{"id":49723,"date":"2020-01-30T13:31:41","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T13:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/putin-pardons-us-israeli-woman-facing-75-years-in-prison-over-a-bag-of-weed\/"},"modified":"2020-01-30T13:31:41","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T13:31:41","slug":"putin-pardons-us-israeli-woman-facing-75-years-in-prison-over-a-bag-of-weed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/putin-pardons-us-israeli-woman-facing-75-years-in-prison-over-a-bag-of-weed\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin Pardons US-Israeli Woman Facing 7.5 Years in Prison Over a Bag of Weed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a pardon for Naama Issachar, a dual US-Israeli citizen who faced 7.5 years in prison<\/u><\/a> just for flying with a small bag of weed.<\/p>\n

The pardon, granted by presidential decree on Wednesday, is \u201ceffective immediately,\u201d CNN<\/em><\/u><\/a> reported. <\/p>\n

In April 2019, Issachar stopped for a layover at Moscow airport while flying from India to Tel Aviv. During the layover, a police drug-sniffing dog zeroed in on Issachar\u2019s carry-on bag as it passed through a security checkpoint. Russian cops allegedly found 9.6 grams, or less than half an ounce of cannabis, in the bag. <\/p>\n

While Issachar initially admitted that the weed was hers, she denied the harshest charge laid against her: drug smuggling. And if you know your weed weights<\/u><\/a>, 9.6 grams hardly qualifies for possession these days, much less a drug smuggling charge. Heck, some people can smoke an entire 10 grams<\/u><\/a> of pot in a single sesh. According to the Times of Israel<\/em><\/u><\/a>, mere weed possession in Russia usually carries a maximum sentence of a few months in prison, but a drug smuggling conviction could carry a sentence of up to 10 years. <\/p>\n