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An American who was recently released from a Russian prison over marijuana possession he obtained as a lawful medical cannabis patient in Pennsylvania was among President Donald Trump\u2019s invited guests at a speech before a joint session Congress on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n
Marc Fogel\u2014who was serving a 14-year sentence in Russian after being convicted of \u201cdrug smuggling\u201d over possession of a half-ounce of cannabis and whose release was secured as part of a prisoner swap last month\u2014was in attendance at the president\u2019s speech on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n
Trump and key congressional leaders welcomed Fogel\u2019s return at the White House last month<\/a>, though there was not explicit acknowledgment of the underlying charges of marijuana possession, which could still earn him prison time under federal law domestically.<\/p>\n Similarly, Trump did not discuss the reason Fogel was incarcerated in Russia in the first place during his speech on Tuesday, though the president did vaguely claim he was \u201cinnocent.\u201d<\/p>\n The White House press release announcing Fogel and other guests who were invited to the joint session by the president and First Lady Melania Trump also made no mention of marijuana.<\/p>\n Fogel was released about two months after the State Department under former President Joe Biden finally designated him as a \u201cwrongfully detained\u201d individual. As many lawmakers and supporters have pointed out over the past four years, Fogel was a registered Pennsylvania medical cannabis patient who used it as an opioid alternative to treat pain.<\/p>\n \u201cMarc is an American history teacher who was held hostage by the Russian government and wrongfully sentenced to 14 years in a Russian prison,\u201d the White House said<\/a> in a press release on Tuesday. \u201cOn February 12th, President Trump fulfilled his promise to Malphine, Marc\u2019s 95-year-old mother, that he would bring Marc home.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahead of his designation as wrongfully detained, there were repeated calls for the diplomatic status change, including a letter sent to the Biden administration by over a dozen members of Congress in August that emphasized that\u00a0Fogel\u2019s access to marijuana was \u201cnecessary to subdue his pain.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Following\u00a0an historic, multinational prisoner swap<\/a>\u00a0last summer, where several Americans were released, the bicameral legislators sent a letter to then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken, expressing their \u201cgravest of concerns\u201d about the continued imprisonment of Fogel.<\/p>\n https:\/\/t.co\/RjHTjdoFZw<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 First Lady Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) March 4, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The lawmakers also noted that Fogel\u2019s 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 an earlier prisoner swap<\/a>\u00a0that the Biden administration negotiated.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Trump recently confirmed that he\u2019s appointing a person whose sentence for a drug-related conviction he commuted to a new role as the nation\u2019s \u201cpardon czar\u201d responsible for facilitating future clemency actions.<\/p>\n Alice Marie Johnson will serve as a designated pardon official at the White House, and she shared a post on Tuesday inviting people to join her in watching the president\u2019s congressional address.<\/p>\n Please join me in watching President Trump address Congress tonight at 9 PM E.T. on all major networks. This is the beginning of the renewal of the American Dream! @POTUS<\/a> @realDonaldTrump<\/a> #UnitedTogether<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/W79lQ64QJc<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Alice Marie Johnson (@AliceMarieFree) March 4, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cThis is the beginning of the renewal of the American Dream!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u2014 The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill last year with an attached report demanding that the Biden administration explain why it has not escalated diplomatic efforts to secure the release Fogel<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the section didn\u2019t describe the specific details of Fogel\u2019s case, the committee passage followed\u00a0the Senate approving a resolution calling for his release<\/a>, emphasizing that he was a lawful medical cannabis patient in Pennsylvania using state-legal products as an opioid alternative.<\/p>\n The resolution said the 14-year sentence that 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 The resolution was introduced in 2023 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 Meanwhile, a separate coalition of more than 20 U.S. senators filed a different resolution last year\u00a0condemning the arrests of American citizens in Russia, including Fogel<\/a>.<\/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 in 2023, 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 under Biden 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 Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) 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 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 Pennsylvania Governor Will Put Marijuana Legalization In His Budget, But Top GOP Senator Remains Skeptical<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Trump Invites Former Medical Marijuana Prisoner To Speech Before Joint Session Of Congress<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
An American who was recently released from a Russian prison over marijuana possession he obtained as a lawful medical cannabis patient in Pennsylvania was among President Donald Trump\u2019s invited guests at a speech before a joint session Congress on Tuesday evening. Marc Fogel\u2014who was serving a 14-year sentence in RussianContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":80472,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80471"}],"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=80471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80473,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80471\/revisions\/80473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Trump Invites Former Medical Marijuana Prisoner To Speech Before Joint Session Of Congress<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"