Trump Welcomes Return Of Medical Marijuana Patient Freed From Russia At White House, Without Mentioning U.S. Cannabis Prohibition

An American teacher freed from a Russian prison after being convicted of marijuana possession was welcomed at the White House by President Donald Trump and key GOP congressional leaders on Tuesday.

But absent from Marc Fogel’s reception was acknowledgement of the basis of his conviction: A charge of possession of cannabis that he lawfully obtained as a medical marijuana patient in Pennsylvania, which could also earn him prison time domestically under federal prohibition.

Still, the attendance at the White House event has given advocates pause. Some of the same people celebrating his return to the U.S.—including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio—have supported the status quo of federal cannabis prohibition.

Johnson has consistently opposed marijuana reform, including on incremental issues like cannabis banking and making it easier to conduct scientific research on the plant.

Rubio, for his part, has strongly opposed any moves to legalize marijuana, and during his 2016 presidential campaign advocated for enforcing federal prohibition even in states that have enacted their own cannabis laws. The former senator has indicated tentative openness to allowing medical marijuana access, but only if it is federally approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Fogel was released about two months after the State Department under former President Joe Biden finally designated him as a “wrongfully detained” individual—who was serving a 14-year sentence after being convicted of “drug smuggling” over possession of a half-ounce of cannabis.

WELCOME HOME, MARC! pic.twitter.com/0b2Igcqudp

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2025

As many lawmakers and supporters have pointed out over the past four years, Fogel was a registered Pennsylvania medical cannabis patient who used it as an opioid alternative to treat pain.

Ahead of his designation as wrongfully detained, 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.

But the underlying cannabis issues that prompted Fogel’s incarceration weren’t publicly acknowledged, either during a media availability with Trump and Fogel on Tuesday night or in a White House press release on Wednesday.

Of course, despite the presence of anti-marijuana officials at the welcoming reception, Trump did voice support for cannabis rescheduling, state-level legalization and marijuana banking access as he campaigned for his second term.

“I’m overjoyed that Marc Fogel is free and that he, like Brittney Griner before him, is no longer facing severe punishment or being used as a political pawn over cannabis,” Morgan Fox, political director of NORML, told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday.

“However, the Trump Administration—like the Biden Administration before it—would seem to be taking a ‘Russian prison bad, US prison good’ approach to cannabis consumers by spending political capital to secure the release of high-profile prisoners in foreign lands but not freeing more federal cannabis prisoners here and aggressively urging Congress to deschedule and regulate cannabis,” he said. “Biden made a lot of progress on cannabis justice, but this is an area where Trump could quickly and easily distinguish himself from his predecessor by going even farther.”

“I sincerely hope he does so, and soon, as his appointment of people with outdated and punitive ideas about cannabis to powerful positions is cause for serious concern,” Fox said, referencing certain Trump nominees such as Terrance Cole, an anti-cannabis official who was named as the president’s pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) at a critical inflection point for federal marijuana policy reform.

Jason Ortiz, director of strategic initiatives for the Last Prisoner Project (LPP), told Marijuana Moment: “While we are glad to see policymakers like Speaker Johnson celebrating Marc’s homecoming, their prohibitionist hypocrisy to continue to keep Americans in the U.S. locked behind bars for cannabis does not go unnoticed.”

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“We must honor Marc’s story by working together to pass common sense cannabis justice reforms,” he said.

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Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill last year with an attached report demanding that the Biden administration explain why it has not escalated diplomatic efforts to secure the release Fogel.

While the section didn’t describe the specific details of Fogel’s case, the committee passage followed the Senate approving a resolution calling for his release, emphasizing that he was a lawful medical cannabis patient in Pennsylvania using state-legal products as an opioid alternative.

The resolution said the 14-year sentence that Fogel received after being convicted of “large-scale drugs smuggling” over possession of a half-ounce of cannabis is politically motivated and disproportionate, especially when taking into account the fact that he was using marijuana for medical purposes in accordance with a doctor’s recommendation.

The resolution was introduced in 2023 shortly after family of Fogel visited the White House to meet with high-level officials and also raise attention to his case with members of Congress.

Meanwhile, a separate coalition of more than 20 U.S. senators filed a different resolution last year condemning the arrests of American citizens in Russia, including Fogel.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul also sent a letter to the secretary of state in 2023, imploring the administration to “immediately” escalate diplomatic efforts to secure Fogel’s return.

In 2022, more than two dozen members of Congress called on the State Department to step up diplomatic efforts to secure the release of Fogel, calling his incarceration over marijuana that he used to treat chronic pain “unconscionable.”

The White House under Biden said that year it was actively investigating Fogel’s case, and lawmakers have been keeping the pressure on to ensure it’s doing all that it can to secure his release.

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) also led a letter with other senators that similarly asked the State Department to classify the citizen, an American teacher, as “wrongfully detained.” That came shortly after other bipartisan members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation again pleaded with the State Department to escalate Fogel’s case, drawing parallels between his and Griner’s cannabis-related convictions.

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 Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.

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