Brittney Griner’s Sentence and America’s Cannabis Double Standard
On Thursday, July 29th, a Russian court sentenced WNBA star Brittney Griner to 9 years in prison on drug possession and smuggling charges. Prosecutors had pushed for 9 1/2 out of a possible 5 to 10 year range, along with a fine of 1 million rubles. Before sentencing, Griner made an emotional plea, insisting she never meant to break Russian law and asking for leniency. Even so, the verdict has drawn sharp criticism, including from her own legal team, who call it excessive. Set against sentences handed down for similar offenses in Russia, that criticism is easy to understand: Griner had only possessed less than one gram of cannabis oil, an amount too small for distribution and consistent only with personal use. Why she landed so close to the maximum sentence remains genuinely puzzling.
Since her detainment on February 17th, Griner’s arrest has been broadcasted around the world, and has also gained the attention of the United States government. Now, it seems as though Russia is narrowing its efforts to negotiate with the United States to swap a Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for the release of Brittney Griner.
Is Griner Really Being Held Hostage?
There’s little question that Brittney Griner is functioning as a Russian hostage at this point. Her charges appear wildly inflated, and using her as an international bargaining chip for the release of a Soviet weapons dealer only reinforces that reading. Any conviction, particularly of a foreign national, deserves a fair trial and a fair sentence. Hostages, however, are prisoners meant to “compel a third party.” In Griner’s case, she was given almost the maximum sentencing for possessing only 0.702 grams of hashish oil, and has certainly compelled the U.S. government in proposing a prisoner swap. Americans who travel abroad generally have to accept whatever legal consequences a foreign country imposes, and in most cases those punishments are dealt fairly, without warranting foreign intervention. Griner’s case is different: her conviction is widely critiqued as being completely unfair, putting pressure on the U.S. government to consider feeding into Russia’s demands.
Why Griner’s Potential Release Is So Controversial
When the Biden administration announced that they will be taking in the responsibility of getting Griner back to U.S. soil, they were met with incredible controversy. What may seem like a noble act is also coated with undeniable hypocrisy. Last Sunday, Elon Musk posted on Twitter sharing his views on the Brittney Griner case. His first Tweet shared a meme expressing the irony in how the United States is willing to trade a “Russian war criminal to free a woman’s basketball player in jail for weed.” Back in 2020, Musk had already criticized the U.S. government on Twitter for convicting marijuana offenders. “Selling weed literally went from major felony to essential business (open during pandemic) in much of America and yet many are still in prison, doesn’t make sense, isn’t right.”
What a Griner Deal Could Mean for Cannabis Prisoners at Home
Calling Griner a hostage seems fair given the circumstances, but that same logic makes America’s own cannabis convictions much harder to defend. Zoom out, and her freedom could end up costing the U.S. more than just releasing a Soviet arms dealer. Should the Biden administration agree to a prisoner swap for Griner, it would be a glaring disservice to the more than 40,000 people still incarcerated for cannabis-related offenses.
Griner faces 9 years in a Russian prison while some people in the United States still face life in prison for non-violent cannabis charges. In one such case, Allen Russell, a 38-year-old in Mississippi, was sentenced in 2019 to life in prison as a result of possessing 1.5 ounces of marijuana. Despite the gap between what Russell and Griner were caught with, both sentences are strikingly harsh. So far, there has been little discussion from the Biden administration for a broader solution in releasing cannabis offenders locally, beyond releasing Griner herself. Whether she knows it or not, her release to the United States and freedom from prison may be the catalyst necessary to expunge non-violent cannabis offenses nationwide. If this is the case, we can anticipate a radical change in cannabis politics while also giving back the lives of tens of thousands, as well as better the lives of those with prior records. Now, we are eagerly awaiting how the U.S. government will resolve the current situation, and find out whether or not Brittney Griner will be the turning point for ending American hypocrisy in cannabis legislation.
