Sliding Scales

Dear Brittney, wish you were here.

BY COLIN W. SARGENT

Being an Olympic gold medalist and an international hoop star gives you a free pass just about anywhere. That’s what some of us no doubt jealously thought.

But Sheremetyevo International Airport outside Moscow isn’t exactly just about anywhere.

“Russian customs o cials said a U.S. basketball player had vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. A Russian news agency identi ed the player as [Brittney] Griner,” the New York Times reported.

e Phoenix MercuryWNBA star, who possessed a medical marijuana card issued to her in Arizona, was carrying less than a gram of cannabis oil, illegal in Russia. e prosecutor asked for nine and a half years out of a maximum of ten, and Griner was sentenced to nine. She’s also been ned one million rubles (about $16,300 USD).

DIFFERENT STROKES

It’s a slam-dunk irony that she’d be in no trouble whatsoever if this had happened in Maine.

“For vaping, cartridges range between $44 and $55 with tax,” I learn from a quick call to Sweet Dirt on Forest Avenue. “ at’s half a gram in a cartridge.”

“Is that like what Brittney Griner was carrying?”

“It would basically be a couple of these.”

“I’m still trying to get it through my head. She's facing frightening consquences in a strange land a er six months in the slammer away from her family—but if she were here, no problem.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s legal in Maine. You’re allowed to leave our store with ve grams of concentrate. Every single day.” n