Brittney Griner’s Lengthy Drug Sentence is Not An Anomaly
By Tripp Laino
Brittney Griner’s nine-year prison sentence for marijuana possession has drawn harsh criticism across the United States, with people outraged over the lengthy penalty for a relatively small amount of cannabis oil.
Griner was arrested in February at a Moscow airport after Russian officials say they found less than a gram of cannabis oil in her luggage. She plays in Russia during the WNBA’s offseason and has been held since then on drug smuggling charges.
It’s easy to assume that such harsh drug penalties can only be found in countries other than our own. After all, marijuana is legal in 19 states, and 38 have some form of medical marijuana law.
But if you look outside marijuana, you don’t have to look very far to find similarly long, harsh criminal penalties here in the United States — we have plenty of draconian drug laws at both the federal and state level that throw away unnecessary years of people’s lives.
Take for example, Shirley Schmitt, who received a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence in 2013 at the age of 55. She was convicted of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine and possession of pseudoephedrine with intent to manufacture methamphetamine.
Shirley was an addict, and was part of a group of eight people creating meth for their own use — they never sold the drug. Even her judge agreed, stating during her trial:
“All matters of methamphetamine manufacturing are serious. The Court’s well aware of that. But this case, the evidence was pretty clear, that there wasn’t anybody really selling any methamphetamine. There wasn’t — nobody had any big cars or stacks of 20s in their pocket or anything like that. It involved a group of addicts who were satisfying their own addiction.”
Shirley served seven years of her sentence before receiving compassionate release in 2020.
Similarly, Cynthia Powell sold just 35 pain pills — 29.3 grams, about the weight of a slice of bread — to a confidential informant in 2003, and received a 25-year sentence for trafficking hydrocodone.
Florida’s harsh mandatory minimum for drug trafficking ensnared Cynthia, whose drugs just barely crossed the weight threshold for the harsher penalty. At the age of 41, with no prior convictions, Cynthia was given a 25-year sentence.
Florida has since changed the drug trafficking law, and Cynthia was released in 2020.
Brittney Griner needs the support she’s getting — signs point to a prisoner swap being the only way she’ll be released early — but there are hundreds of cases just like Brittney’s across the United States, and those people need support, too.
FAMM has been advocating for smarter, sensible sentencing for more than 30 years, and will continue to fight for it. To join the fight for justice, sign up here.
Tripp Laino is FAMM’s Media Relations Director.
