Elon Musk has joined the federal government’s effort to free WNBA star Brittney Griner from confinement in Russia, saying the Biden administration should also release anyone else jailed for weeding. in the United States.
‘If the president is working hard to free someone jailed in Russia for some weed, shouldn’t we be releasing those in America?’ Musk said in an episode of the Send Full podcast.
‘There are people in prison in America for something like that, shouldn’t we also release them?’ he asked and added: ‘My opinion is that people should not go to jail for nonviolent drug crimes.’
Griner, 31, was found guilty of drug smuggling into Russia on Thursday after a judge dismissed her claim that she had accidentally left a marijuana pen in her handbag upon entry into the country. in February. She was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Almost immediately after the ruling, US President Joe Biden said he would work ‘tirelessly’ to pursue ‘all possible avenues’ to get her and Paul Whelan – another American being detained. in Russia – to go home.
The State Department is currently working to negotiate a prisoner exchange for two Americans in exchange for Viktor Boult, a Russian arms dealer who has been dubbed the ‘dealer of death’.
But in the United States, possession of marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, and marijuana seizures now account for more than half of all drug seizures in the country, according to the ACLU.
And of the 8.2 million marijuana sales between 2001 and 2010, the ACLU found, 88 percent were for marijuana use alone.
Controversial Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in an appearance on the Full Send podcast that the Biden administration should release all Americans arrested on marijuana charges if they are working to free them. WNBA star Brittney Griner from Russian captivity
Musk also revealed that the federal government required him and his employees at SpaceX to take regular drug tests after he smoked during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience in 2018.
On Thursday, Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison after a Russian judge denied her claim that she had accidentally left a marijuana pen in her handbag while entering the country in February.
Musk also revealed in the podcast that he and the rest of his employees at SpaceX have to take regular drug tests for marijuana, after he rose to fame in 2018 for smoking on an episode of Joe Rogan Experience.
Musk revealed to host Kyle Forgeard, team members Salim and Steiny, and Full Send President John Shahidi.
He claimed he had only ‘once’ on the podcast four years ago, saying he ‘found weeds not good for productivity.
“I really had to get the rockets to work and the cars to work,” he said.
However, Musk said, after that appearance, he and his staff had to be tested for drugs regularly.
‘SpaceX as a federal government contractor, so our competitors are like “Why don’t you do anything? Look at him brazenly smoking weed on Joe Rogan’s podcast, ” Musk said of the federal government’s drug-testing decision.
Immediately after Musk appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, Tesla stock fell 9%.
Vice President Kamala Harris condemned the nine-year sentence of basketball star Brittney Griner on Thursday
During her DA tenure, Harris oversaw more than 1,900 cannabis cases, and prosecutors in her office convicted people of marijuana offenses at a higher rate than her predecessor.
Musk’s appearance on the podcast Sent in full as people on Twitter criticized Vice President Kamala Harris as a hypocrite after she denounced Russian officials for sentenced Griner to nine years in prison – despite the statement punished others while in prison while she worked as a district attorney.
On Thursday, Harris tweeted: ‘With today’s sentencing, Russia continues to wrongfully detain Brittney Griner. Sher should be released immediately. ‘
She added that she and President Joe Biden ‘are working every day to reunite Brittney, as well as Paul Whelan, with loved ones who will always miss them.’
But almost immediately after she posted condemning Griner’s conviction, people on Twitter pointed out that she locked up thousands of people for marijuana use while she was the district attorney for San Francisco. Francisco.
In fact, as a district attorney, Harris has overseen more than 1,900 marijuana cases, and prosecutors in her office have convicted people of marijuana offenses at a higher rate than her predecessors. her, according to Mercury News.
A 2019 investigation by the Washington Free Beacon also found that between 2011 and 2016, while Harris was California’s attorney general, at least 1,560 people were sent to California prisons for drug-related crimes. sa.
And although the number of low-level marijuana inmates sent to state prisons dropped dramatically after 2011, that’s attributed to a statewide initiative to curb overcrowding. state prisons and redirect lower-level offenders to county jails.
Harris has also previously spoken out against legalizing marijuana – actively opposing the recreational marijuana ballot measure in 2010, when she co-authored the opposing argument in one direction. lead voters.
In 2014, when she was the state attorney general, law enforcement officers working for her state Department of Justice rented a helicopter to search for marijuana patches to raid without. needed orders, the San Francisco Weekly reported at the time.
They are using the ‘open field doctrine’ which means that any cannabis position that is not within the ‘cartilage’ of a residence can be destroyed without a warrant once discovered from overhead.
Harris only really came out for marijuana legalization in 2018 – after she was widely seen as a presidential candidate.
