Russia Frees American Charged Over Alleged Cannabis Possession Ahead Of Talks On Ukraine War

Russia has freed an American citizen who was facing charges over alleged possession of cannabis, potentially diverting another international conflict stemming from marijuana prohibition.

Just days after Russian authorities confirmed police had arrested a 28-year-old U.S. citizen this month after reportedly finding cannabis products in his luggage at a Moscow airport, Kalob Byers has now been released, according to reports.

It’s unclear what circumstances led to the American’s release, but this comes ahead of a high-stakes meeting with U.S. and Russian officials on Tuesday, where a focus will be the ongoing war in Ukraine.

It was especially notable that Russian authorities had announced the arrest of Byers over cannabis in the first place given that it came in the midst of the Trump administration celebrating a prisoner swap that led to the release of another American, Marc Fogel, who was incarcerated in Russia over medical marijuana he used to treat pain.

Russia’s Federal Customs Service said on Friday that it arrested the U.S. citizen for the “smuggling of drugs in a significant amount.”

There was some conflicting reporting about the specific form of cannabis Byers allegedly possessed, with some accounts saying he was detained after cannabinoid-infused marmalade and Russian state media describing the products as CBD gummies.

Notably, the Russian media outlet TASS acknowledged that “the man explained that a doctor in the US had prescribed the gummies for his trip.”

In any case, The Associated Press reported on Monday that a U.S. official said Byers was released to the American embassy in Moscow late on Sunday evening.

The outlet also quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Russian officials expect “to discuss restoring the entire complex of Russian-American relations” at the talks in with the U.S. Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, “so certain events can be viewed in this context.”

The news of the arrest came on the heels of the Trump administration negotiating Fogel’s high-profile release for possession of medical marijuana in Russia that he obtained lawfully as a registered cannabis patient in Pennsylvania.

Ahead of Fogel’s designation as wrongfully detained by the State Department last year, there were repeated calls for the diplomatic status change, including a letter sent to the Biden administration by over a dozen members of Congress in August that emphasized that Fogel’s access to marijuana was “necessary to subdue his pain.”

Following an historic, multinational prisoner swap last summer, where several Americans were released, the bicameral legislators sent a letter to then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken, expressing their “gravest of concerns” about the continued imprisonment of Fogel.

The lawmakers also noted that Fogel’s situation is comparable to that of WNBA player Brittney Griner, who also served time in a Russian prison over possession of cannabis oil that she also lawfully obtained as a medical marijuana patient in Arizona before being released as part of an earlier prisoner swap that the Biden administration negotiated.

Russia, for its part, has taken a particularly strong stance against reforming cannabis policy at the international level through the United Nations. And it condemned Canada for legalizing marijuana nationwide.

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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.