Brittney Griner: Why We Need to End the “War on Drugs”, Legalize Cannabis and Pardon Past Offenders
Joe Rogan has, as of late, been the center of some explosive news stories. But, occasionally, the controversial podcaster gets it very, very right. His recent comments on Brittney Griner’s Russian imprisonment expose America’s awful “War on Drugs” hypocrisy.
“[Politicians are] freakin’ out: ‘Russia needs to let her go’.” Rogan said.
“We have people in America right now locked up for Marijuana and they’ve been locked up for fucking YEARS … for years, and years, and years. And there’s not one — there’s thousands of them. So, what, they’re not good at throwing a fucking ball into a net? Is that what it is?”
Griner, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in February and pled guilty to charges after being found with hash oil, a Cannabis product, in her luggage. The bona fide WNBA star, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury, was in the country to play for Russian team UMMC during their season. It’s a practice that’s apparently fairly normal amongst WNBA top brass, as female basketball players are paid an average of 40 times less than the NBA’s men.
Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner was arrested, charged and sentenced to 9 years in a Russian prison for being found with hash oil in her luggage. Many have called on the U.S. government to do more to secure her release.
Griner was detained for months before recently being sentenced to 9 years in prison by a Russian court.
Many in the U.S. have called the drug charge “dubious” and stated that Griner has been “wrongfully imprisoned”, including Arizona Senator Krysten Sinema.
“Arizonans have love and admiration for Brittney Griner both on and off the court,” Sinema said. “The Department of State has determined that Brittney Griner was wrongfully detained — it’s past time for her to come home.”
Despite a reputation for conservatism and a law enforcement past that includes the infamous Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Arizona legalized recreational marijuana use in 2020. It joined 17 other states — including New York, California, Illinois, Montana and Alaska — in which the plant is fully legal. Despite this, the federal government still classifies cannabis as a schedule 1 substance, defined as “drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”
But attitudes are changing. CBD, a hemp derivative and a compound found in Cannabis, is available nationwide. And other THC-based products that skirt local and federal laws can even be found in states like Georgia and Tennessee.
It’s past time that we recognize Cannabis use is not, in and of itself, deviant or harmful. In fact, alcohol and tobacco, substances that are both federally legal, kill almost 600,000 people every year in the United States. A Cannabis overdose has never been recorded.
It’s absurd that tens of thousands of people are in prison for nothing more than non-violent drug charges (best estimates suggest about 40,000 people are serving time for strictly cannabis-related offenses). And it’s absurd that we’re moving forward with legalization without wrestling with the damage that has already been done.
We need to plot a new path forward that actually involves “liberty and justice for all”. Indeed, America will never be whole until those who have been wrongfully imprisoned — those who have had years of their lives needlessly taken — are released, pardoned and apologized to.
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