Kalob Wayne Byers, a 28-year-old US citizen, has been released from a Russian detention facility after being held for over a month on charges of drug smuggling. Byers was arrested at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport in early February after cannabis edibles were discovered in his luggage. The case against him could have resulted in a five-to-ten year prison sentence, as marijuana, including medical marijuana, is illegal in Russia.
Byers’ parents have spoken out on the situation, stating that their son is now at the US Embassy in Moscow, waiting for a flight back to the United States, with a stop in Turkey before arriving in Washington. According to his parents, Kalob has been suffering from epilepsy since childhood and relies on medication to manage his seizures. They claim that he had been consuming CBD gummies, legal in the US, in the months leading up to his arrest and that he did not have access to his medication during his detention, resulting in several severe seizure episodes.
His parents describe their son as an innocent individual, not a drug abuser or smuggler, who was in Russia to prepare for his upcoming wedding to a Russian woman, with whom he had traveled to finalize the formalities for their marriage. “He is an upstanding citizen who is preparing to marry the love of his life. Neither he nor his fiancée deserve the accusations being made against them” his parents stated.