The US State Department has declared a US citizen who has been imprisoned in Russia for three years on drug smuggling charges is "wrongfully detained." Marc Fogel, a history teacher from Butler County, PA, was arrested in August 2021 as he returned to Russia for his tenth year teaching there. Fogel had 17 grams of cannabis, which he alleges was obtained by prescription for treating chronic back pain. The Russians looked at it as drug possession and smuggling. They had a point.

He’d packed 14 vape cartridges of medical marijuana into his suitcase, stuffing some in his shoes, and placed some cannabis buds in a contact lens case, his wife said. Jane said she had no idea he’d done it. But why take such a risk?

“It’s pretty simple,” his son Ethan said of his father’s plan to bring medical marijuana into Russia. “He thought he could get away with it.”

(Thanks for the support, son.)

That escapade resulted in the globetrotting expatriate drawing a 14-year prison sentence.

Fogel was not included in the December 2022 US-Russia prisoner swap involving WNBA player Brittney Griner; see BREAKING: Brittney Griner Released From Russian Prison After Controversial Prisoner Swap.

In August 2024, another prisoner swap between Russia and the US freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Marine veteran Paul Whelan and Russian-American radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva (BREAKING: Russia Releases Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan As Part of Massive Prisoner Exchange), but not Marc Fogel; see 'Gut Wrenching': Family of Marc Fogel, Who Biden 'Left Behind' in Russia, Blasts Prisoner Swap Deal. That last deal included British-Russian dual national political activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who, according to the State Department, "was not determined by this department to be wrongfully detained, but yet we were still able to secure his release last week."

 The factors considered in determining if a US citizen is "wrongfully detained," include actual innocence, which doesn't seem all that plausible when the cops have found cannabis buds in your contact lens case, or if they are being held "for the primary purpose of influencing US policy or securing concessions from the US government." The State Department did not provide information on what new facts had suddenly changed Fogel's status from legitimate prisoner to "wrongfully detained," but, given the totality of the facts, it seems like they must now view him as a political pawn.

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I think the fact that changed Fogel's status happened on November 5 when Donald Trump won the popular vote and an Electoral College landslide.

By declaring Fogel "wrongfully detained," he becomes a priority for action across the US government.

The designation traditionally shifts supervision of a detainee’s case to the office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, a State Department office focused on negotiating for the release of hostages and other Americans classified as being wrongfully detained in other countries.

That dumps the case in the hands of Trump's designated special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler. I think it is also a poke at incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. 

On the December 22 edition of the Ben Shapiro Sunday Show Special podcast, Waltz had this to say about nations or groups that illegally imprison US citizens.

WALTZ: Enough is enough; by the time January 20th comes around, these poor people, those that are still alive, will have been held longer than the Iranians held our hostages in 1979...when the Carter to Reagan transition. That's totally unacceptable, and I think writ large there has never been enough consequences. And that's what we need to be talking about with these people. You take an American, you illegally detain them; if you're a nation-state or if you're a terrorist, you hold them, hostage, there is going to be all Hell to pay. There are going to be nothing but consequences for you financially and maybe even a bullet in your damn forehead if you take an American, period. And so that the next time you think about it, you know what, a lot of these groups are going to say "whoa, it's just not worth it under Donald Trump, let's try to you know..." They'll go try to mess with America somewhere else, but not when it comes to taking our people. Enough is enough.

Quite simply, this is a land mine left behind by Biden's political appointees to damage Trump. Now, when Trump enters office, he has a US citizen "wrongfully detained" in Russia. He's laid down a marker that he doesn't care if it is "a nation-state or if you're a terrorist," he will move heaven and earth to bring them home. If he doesn't deliver on this, you can bet we will hear a lot more about Fogel in the next six months than we have in the last three years.

[Editor's note: This article was edited for clarity after publication.]