In September 2014, reporter Charlo Greene made headlines when she quit her job during an on-air broadcast for Alaska station KVTA. She revealed at the time that she was the owner of the Alaska Cannabis Club and stated: “Now everything you heard is why, I, the actual owner of the Alaska Cannabis Club, will be dedicating all of my energy [to] fighting for freedom and fairness which begins with legalizing marijuana here in Alaska. And as for this job, well, not that I have a choice but, f— it, I quit.”
About six months later Alaska legalized the use of marijuana across the state. But heon-airir declaration has Greene in legal trouble for operating the club before the law took effect. The club was founded on April 20, 2014, six months before the state voted to legalize the drug. As of February 2015 it is legal to possess up to 1 ounce of the weed and grow as many as six plants at home in Alaska.
Greene has been charged with 10 felony and four misdemeanor charges of drug possession relating to her business. She faces combined jail time of 54 years if convicted on all charges. The Anchorage Police Department conducted two raids last year looking over records and making undercover purchases from its employees. She pleaded her case on Facebook and recently posted, “I just found out I’m facing an additional 6 felonies — 30 more years. That[s’] 54 years in prison for a plant. And the attorney I paid to handle my case, who’s been working it for the last year, just let me know she’s quitting to join the prosecution and not giving me back any of the money she was paid to finish my case.”
Greene has described her case as a “modern-day lynching’ and is now asking her supporters who voted to legalize the drug to speak out in her defense.
