Charlo Greene: Reporter who quit on live TV to campaign for marijuana legalisation could face prison
'It’s almost dizzying when you try to make sense of it. It could literally cost me the rest of my adult life,' says Greene
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Your support makes all the difference.For those who have forgotten Charlo Greene - she is the news reporter who quit her job on live television by outing herself as the owner of the Alaskan Cannabis Club and announcing “f*ck it”.
While working as a reporter for KTVA, a station in Alaska, Greene revealed she was the owner of the club, which was the subject of her news report, and was in favour of the legalisation of cannabis.
“Now everything you heard is why I, the actual owner of the Alaska Cannabis Club, will be dedicating all of my energy toward fighting for freedom and fairness which begins with legalising marijuana here in Alaska.”
“And as for this job, well, not that I have a choice but, f**k it, I quit,” she said, before abruptly walking off-air on 22 September 2014. Within hours, the 26-year-old had become a viral star.
Since then, Greene has made a name for herself as a cannabis advocate and has spent her time campaigning for people to access marijuana after Alaska became the third state in the US to legalise recreational marijuana in November 2014.
However, this has not ended well. Greene has now been charged with eight serious criminal offences of “misconduct involving a controlled substance”. If she were to be convicted, she could potentially be sentenced to 24 years in prison.
The state attorney general’s office confirmed to The Independent that she had been charged with eight offences. They said 24 years would be the maximum potential sentence if each count were to run consecutively. The office declined to comment further on the issue.
According to The Guardian, records show detectives immediately targeted the operation with six undercover purchases and two raids in the space of five months. The paper also said records showed Greene was not directly involved in any of the undercover transactions made yet state prosecutors exclusively charged her, noting the club was registered in her name.
Greene, whose legal name is Charlene Egbe, has pleaded not guilty, with a trial expected to be held in the following months.
“It’s almost dizzying when you try to make sense of it,” Greene told The Guardian. “It could literally cost me the rest of my adult life.”
Although Alaska legalised the manufacture, sale and possession of marijuana in 2014, it only came into effect in February 2015. Even though the state had not settled its regulations for retail operations in the interim provisional period, the Alaska Cannabis Club reportedly allowed people to purchase “memberships” and supplied marijuana when members made “donations”.
Greene did not immediately respond to request for comment.
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