On Thursday, Oakmont teacher Marc Fogel spoke to TribLive about his time in a Russian penal colony, where he has been sentenced to 14 years.

His alleged crime: possession of medical marijuana legally prescribed in Pennsylvania.

He had a simple and heartfelt plea to President Joe Biden: “Just please, bring me home.”

Marc Fogel’s crippling back pain — illustrated by 11-year-old X-ray images from a Moscow medical facility of his spine held together with hardware — is the reason for the medical marijuana.

“(The pain is) hard for me to describe. It’s something I’ve lived with for quite some period of time,” Fogel said.

Comments from readers on social media sometimes dismiss Fogel’s case as unfortunate but his own fault for bringing cannabis into a notoriously stringent country.

But the X-rays provided by the family show the truth of his medical condition in black and white. They also prompt another question.

Fogel was prescribed marijuana for a reason. In July 2023, his sister, Anne Fogel, detailed that in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as she begged for her brother to be designated “wrongfully detained” and be brought home.

“Marc decided to forgo opioids and narcotics after witnessing the destruction and heartbreak they had caused personal friends,” she wrote, noting that he admitted it and asked for leniency.

So here’s the question: Would Fogel have been better off taking legally prescribed opioids into Russia? Opioids have caused widespread addiction and overdose deaths. Russia saw more than 7,000 overdose deaths in 2020, up 16% from 2019, according to a 2022 study.

It seems that if 17 grams of marijuana would merit a drug trafficking charge, so would enough prescription narcotics to manage chronic pain.

There is a difference in how the U.S. and Russia approach drug policy in general and marijuana in particular. Many American states, such as Pennsylvania, are making marijuana legal to treat medical conditions like pain, chemotherapy symptoms, glaucoma and anxiety.

The Biden administration is tackling the issue in stages. Biden issued a proclamation in October 2022 pardoning a number of federal marijuana possession crimes, and expanding that in December 2023. The U.S. Justice Department is taking public comment on a proposed rule to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I narcotic to Schedule III. Schedule I includes things like heroin and LSD. Schedule III drugs have more medical applications, such as steroids, testosterone and Tylenol with codeine.

Fogel’s case is frequently compared to that of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was arrested for possession of cannabis oil cartridges for prescribed medical use. She was arrested in March 2022 and released in a prisoner swap in December 2022.

In Thursday’s conversation, Fogel struggled audibly when alluding to Griner’s release. He and his family have made it clear they do not blame nor begrudge Griner. He just wants the same chance to come home.

The Biden administration has expressed over and over a desire to see change regarding the way people are punished for marijuana use. The administration could take a stand on that by standing behind an American teacher in pain, in need and in a foreign prison — and just, please, bring him home.

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