Russia Says It Arrested Yet Another American For Cannabis, Days After High-Profile Release Of U.S. Medical Marijuana Patient

Russia has detained another American citizen over alleged possession of cannabis—a charge that could carry up to a 10-year sentence if he’s convicted.

Just days after the Trump administration celebrated a prisoner swap that led to the release of another American, Marc Fogel, who was incarcerated in Russia over marijuana, Russia’s Federal Customs Service confirmed on Friday that it’s arrested a 28-year-old U.S. citizen known as K. Byers for the “smuggling of drugs in a significant amount.”

There’s been some conflicting reporting about the specific form of the cannabis, with some accounts saying Byers was detained after cannabinoid-infused marmalade was discovered in his luggage at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport and Russian state media describing the products as CBD gummies.

“On February 7, Vnukovo customs officers detained a 28-year-old US citizen who was carrying marmalade with cannabinoids in his luggage,” Russian customs service told the state media TASS, CNN reported.

However, TASS separately stated in its own notice that the American was detained over possession of “cannabidiol [CBD] gummies.”

“The man had arrived from Istanbul, and during customs control, a sniffer dog named Eureka showed interest in one of his suitcases,” TASS said. “Upon inspection, officers discovered two plastic jars and one ZIP pack containing the gummies. ‘A chemical analysis revealed the presence of narcotic substances from the cannabinoid group,’ the customs service reported.”

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

According to Reuters, the charge was for half a kilo of cannabis was found; but whether that amount accounts for the marmalade that it was reportedly infused with is unclear.

The U.S. embassy in Moscow told Reuters that, “Due to privacy restrictions we have nothing to share at this point.”

The news comes 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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