WNBA star Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison after being found with cannabis vape cartridges in her carry-on luggage at a Moscow airport in February, according to Russian authorities.
The two-time Olympic basketball champion and member of the U.S. national team was arrested after she was found carrying cannabis-derived oil cartridges.
Before the verdict was announced, Griner told the court she had no intention to break the law by bringing vape cartridges with cannabis oil into the country when she flew to Moscow in February to play basketball in the city of Yekaterinburg.
Laws about possessing cannabis products vary by state and country, which may affect what happens to a person traveling with one.
Here is what you should know about traveling with cannabis products:
In the US, marijuana is still illegal federally
While marijuana is legal for adults in some U.S. states, it is still illegal under federal law. It is not advisable to transport it over state lines.
THC is the primary psychoactive substance in marijuana. CBD is a non-psychoactive component of cannabis that is often sold in other products, such as lotions and supplements.
Certain cannabis-infused products, including CBD oil, are illegal at the federal level if they contain more than 0.3% THC on a dry weight basis.
It is not clear if the cartridges that Russian officials say Griner was carrying had either or both CBD or THC.
The Food and Drug Administration has only approved one cannabis-derived product, Epidiolex, which has a purified form of CBD, the agency said in January 2021, and three synthetic cannabis-related drug products: Marinol (dronabinol), Syndros (dronabinol) and Cesamet (nabilone). These are only available with prescriptions by licensed health care providers.
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