The Phoenix Mercury 6 foot 9 inch center was arrested in Russia, Feb 17th for the possession of vape cartridges containing cannabis. Brittney Griner was sentenced to 9 years for drug smuggling and possession charges. The Russian government detained Griner at Sheremetyevo International Airport near Moscow. Britteny Griner is a 31 year old, seven-time WNBA All-Star. Griner went overseas for an off-season to make more money , for WNBA players have a very limited salary compared to NBA. The average WNBA salary is $130,o00, and the max is $500,000 compared to the the top NBA players, which salaries often go up into tens of million dollars. According to Griner, she did not intend to smuggle illegal cannabis, her doctor reccomended the use of cannabis for injury pain relief.

While cannabis is legal for some U.S. citizens 21 and older, under federal law it is still illegal. Russia takes drugs/narcartics very seriously, if you are caught In the country with them you will be sentenced to jail time no matter if the product was bought and used legally where you live. Brittney Griner has been in Russian custody since she was detained in February 2022. On August 15th Giner’s legal team put an appeal into action. Griner’s sentence had a max of 10 years but her defense team pled that was too much because other defendents in simmilar cases in Russia only recieved around 5 years and were eventually granted parole. On August 11th the Russian government confirmed that the are undergoing a plan to negotiate with the U.S. government for a possible prisoner swap. The haven’t made a final decision just yet about who they are going to swap or if it the U.S. government will agree to it or not.