MovieChat Forums > Brittney Griner Discussion > Do you think The Grine deserves to go to...

Do you think The Grine deserves to go to the slammer?


Choose the option:

A) Yes. The marijuanas is the devil's lettuce.

B) Yes, even though I support the devil's lettuce being legal, she knew the law. To the clink she shall go!

C) No big deal. Let her puff that good stuff.

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B

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From what I've read on it, it's mostly complicated by international law and political manoeuvring.

1. I think grown adult people should be afforded as much freedom as possible. I still believe in having laws and enforcing them, but I don't think those laws should include things like pot. I don't do pot, it doesn't seem like a good idea to me, but I don't want other people to be forced into following my choices.
2. Morality and legality being two different things, sometimes ethics (we should be afforded freedoms) conflict with law (thou shalt not smoke a doob).
3. In cases of international law, obviously the laws of other countries must be respected. At this point, it seems like Griner should be in prison. She knew the law, didn't respect it, and got busted.
4. However... In this case we have somebody who had a small amount of personal use (medical?) marijuana in her possession and who was part of the Olympics. Given that the Olympics are a time when countries try to be friendly to one another, one would think that something innocuous like this would be given a pass. Perhaps Griner should be banned from re-entering Russia, given a fine, given a vastly reduced sentence, or kicked from the Olympics (for not respecting the other country) but jail for the length of time she's in for? That's nuts.
5. This is further exasperated by the observation many have made that Griner is being used as a pawn to get political prisoners released. Russia goes, "Hey, we've got your athlete, can we have our arms dealer back?" This is repugnant. Of course, there's a chance this is just a bi-product, but it really does seem like the whole thing was taking advantage of Griner's pot so the Russians could gain leverage and that's scummy.
6. Finally, as horrific as it might seem, the US should not trade Griner for arms dealers. They should negotiate for her release, sure, but exchanges need to be even, and a woman with a small amount of drugs is not the same thing as a gun-runner.

So, I guess mostly C, but with a tinge of B.

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Russia never asked for their arms dealer back! It was the brain dead pedo joe biden who offered them this hardened criminal in exchange for a useless WNBA player. The Russians refused this offer and they're laughing at us for being dumb enough to even consider something so stupid...

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B. The sentence is harsh and she is a political prisoner.

OTOH, she knew Marijuana is illegal in Russia. How could she not know Russia is a country where political prisoners get harsh sentences and are sometimes killed for no real reason?

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That's the thing - anyone who goes to a foreign country representing another country gets an orientation about customs and laws.

When I went to Singapore for my company back in the 80s, we were told in no uncertain terms that if we were caught in Singapore with any kind of drugs, we could expect to do a lot of time there and to expect NO help from the company or even the State Department. We were also told not to bring chewing gum to Singapore...

Griner certainly was aware of the rules, but what I don't know is if there has always been a wink/nod deal between countries like the U.S. and Russia where otherwise minor transgressions (that technically hurt no citizens like personal consumption of weed) might be overlooked or pleaded down to something minor - and maybe Russia decided to change the rules and go by the book after the U.S's support of Ukraine happened. I mean, how did she manage to get the drug into Russia? I would think those things are checked at the airport if they're so damned hard up about even small amounts of weed.

Going against that theory is that I've never heard any other athlete or celebrity say they knew about such a wink/nod arrangement and that they are surprised Russia is being a dick about Griner when they always looked the other way so to speak.

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Even if a wink/nod agreement exists the written law supercedes it. As Sam Goldwyn said "A verbal agreement isn't worth the paper it's written on".

As you said no one has acknowledged such an agreement.

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Absolutely the law would supersede it, but I just wonder if the governments just agreed off the record to let minor peccadilloes go unpunished and Russia decided to go by the book after the U.S. backed Ukraine.

And to be clear, this is just my supposition based on the fact that Griner would be so dumb to flout the law if there was no prearranged deal to look the other way with athletes and other celebrities who clearly are not drug dealers.

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there is no way in hell that Russia prearranged a special private class of citizens who were allowed to flaunt drug smuggling laws just so they can get woman basketball talent into there country. This is the dumbest thing i have heard in ages...

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Let me fix that for you:

I don't believe that Russia prearranged a special private class of citizens who were allowed to flaunt drug smuggling laws just so they could get women's basketball talent into their country. I heartily disagree with that.


You could be right, and I'm not saying that this policy is in place necessarily, but there's certainly precedent in all areas of privilege where minor transgressions are "overlooked" in the public and private world. JFK had hookers in the White House for himself and foreign dignitaries, even thought prostitution was illegal in Washington.

I'm also not saying that a wink/nod agreement was *necessary* to get foreign basketball players into their country, only that there *might* be a general policy to look the other way when foreign celebrities or foreign government personnel are visiting. Pretty much a "look comrade, it's illegal here, so just keep it out of sight" thing. If they were to "flaunt" the laws, then they should expect no one to look the other way.

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yeah but the difference is JFK was the leader of the free world he needed those hookers to stay cool and collected during stressful times like the Cuban missile crises. Brittney is a simple basketball player, she is no more special then any other tourist coming into Russia

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She's still a "celebrity" foreign "guest" (I don't get the appeal of women's basketball but hey). We also have cases such as diplomatic immunity where even more serious crimes get pencil-whipped into the round file.

In any case, I think more hookers could only improve the world. JFK could have been on to something.

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hookers make the world go round

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I think that's the consensus here.

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If Americans do not respect the laws of countries they are guests of, how can Americans expect citizens of other countries to respect American laws when they are here?

What if, say, a Brazilian national came over here and had sex with a 14 year old girl? Much like Griner's marijuana in the USA, that is perfectly legal in Brazil, where 14 is the age of consent. If we expect Russia to let Griner go free for the America-legal marijuana, we would have to allow the Brazilian to go free for the Brazil-legal molestation as well.

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As an American - I agree. Also, I'm fairly certain a Brazilian athlete would be informed that the age of consent in the U.S. both varies state to state but is always much higher than 14 (is it really 14 in Brazil??)

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I'm pretty sure that Griner and the other American athletes were also officially informed that Russia has laws against marijuana.

Yes, I checked a list of laws. At first, I was going to use Mexico for an example but Brazil is among the lowest in the Americas, so I used theirs.

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I did some Googling, there are places in the world as low as 9!!! I think Japan is 13.

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The law is absolutely ridiculous, but she knew exactly what she did.

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Exactly. Their house, their rules. BTW, Singapore is far more strict than Russia.

If Griner could't live without the weed, she should have stayed home.

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I feel bad for her, but she broke the law and is now serving time for her actions, which is completely reasonable. As others have pointed out, we enforce U.S. laws on foreign nationals who are visiting the U.S., so we have to expect the same of other nations, and accept it when they do.

If the other nation treats an American citizen in an unfair manner-- say, issuing a 20-year jail sentence for an offense that is normally punished by a much shorter sentence-- then it's reasonable for our government to intervene, but that isn't the case in Griner's sentencing.

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I agree. Stupid law, but she broke it.

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She wanted her cake and eat it too. Get paid more money playing a child game in enemy country that actually cares about her talents more than her home country AND getting high as a kite on USA weed. U cant have it all and if you try u will have to pay the piper. She is paying the piper now. If she liked weed so much she should have stayed in the Land of the Free! She never thought McMurica was the land of the free but now she will understand the meaning!

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The sentence is overkill, but I don't like her, so I don't care.

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THAT IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF THE WORD ASSHOLE. NOEMOJI

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Griner hates whitey though.

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AS IS HER RIGHT AS AN AMERICAN. NOEMOJI

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Racism shouldn't be a right.

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HATING SOMETHING OR SOMEONE IS DISTINCTLY A RIGHT...ACTING ON THAT HATE IN ANY WAY IS NOT. NOEMOJI

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If I am in court and I say I hate the judge, it's game over for me.

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IT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO...IMPARTIALITY IS HARD THOUGH. NOEMOJI

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Thank you!!!

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FACT: This case proves Russian justice does not recognize mens rea. Prove me wrong.

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