Kamala Harris decried the nine-year jail sentence of American basketball player, Brittney Griner, who was convicted by Russian authorities for carrying drugs.
Before assuming the vice presidency of the United States, Harris worked as an attorney and prosecuted thousands of Americans for illegally possessing marijuana.
However, she is still slamming Russia for convicting Griner on the drug possession charges. So, netizens accused Harris of hypocrisy on marijuana punishments.
Kamala Harris Hypocrisy Exposed
On Thursday, a Russian court sentenced Griner to nine years in prison.
The verdict was broadly criticized by American government officials, including President Biden, who believes that Griner’s punishment is “unacceptable.”
Vice President Kamala Harris also suggested Russia is wrongfully detaining Griner, adding she is working with President Biden for the immediate release of the basketball player.
Whereas critics were quick enough to start denouncing Harris for her hypocrisy, as she prosecuted thousands of people on the same charges for which Griner was convicted.
One Twitter user asked Harris why she brags about her accomplishments as a drug case prosecutor when she is criticizing Russia for the same thing.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris: How dare Russia sentence Brittney Griner to 9 yrs in prison for marijuana? We usually give at least 20!
— Prof Zenkus (@anthonyzenkus) August 5, 2022
Likewise, another Twitter user reminded the vice president that she is only crying about Griner’s conviction as the US cannot make any money out of this case.
Reportedly, Harris prosecuted more than 1,900 cases of marijuana possession during her tenure as the district attorney of San Francisco.
When she was elected as the attorney general of California in 2011, Harris continued to prosecute marijuana cases and locked up more than 1,970 people.
For a long time, Harris remained a critic of California’s marijuana legalization ballot initiative, which was passed without her support in 2016.
However, she started supporting marijuana legalization in 2018 and supported a bill that tried to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act. She even ended up writing a book in which she insisted on the decriminalization of marijuana.
I called out the hypocrisy of Top Cop Kamala Harris exploiting Brittney Griner for political points against Russia while leading the same cruel War on Drugs at home.#KHive trolls have camped out in my mentions ever since, so here is a quick thread debunking their claims. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/SoHOseQv1k
— Holding Biden Accountable (@WaitingOnBiden) August 5, 2022
Russia Finally Ready to Bring Its Arms Dealer Back
During the presidential primaries of the Democrat Party, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard chided Harris for her involvement in locking people up on marijuana charges.
According to Gabbard, Harris admitted she inhaled marijuana herself, but she still threw people in jail for smoking weed.
Griner’s conviction is likely to aggravate US efforts to strike a prisoner swap deal with Russia under which America will exchange Russian arms dealer Bout with Griner and an American spy, Paul Whelan.
After Griner’s conviction, Russia finally said, on Friday, it is “ready to discuss” the prisoner swap deal.
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov stated bilateral prisoner swap talks should take place only at the presidential level between Biden and Putin. Previously, Russia was hesitant to accept the offer of the Biden administration.
As the bilateral talks are expected to start soon, both nations can strike a deal under which the US government will release a career criminal responsible for supplying arms to global terrorists.
