It’s not a good time to be a celebrity American in the hands of Russia.
No one is coming here for the latest news on the Ukraine invasion, so I will refrain from a recap. The entire situation has caused the most friction in decades between the US and Russia, and a WNBA player, Brittney Griner, has fallen right into the eye of the storm.
Griner was on her way to play basketball in a Russian league when she was stopped at the airport and luggage searched. In it, they found vape cartridges with hash oil. She was detained, and a month later, she continues to be held. The situation’s proportions are growing by the day, and it all began from cannabis.
Griner makes more than five times the amount of money playing in the Russian league than she does in the US, so the motives for her support of the league seem understandable. If anything, the timing was extremely unfortunate on her end, with Russia building its military front at the time and ignoring the United States calls for backing down. Griner is now beginning to look like an American hostage in the hands of the Russians.
Possession of over 6 grams in Russia is a criminal offense, and it doesn’t seem like this will change any time soon. In 2004, the limit of an administrative offense (5000 ruble or 15 days of detention) was raised to 20 grams, but just two years later, that limit was brought back down to 6 grams.
It hasn’t been touched since.
