Billionaire entrepreneur CEO of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk, 51, called out President Joe Biden for calling 31-year-old Britteny Griner “wrongfully detained,” saying the Aug. 4 verdict in a Moscow court was “unacceptable.” Musk pointed out that Biden has done nothing to release thousands of prisoners in U.S. jails doing time for marijuana-related offences. Biden is all about getting Griner out of Russian jail but not about fixing cannabis-related laws that continue to incarcerate disproportionately high numbers of minorities that rot in U.S. prisons. Musk wondered why Biden was so big on getting Griner out of Russian jail but not American’s who find themselves victims of obsolete drug laws still on the books by federal government. Despite changes in state laws making cannabis medically available through prescription or even legal in certain states, the federal government still views weed as illegal.
Marijuana-related businesses in state with either medical or recreational cannabis cannot use the federal-regulated banking system for processing transactions at cannabis stores around the country because it’s still on the federal drug register as a banned substance. “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?” Musk asked. Apart from the obvious political issues related to Brittney Griner, the White House finds the celebrity and sports world heaping massive pressure on the White House to finish a prisoner swap with the Kremlin. Grner became a cause célèbre because of her WNBA status but, more importantly that she’s part of a protected class of African America, LBGTQ people. Musk can’t fathom the White House hypocrisy about the Griner case when U.S. citizens rot in prison for similar crimes.
Musk wants the Biden White House the spearhead legislation to remove cannabis from the federal drug registry, invalidating the sentences of marijuana-related offenders all over the country. “There are people in jail in America for the same stuff. Should we free them too? My opinion is that people should not be in jail for non-violent drug crimes,” Musk said, raising other issues about drugs, either illicit or prescribed. But on the simple issue of cannabis, it’s clear that the vast majority of U.S. citizens favor removing marijuana from the federal drug registry, granting clemency to anyone doing time for cannabis-related convictions, whether use or sales. Griner finds herself caught in a political vice, used as a pawn because of the abysmal U.S.-Russian relations. All the talk of putting a prisoner swap together, including Griner and Paul Whelan for Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout, doesn’t tell the story.
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, now a seasoned hostage negotiator through his Richardson Center, said the Biden White House made a serious blunder discussing the prisoner swap over the airwaves, thinking it would put pressure on 69-year-old President Vladimir Putin. Biden and his 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said publicly what a great deal they offered Putin. Richardson thinks, given all the White House negotiating mistakes, it’s going to take more thatn a two-for-one swap, regardless of how Russia wanted to get Bout out of jail. “We put forward, as you know, a substantial proposal that Russia should engage with us on. And what Foreign Minister Lavrov said this morning and said publicly is that there are prepared to engage though channels we’ve established to do just that, and we’ll be pursuing,” Blinken said at a press conference in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Blinken doesn’t mention the fact that he spoke with Lavrov July 28, not at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN] in Cambodia. Biden sat at the same table as Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi but said nothing to either man at the meeting. So, what gives with Blinken, acting like he’s got such good rapport with Lavrov but saying nothing in Phnom Penh? Biden and Blinken won’t admit that they’ve created such abysmal relations with Russia fighting a bloody proxy war using Ukrainian troops against the Russian Federation. How could Putin, knowing that Biden and Blinken seek to topple the Russian government, negotiate to get Griner out of jail? Griner’s not just a pawn, she’s in a political vice because Biden and Blinken decided to go to war against Putin. Richardson may be overly optimistic that a two-for-two swap would get the job done.
Musk wants to push the White House to do more for U.S. citizens rotting in U.S. jails for marijuana-related offenses. “I find weed’s not that good for productivity,” Musk said,” reflecting on his own experience. “I do actually have to make the rockets work and the cars work and mare the factories work,” saying his experience with weed hasn’t helped his productivity. Musk once smoked weed in 2018 on the Joe Rogan show, drawing criticism from press and Wall Street analysts. “NASA is looking into Elon Musk’s marijuana usage and whether it might be ‘a key concern,’” read a headline in 2018. Whatever Musk’s issue with weed, it has little to do with Biden’s decision to have it removed from the federal drug registry. Musk admitted that he doesn’t use weed regularly, nor does he think it’s productive. Musk wants Biden to cut the hypocrisy giving Brittney Griner preferential treatment.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
