We learned in the Monday edition of the Butler Eagle about a sad anniversary — Butler native Marc Fogel has been detained in Russia for two years.

Fogel was arrested and accused of drug smuggling when Russian authorities found a half ounce of medical marijuana Fogel had been prescribed for chronic back pain. He has since been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Fogel, because of his citizenship, is being used as a political pawn in the continuing power struggle between the United States and Russia.

As anyone who's met Fogel can attest, though, he's much more than a symbol. He's a son, father, friend, teacher and world traveler.

He's the kind of person who makes friends in every city he travels to while also keeping in touch with a friend he first met in third grade at McQuistion Elementary School.

He's the kind of person who started an informal English class with a dozen other prisoners, until authorities forced them to stop.

It's good that many elected officials, including U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly, R-16th, and Chris Deluzio, D-17th, and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., have called for his release, but there is clearly more the government can and should do.

In the very similar case of WNBA star Brittney Griner, the U.S. State Department designated her as “wrongfully detained.” No such declaration has been made in Fogel's case.

That needs to happen as a step toward putting pressure on Russia to release Fogel.

His mother, 94-year-old Malphine Fogel, is hoping the State Department makes that designation soon.

As you might expect, Fogel's mother is concerned for his health. He deals with chronic pain, and it isn't clear what, if any, treatment he's been receiving.

Fogel’s case has not received anything like the national attention Griner’s did, nor those of Paul Whelan or Evan Gershkovich. That doesn’t make it any less important, nor any less urgent to Fogel’s friends and family that he be released.

July 28 was Fogel's 62nd birthday. We hope the State Department starts taking steps to make sure he's released before he turns 63.

— JK