{"id":79557,"date":"2025-01-01T09:49:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T17:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2025\/01\/01\/gop-senator-calls-on-russia-to-free-american-imprisoned-for-medical-marijuana-immediately\/"},"modified":"2025-01-01T19:45:40","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T03:45:40","slug":"gop-senator-calls-on-russia-to-free-american-imprisoned-for-medical-marijuana-immediately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2025\/01\/01\/gop-senator-calls-on-russia-to-free-american-imprisoned-for-medical-marijuana-immediately\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP Senator Calls On Russia To Free American Imprisoned For Medical Marijuana \u2018Immediately\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cMarc\u2019s arrest was politically motivated and President Biden should have immediately designated him as wrongfully detained in 2021.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Keila Szpaller, Daily Montanan<\/strong><\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of State has designated a U.S. citizen with ties to Montana who is imprisoned in Russia as \u201cwrongfully detained,\u201d<\/a> according to the office of U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT).<\/p>\n

The designation triggers actions that prioritize the release of an American detained abroad.<\/p>\n

Daines, a Republican, announced the designation of Marc Fogel as \u201cwrongfully detained\u201d in a news release Monday and praised the State Department for it.<\/p>\n

In the news release Daines also renewed calls for Fogel, a school teacher, to be \u201cimmediately released\u201d by the Russian government.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarc Fogel just spent his fourth Christmas serving an unjust 14-year sentence of hard labor in a Russian prison because he was \u2018convicted\u2019 of outrageous drug trafficking charges,\u201d Daines said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Fogel is serving a sentence of hard labor in a Russian prison for possession of marijuana.<\/p>\n

The international baccalaureate history teacher was arrested in Moscow\u2019s Sheremetyevo Airport in August 2021, States Newsroom\u2019s Washington, D.C., Bureau earlier reported.<\/p>\n

Fogel was convicted in 2022.<\/p>\n

In an interview with States Newsroom in 2023, Fogel\u2019s family said he suffers from chronic pain from numerous surgeries and uses medical marijuana as part of his pain management regimen.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Fogel\u2019s family members met with White House and other U.S. officials, including Daines, about his case.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re letting [lawmakers] know we\u2019re still here, we\u2019re still waiting, we\u2019re still pushing,\u201d Marc\u2019s sister Anne Fogel, of Missoula, told the D.C. Bureau of States Newsroom; States Newsroom is the parent organization of the Daily Montanan.<\/p>\n

At the time, Daines said he had been pressing the Biden administration to \u201cescalate efforts\u201d to bring him home, and he also called for Fogel\u2019s release on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s time to bring Marc Fogel home. He\u2019s always been wrongfully detained, now he must be released.https:\/\/t.co\/9xJLz1dkbg<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Steve Daines (@SteveDaines) December 31, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

In August 2024, the White House announced it had secured a deal to bring back four other Americans unjustly imprisoned in Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.<\/p>\n

Fogel was not part of that group. In response to a question about what he would tell Fogel\u2019s family, President Joe Biden said, \u201cWe\u2019re not giving up on that,\u201d according to the White House briefing.<\/p>\n

In the news release this week, Daines, a Republican, said it\u2019s time for Fogel to come home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe State Department finally acknowledged what we have always known: that Marc\u2019s arrest was politically motivated and President Biden should have immediately designated him as wrongfully detained in 2021,\u201d Daines said<\/a> in the news release. \u201cHe should be released immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fogel is from Pennsylvania, and lawmakers from Pennsylvania also had been pushing for the State Department to designate him as \u201cwrongfully detained.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Daily Montanan.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

DEA Fails To Release Updated Marijuana Arrest And Seizure Data, Drawing Criticism From Legalization Advocates<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

The post GOP Senator Calls On Russia To Free American Imprisoned For Medical Marijuana \u2018Immediately\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: GOP Senator Calls On Russia To Free American Imprisoned For Medical Marijuana \u2018Immediately\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMarc\u2019s arrest was politically motivated and President Biden should have immediately designated him as wrongfully detained in 2021.\u201d By Keila Szpaller, Daily Montanan The U.S. Department of State has designated a U.S. citizen with ties to Montana who is imprisoned in Russia as \u201cwrongfully detained,\u201d according to the office ofContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79557"}],"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\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79558,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79557\/revisions\/79558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}