Nurse jailed 3 years for trafficking 23 kg cannabis in Tennessee
Chicago nurse Traci Quinn was arrested in Tennessee with 50 lb (23 kg) of cannabis bought legally in California and convicted of trafficking, serving three years in prison. A second account dates the stop to 2017 and describes the conviction as for possession, and says she was released in 2020.
Traci Quinn, a mother and grandmother, spent two decades working as a nurse.[1]In 2016 she was arrested after transporting 50lb (23kg) of cannabis into
Tennessee.[1]She was tried and convicted for trafficking even though she had
legally purchased the cannabis in California.[1]She served three years in
prison.[1]She set up her Pink Hats construction business in 2020 shortly
after being freed.[1]
The first account describes Tennessee as having some of the strictest cannabis
laws in the United States.[1]While working in hospitals Quinn had seen
cannabis help some patients, including those with seizures, which inspired her
to set up a company selling medical cannabis.[1]
While behind bars Quinn says she felt called to set up a construction company on
release to specialise in redevelopment work in Chicago’s poorest communities.[1]She said her mission to start the construction company came from God while
she was in prison.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
1
Charged
1
Cannabis
23 kg
Prison
3 years
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (23 kg)
Activity
Trafficking
Setting
Prison
Case stage
Under investigation
Sources
BBC Newsbbc.comThe construction boss who built a new life after time in prison
No exact arrest, charge, conviction or sentencing date was published; accounts give only 2016 versus 2017 with no month or day, so 8 April 2026, the BBC publication date, is used as the incident date.
Accounts disagree on the year and on whether the conviction was for trafficking or for possession of marijuana, and the report retains both wordings with attribution.
No place of arrest within Tennessee more precise than the state was published, so state-centre coordinates are used at region precision.
The 50lb (23kg) amount is described as transported and no separate seizure weight, laboratory weight or value was published.
No court name, case number, sentence date or release date beyond the year 2020 was published.
Pink Hats founding is given as 2020 in one account and 2021 in another, which does not affect the enforcement facts.
No agency statement or court record for this case could be opened directly.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Block Club Chicago: A second account says that while travelling through Tennessee with cannabis in 2017 she was stopped, arrested, charged and convicted of possession of marijuana and released from prison in 2020.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Block Club Chicago: She later pursued travel nursing in California and opened a dispensary there in 2015.
A federal court sentenced Christopher L. Daniels, 47, of Tallahassee, Florida, to 25 years in prison after a jury convicted him of possessing controlled substances with intent to distribute and possessing a firearm as a felon. A January 2026 search of his home seized a pound (about 0.45 kg) of marijuana alongside methamphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine, synthetic cathinones and four pistols.
Nigel White was sentenced in Brown County court to 18 years in prison plus 10 years of extended supervision for his role in the August 2024 marijuana deal on Berner Street where Brandon Ramirez was shot dead. White, one of five people charged, had pleaded no contest to felony murder; prosecutors said he drove a getaway vehicle.
Charged 5Sentenced 1Prison 18 years initial confinement and 10 years extended supervisionDeaths 1
A federal judge sentenced Christopher S. Robinson, 31, of Springfield to 15 years in prison for possessing methamphetamine and fentanyl for distribution, a case that began with a May 2024 raid in Jacksonville. Police reported finding 1.8 pounds of cannabis there and charged him with felony cannabis possession with intent to deliver.
Six traffickers were sentenced on 4 November 2026 in the Northern District of West Virginia to a combined 37 years in federal prison for fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking. Officers seized about 68.15 kilograms of marijuana in two of the cases, including 150 pounds at a Keyser duplex, alongside fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine.
