuries and health issues, which have left him with chronic back pain and a permanent limp,\u201d the measure says. And he \u201cdid not wish to use opioids to manage his pain and was instead prescribed medical marijuana for pain management in a manner consistent with the State law of Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n Fogel \u201cstated he intended that marijuana solely for personal consumption, and the Government of the Russian Federation has presented no evidence to the contrary,\u201d the resolution reads, yet he received a 14-year sentence following a \u201cpoliticized show trial.\u201d<\/p>\n Casey, speaking on the Senate floor on Wednesday, a day after the resolution\u2019s passage<\/a>, said that Fogel \u201chad medically prescribed marijuana in his luggage to help him through the year in dealing with his chronic pain.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat pain came from a hip replacement. It came from multiple back surgeries, multiple knee surgeries, and a spinal fusion, which has left Marc with a permanent limp,\u201d the senator said<\/a>. \u201cMarc\u2019s worsening medical conditions and actions to bring in less than an ounce of marijuana into Russia should not require him to serve the full 14-year sentence and a Russian penal colony\u201414 years imprisonment for less than an ounce of marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0resolution<\/a>\u00a0also points out that a Russian lawyer informed Fogel\u2019s family that the typical sentence for the low-level cannabis possession offense in the country is five years of probation, and that Russia has levied lesser sentences on people charged with possession of 1,500 grams of \u201cvarious narcotics.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMarc Fogel\u2019s sentence is vastly disproportionate to the severity of his nonviolent crime, wildly dissimilar to the typical punishments for comparable offenses in Russia, and clearly motivated by ongoing political tensions between Russia and the United States,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n The\u00a0measure\u00a0calls on Russia to immediately release Fogel and for the White House and State Department to \u201cpress for his immediate release in all interactions with the Government of the Russian Federation.\u201d<\/p>\n It further \u201curges the Government of the Russian Federation to desist from issuing outlandishly disproportionate criminal sentences to nonviolent United States citizens\u201d and \u201ccondemns the Government of the Russian Federation\u2019s continued use of detentions and prosecutions of citizens and lawful permanent residents of the United States for political purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n The resolution was introduced last July shortly after\u00a0family of Fogel visited the White House<\/a> to meet with high-level officials and also raise attention to his case with members of Congress. While the Senate version has now been enacted, a House companion version<\/a>\u00a0has not yet advanced in that chamber.<\/p>\n Casey said in a press release that \u201cafter nearly three years of captivity, Marc\u2019s health is rapidly declining and his life is in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI urge President Biden and his administration to do everything possible to bring Marc home,\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a separate coalition of more than 20 U.S. senators filed a different resolution in April condemning the arrests of American citizens in Russia, including Fogel<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 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\u00a0before being released as part of a prisoner swap<\/a>\u00a0that the Biden administration negotiated.<\/p>\n Signatories also filed a bill last June that would require the State Department to\u00a0explain 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, imploring the administration to\u00a0\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\u00a0it 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\u00a0led a letter with other senators<\/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, 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 GOP Congressman Will Attempt To Remove Marijuana Banking Protections From Spending Bill Due To \u2018Overwhelming\u2019 Concerns<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis \/\/ Side Pocket Images.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Senate Passes Resolution Condemning Russian Imprisonment Of American Who Used Medical Marijuana As Opioid Alternative<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Senate has approved a resolution calling for the release of a U.S. citizen incarcerated over marijuana in Russia, emphasizing that he was a lawful medical cannabis patient in Pennsylvania using state-legal products as an opioid alternative. About two months after the legislation from Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) clearedContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":76032,"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\/76031"}],"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=76031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76033,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76031\/revisions\/76033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Senate Passes Resolution Condemning Russian Imprisonment Of American Who Used Medical Marijuana As Opioid Alternative<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"