WBNA star Brittney Griner was convicted of drug smuggling in Russia. She admits that she had cannabis oil in her luggage at a Russian airport; however, she claims that she was not intentionally trying to break the law.

That was in February. Fast forward to August, and Griner was convicted and sentenced to 9 years in a Russian prison. Her lawyers consider the prison sentence to be “absolutely unreasonable,” and they plan to appeal. 

A lot of people have spoken up for Griner and urged the U.S. government to do something, anything to get Griner home. Griner even wrote a letter to President Joe Biden pleading with him to help her get home. Meanwhile, Griner’s coach, Vanessa Nygaard, believes the government would do more if it were LeBron James who were stuck in a Russian prison.

Now, the richest person in the world is speaking up for Griner, but he’s doing more than just saying the U.S. should try to get her back home. Elon Musk believes that the U.S. needs to take a look at their own prisoners and release people convicted of drug charges.

In an episode of the podcast “Full Send,” Musk explained, “If the president is working so hard to free someone who is in jail in Russia for some weed, shouldn’t we free people in America?” He continued, “There are people in jail in America for the same stuff. Shouldn’t we free them too? My opinion is that people should not be in jail for non-violent drug crimes.”

At a federal level, possession of marijuana is considered illegal; however, different states have different laws. Nineteen states, including California, have made recreational marijuana use legal. Eighteen more states have decriminalized it. 

It’s pretty common knowledge that Musk uses marijuana from time to time. Back in 2018, on the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience Musk smoked weed on the show. Musk claims he got “a lot of backlash” for smoking weed during the podcast. He explained, “SpaceX has federal government contracts, so our competitors were like ‘Why aren’t you doing anything? Look at him brazenly smoking weed on Joe Rogan’s podcast.”

Musk says that he doesn’t smoke weed very often because he believes it’s “not that good for productivity.” However, he doesn’t believe it should be illegal. 

Back in 2018, the ACLU reported that there were 700,000 arrests made in the United States for marijuana-related charges. That’s more arrests than for any other type of drug. The report also reveals that it’s more arrests than all types of violent crime combined.

Do you think the United States should release prisoners who were convicted for marijuana possession? Do you think Griner will have to serve the full 9 years at a Russian prison, or do you think the Biden administration will be able to get her home?