HARSH

Watch: Alaska Weed Shopkeeper Faces Up to 54 Years in Prison

A TV reporter who famously quit on air to promote legalizing marijuana may spend the rest of her life behind bars.

Charlo Greene, the Alaska reporter who famously quit her job on live TV, now faces up to 54 years in prison for following through on her post-employment plans: making legal marijuana available to the public.

Green, 28, is the owner of a marijuana shop called the Alaska Cannabis Club. And though Alaska legalized recreational marijuana in 2014, the state has charged her with 14 offenses, including “misconduct involving a controlled substance,” that could add up to 54 years of prison time if she’s convicted.

“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."

The state’s laws regarding marijuana are complex. Though the manufacture, sale, and possession of the substance have all been officially legal since 2014, no regulations yet exist for retail operations.

That was the tangled mess Green walked into two years ago, when she ended a TV news report on marijuana by announcing that she was the owner of the Cannabis Club. Then she walked off the set.

“Fuck it, I quit,” she said on air.

Since then, Alaska authorities have gone undercover to make purchases, as well as raided Greene’s shop, all the while compiling the long list of charges against her.

Greene’s trial is expected to begin within months. In the meantime, she decries the way her state has turned against her.

“It feels like I'm in this alone and it shouldn't,” she told Complex. “I'm supposed to be part of this huge community and it doesn't feel like it.”

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Nathan Place

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