Trump Welcomes Return Of Medical Marijuana Patient Freed From Russia At White House, Without Mentioning U.S. Cannabis Prohibition

An American instructor free of a Russian jail after being convicted of marijuana possession was welcomed on the White Home by President Donald Trump and key GOP congressional leaders on Tuesday.

However absent from Marc Fogel’s reception was acknowledgement of the premise of his conviction: A cost of possession of hashish that he lawfully obtained as a medical marijuana affected person in Pennsylvania, which might additionally earn him jail time domestically beneath federal prohibition.

Nonetheless, the attendance on the White Home occasion has given advocates pause. A few of the identical folks celebrating his return to the U.S.—together with Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio—have supported the established order of federal hashish prohibition.

Johnson has persistently opposed marijuana reform, together with on incremental points like hashish banking and making it simpler to conduct scientific analysis on the plant.

Rubio, for his half, has strongly opposed any strikes to legalize marijuana, and through his 2016 presidential marketing campaign advocated for implementing federal prohibition even in states which have enacted their very own hashish legal guidelines. The previous senator has indicated tentative openness to permitting medical marijuana entry, however solely whether it is federally permitted by the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA).

Fogel was launched about two months after the State Division beneath former President Joe Biden lastly designated him as a “wrongfully detained” particular person—who was serving a 14-year sentence after being convicted of “drug smuggling” over possession of a half-ounce of hashish.

WELCOME HOME, MARC!🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/0b2Igcqudp

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2025

As many lawmakers and supporters have identified over the previous 4 years, Fogel was a registered Pennsylvania medical hashish affected person who used it as an opioid various to deal with ache.

Forward of his designation as wrongfully detained, there have been repeated requires the diplomatic standing change, together with a letter despatched to the Biden administration by over a dozen members of Congress in August that emphasised that Fogel’s entry to marijuana was “essential to subdue his ache.”

Following an historic, multinational prisoner swap final summer time, the place a number of People had been launched, the bicameral legislators despatched a letter to then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken, expressing their “gravest of issues” concerning the continued imprisonment of Fogel.

The lawmakers additionally famous that Fogel’s state of affairs is similar to that of WNBA participant Brittney Griner, who additionally served time in a Russian jail over possession of hashish oil that she additionally lawfully obtained as a medical marijuana affected person in Arizona earlier than being launched as a part of an earlier prisoner swap that the Biden administration negotiated.

However the underlying hashish points that prompted Fogel’s incarceration weren’t publicly acknowledged, both throughout a media availability with Trump and Fogel on Tuesday night time or in a White Home press release on Wednesday.

In fact, regardless of the presence of anti-marijuana officers on the welcoming reception, Trump did voice assist for hashish rescheduling, state-level legalization and marijuana banking entry as he campaigned for his second time period.

“I’m overjoyed that Marc Fogel is free and that he, like Brittney Griner earlier than him, is now not going through extreme punishment or getting used as a political pawn over hashish,” Morgan Fox, political director of NORML, advised Marijuana Second on Wednesday.

“Nevertheless, the Trump Administration—just like the Biden Administration earlier than it—would appear to be taking a ‘Russian jail dangerous, US jail good’ method to hashish customers by spending political capital to safe the discharge of high-profile prisoners in international lands however not liberating extra federal hashish prisoners right here and aggressively urging Congress to deschedule and regulate hashish,” he mentioned. “Biden made a whole lot of progress on hashish justice, however that is an space the place Trump might shortly and simply distinguish himself from his predecessor by going even farther.”

“I sincerely hope he does so, and shortly, as his appointment of individuals with outdated and punitive concepts about hashish to highly effective positions is trigger for severe concern,” Fox mentioned, referencing sure Trump nominees reminiscent of Terrance Cole, an anti-cannabis official who was named because the president’s choose to steer the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) at a crucial inflection level for federal marijuana coverage reform.

Jason Ortiz, director of strategic initiatives for the Final Prisoner Challenge (LPP), advised Marijuana Second: “Whereas we’re glad to see policymakers like Speaker Johnson celebrating Marc’s homecoming, their prohibitionist hypocrisy to proceed to maintain People within the U.S. locked behind bars for hashish doesn’t go unnoticed.”

“We should honor Marc’s story by working collectively to cross widespread sense hashish justice reforms,” he mentioned.

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In the meantime, the Senate Appropriations Committee permitted a spending invoice final 12 months with an connected report demanding that the Biden administration clarify why it has not escalated diplomatic efforts to safe the discharge Fogel.

Whereas the part didn’t describe the precise particulars of Fogel’s case, the committee passage adopted the Senate approving a decision calling for his launch, emphasizing that he was a lawful medical hashish affected person in Pennsylvania utilizing state-legal merchandise as an opioid various.

The decision mentioned the 14-year sentence that Fogel obtained after being convicted of “large-scale medication smuggling” over possession of a half-ounce of hashish is politically motivated and disproportionate, particularly when bearing in mind the truth that he was utilizing marijuana for medical functions in accordance with a physician’s suggestion.

The decision was launched in 2023 shortly after household of Fogel visited the White Home to satisfy with high-level officers and likewise increase consideration to his case with members of Congress.

In the meantime, a separate coalition of greater than 20 U.S. senators filed a distinct decision final 12 months condemning the arrests of Americans in Russia, together with Fogel.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul additionally despatched a letter to the secretary of state in 2023, imploring the administration to “instantly” escalate diplomatic efforts to safe Fogel’s return.

In 2022, greater than two dozen members of Congress referred to as on the State Division to step up diplomatic efforts to safe the discharge of Fogel, calling his incarceration over marijuana that he used to deal with continual ache “unconscionable.”

The White Home beneath Biden mentioned that 12 months it was actively investigating Fogel’s case, and lawmakers have been retaining the stress on to make sure it’s doing all that it could to safe his launch.

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) additionally led a letter with different senators that equally requested the State Division to categorise the citizen, an American instructor, as “wrongfully detained.” That got here shortly after different bipartisan members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation once more pleaded with the State Division to escalate Fogel’s case, drawing parallels between his and Griner’s cannabis-related convictions.

Russia, for its half, has taken a very robust stance towards reforming hashish coverage on the worldwide stage via the United Nations. And it condemned Canada for legalizing marijuana nationwide.

Picture courtesy of Chris Wallis // Aspect Pocket Photographs.