Pubdate: Thu, 20 Dec 2012
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Ngaio Bealum

CUSTODY AND POT

A "friend" of mine has a problem: She is going through a rough
divorce, and her ex is threatening to take the kids because of her
medical cannabis use. Can he do that?

- -Concerned "Friend"

The answer used to be yes, but the times, they are a-changin'. Last
year, the sheriff's department took away the children of Daisy Bram, a
young mother of two living in Butte County, after they raided her
small cannabis-growing operation. They charged her with child
endangerment. It took six months, but the charges were eventually
dropped and her children were returned to her care.

Recently, the California Courts of Appeal found that someone using
marijuana did not automatically mean someone was abusing marijuana. In
this case, the father (known as "Paul M." in court records) had a
recommendation for medical cannabis, and would medicate in a shed
outside of the house while an adult family member watched his child.
The cannabis was also kept in a locked box in the shed. Originally,
the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services had ordered
the father to take random drug tests, and the lower court agreed, but
the appeals court reversed that decision, stating, "both DCFS and the
trial court apparently confused the meanings of the terms 'substance
use' and 'substance abuse.'" As it stands now, medical cannabis is
being treated more and more like a regular prescription and less like
a criminal offense. If you take the necessary precautions, there is no
reason for you to lose custody of your kids over your cannabis use.
Good luck.

Dude! Legalization in Colorado and Washington state, the fed crackdown
in California, the raids on many Sacramento dispensaries-there's a lot
going on! Did you ever think all this would happen in your lifetime?

- -The Tripping Point

Dude, yes way. I am surprised that it has taken this long. Many people
thought President Jimmy Carter was going to legalize weed in the
1970s. Carter actually came out in favor of its decriminalization,
saying, "Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more
damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where
they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in
the laws against possession of marijuana in private for personal use."

Nothing ever came of it, Ronald Reagan was elected president, and the
"war on some drugs" began in earnest. The '80s were rough on pot
activists, but the '90s saw many advances. Proposition 215 was passed
in 1996. Medical-cannabis dispensaries started in the '90s, and
medical-marijuana legislation spread to other states. By the time
President Barack Obama was elected, many people acted like cannabis-at
least medical cannabis-was already legal. There has been plenty of
backlash the past year-and-a-half, but this year's election has shown
that not only does ending cannabis prohibition make sense as both an
economic and a social-liberty issue, it also has the political will of
the voting public.

If we start now (like I always say: Start early, you're probably
stoned), I bet we can get some form of weed decriminalization in at
least five more states by 2016. We are winning. Go hard.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D