Mom who used pot, had son taken away makes first court appearance

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article24682555.html
 

 
By Gabriella Dunn
The Wichita Eagle
 
Shona Banda, a Garden City mom who faces five charges related to marijuana use, appeared in court for the first time on Tuesday.
 
Those charges came after her 11-year-old son made comments about Banda using pot during an anti-drug program in his fifth-grade class at Bernadine Sitts School.
 
Eleven days after the incident, Garden City police and the Department for Children and Families questioned Banda's son at school and raided Banda's home in Garden City. Authorities took her son away and put him in protective state custody.
 
Curtis Jacobs, Finney County court administrator, said Banda's first-appearance court records were still being processed as of Tuesday afternoon but should be released Wednesday.
 
Banda's attorney, Sarah Swain, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. In an interview Monday, Swain said Banda made cannabis oil from pot in her home to treat her Crohn's disease.
 
Swain said she plans to defend Banda with two strategies. The first, she said, will be to challenge the constitutionality of how police officers and DCF officials obtained evidence in the case.
 
The second strategy, she said, will be to challenge the classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug.
 
Banda now faces five charges. Three are felonies: possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of school property, unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia to cultivate less than five plants. The other two charges are misdemeanors: endangering a child and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Third-party perspectiveRichard Levy, University of Kansas J.B. Smith distinguished professor of constitutional law, said he would be interested in the state's evidence against Banda in its custody case.
 
“I think it would be somewhat excessive to say all parents who use marijuana should lose custody of their children,” Levy said.
 
He said that under the due process clause, parents have a fundamental right to the custody and care of their children. That means the state would need especially strong justification for denying Banda custody of her son.
 
“Marijuana is illegal, so there's a crime that's committed, but not all crimes necessarily mean a parent is unfit,” Levy said. He added: “There are people who use marijuana for medicinal or recreational use, and not all of those parents abuse or neglect their children.”
 
Swain, Banda's lawyer, said Monday that Banda's son is now living with his father.
 
In reference to the constitutionality of how officers searched Banda's house and seized evidence, Levy said officers would need crucial circumstances to make a seizure without a warrant.
 
Without the probable cause affidavit, it's hard to tell exactly what happened that day.
 
According to a Garden City police news release, officers went to Banda's house on March 24. When she did not let them in, the officers secured the home until a search warrant was granted, in order to prevent destruction of evidence.
 
Levy said that under the Fourth Amendment, officers generally need a warrant for a search or seizure.
“If you're securing the house, that's a seizure already,” Levy said. “That may be a problem.”
The prosecutionSusan Richmeier, Finney County attorney, was out of the office Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.
 
William Votypka, deputy county attorney for Finney County, said he has been lightly involved with the case and said Banda's second court appearance is set for Aug. 24.
 
“We wouldn't have filed a case unless we had evidence that there was abuse or neglect and that there was a crime committed,” Votypka said.
 
The attention, he said, has been drawn to the marijuana aspect of the case, when “it's really about the child.”
 
“This isn't any special case where we're trying to go after a woman,” he said. “It's just a case where we received a law violation, and we treated it like any other case.”
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Reach Gabriella Dunn at 316-268-6400 or gdunn@wichitaeagle.com. Follow her on Twitter: @gabriella_dunn.

 
 
</div> 

 

 
You are just a cell in a giant organism, all they care about at the end of the day is home much bigger their paycheck is and if they get reelected. And that's why weed is still illegal. Bad for big government and big business.
 
That's why a woman using this medicine to take care of himself and remain functional to take care of her family is a "problem". They'd rather let her die in their cages to protect their "cause" - and are more than willing to do so. They're okay with taxpayers footing a bill for 30 years to imprison someone whose guts were rotting because she chose a natural medicine to save her life that the "officials" didn't like or approve of. That's the world we live in.

 

 
Don't think it occurred to him he was exactly "snitching". He's 11 years old, and I'm sure he regrets every word he said that day at school.

 

 
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/955/134/362/
 
I found this petition from her website :
 
http://supportshona.com/
 
At the bottom of the page it also has contact information for the city and police dept.

 

http://kmuw.org/post/prosecutor-not-swayed-medical-condition-defendant
 
Prosecutor Not Swayed By Medical Condition Of Defendant
<span><span>By Bryan Thompson</span></span> • Jun 19, 2015
 
A Garden City medical marijuana activist is making national news. Shona Banda's home was raided and her son was placed in protective custody-at least in part due to something the boy said during an anti-drug presentation at school. Heartland Health Monitor's Bryan Thompson has more.
 
Police raided Shona Banda's home in March after her 11-year-old son took issue with an anti-marijuana presentation at school. She's now free on bond. But the 38-year-old is facing five criminal counts-four of them related to marijuana, and one for endangering a child.
 
Her attorney says Banda's life depends on using a type of oil she makes from marijuana to treat her Crohn's disease. Finney County Attorney Susan Richmeier says using marijuana--even cannabis oil--is illegal in Kansas. The fact that she uses it for medicine doesn't make any difference.
 
“My office can't make a determination to prosecute someone based on medical reasons, or otherwise," Richmeier says. "We base all of our decisions for prosecution on whether or not it's a violation of Kansas law.”
 
Police say they recovered more than a pound of marijuana from Banda's home. Her attorney, Sarah Swain, says Banda never tried to hide what she was doing-from her children, or from local authorities.
 
“No one has ever disputed that Shona Banda had cannabis in her home," Swain says. "She herself, when she moved to Garden City, went to the Sheriff's Department, gave them a copy of her book, and said, ‘This is who I am, and this is my story.' She chose not to live in fear of criminal charges.”
 
Swain says Banda had openly told her children that she believed her cannabis oil was more effective and safer than most of the prescriptions she had been given for her Crohn's disease.
 
“My understanding is that, in this discussion of the evils of marijuana that was taking place at school, her son simply said, ‘No, I disagree with what you're saying about that plant,' and things snowballed from there,” Swain says.
 
Swain questions the constitutionality of the way the information was gathered, the search warrant was prepared, and the eventual search of the house. But Richmeier says authorities had other evidence to go on.
 
“We had other resources, other than just that statement," she says. "And I can't go into any specifics with regards to this particular case, but anytime there are concerns about the well-being of a child or that illegal activity is occurring we are bound by the law to obtain search warrants.”
 
Banda's attorney says her client, if convicted of all charges, could be facing a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. Richmeier says that's true in theory, but the most serious charge-distribution and possession of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school-carries a maximum sentence of 17 years.
 
“That's based on weight. Not all possession is based on weight, but the fact that it was within 1,000 feet of a school, that's what makes the weight carry the Severity Level 1 punishment," Richmeier says.
 
Defense attorney Sarah Swain is concerned that if Banda goes to prison and can't get the only treatment that has brought her relief from Crohn's disease, she will likely die. According to Swain, Banda has been without the cannabis oil since her home was raided, and her condition has worsened.
 
“It is medicine, and she has already lost a dramatic amount of weight since she has not been using it,” Swain said. “She has had to have oral surgery due to some infections in her mouth that were kept at bay when she was using cannabis oil, but have now come back. So, her health is not good, and I think it will only continue to deteriorate as this case drags on.”
 
Meanwhile, an online petition started by two of Banda's friends has picked up more than 140,000 electronic signatures asking that she be shown mercy. Prosecutor Susan Richmeier says Kansas law prescribes the range of options in sentencing, so Banda's fate will lie with the judge-if she's found guilty.
 
Bryan Thompson is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor.

 

http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2015/06/shona-b...


<h1>\t\tShona Banda: The Latest Victim of Mean-Spirited Bureaucrats\t\t</h1>By \t\t\t<span class="reviewer">Keith Stroup\t\t</span>\t\t \t\ton\t\t\t \t\t\t\t<time>June 22, 2015</time>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t



Shona Banda suffers from Crohn's disease, and has found, as have many Crohn's sufferers, that medical marijuana provides her with effective relief and allows her to manage her illness and live a somewhat normal life. Specifically, Banda uses cannabis oil.


The problem is she lives in, Garden City, Kansas, a state that does not yet recognize the medical uses of marijuana. And when her 11-year old son spoke up in his drug education class to challenge some of the anti-marijuana allegations being taught to the children – and shared the fact that his mother uses cannabis to manage her Crohn's disease – Banda's son was removed from her custody by the Kansas Department for Children and Families.


Her home was subsequently raided, and Banda is now facing three drug felonies (possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance within 1,000-feet of a school; endangering a child; and unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance) for the cannabis oil found in her home, and she faces a possible jail term in excess of 30-years. Banda first used cannabis oil to manage her disease when she lived in Colorado for a period of time, before returning to her home in Kansas.


Banda is being represented by attorney Sarah Swain, who publicly has promised an aggressive defense that will challenge every facet of the prosecution's case, including the questioning of the 11-year-old son without either of his parents present; the search warrant issued for their home based on that questioning; and the federal classification of marijuana as a Schedule I substance with no medical usefulness.


This case is just the latest from states around the country that illustrate the incredibly harsh and unjustified consequences of marijuana prohibition, the unsustainable differences in the manner in which we treat our most vulnerable citizens from one state to another, and the absolute moral impairative that we stop treating seriously ill patients as criminals, regardless of where they may call home.


Surely this immediate situation could have been handled by reasonable people in a manner based on compassion and concern for the welfare of this serious ill mother, striving to find a way to lead a full life and raise her young son. The school could have exercised some discretion and common sense and accepted the comments made by her young son as reflecting the reality of his and his mother's life, and this would not have become a matter of public concern. And the Garden City police should not have questioned the young child without his parent's consent, and did not have to seek a questionable search warrant, based on the child's statements, to invade Banda's home and violate her privacy. And finally, the local prosecutor, Finney County Attorney Susan Richmeier, with even a wit of compassion and understanding, could have exercised her discretion and refused to file criminal charges, bringing this embarrassing episode to a close, and allowing this seriously ill woman a chance to live a normal life.


But at each level, the civic institutions in Kansas failed their responsibility to serve the best interests of the citizens of Kansas, ignoring the obviously compelling factual situation, and blindly pursuing the war on drugs, despite the horrendous repercussions of that choice.


Rather they have reminded us of the enduring harm caused by marijuana prohibition, and the damage it has done not just to the victims of this misguided war, but also to those in civic positions of trust who have lost their moral compass in their blind support for prohibition.


Shame on everyone who had anything to do with allowing this case to get to this point, and who failed to stand up and publicly question the appropriateness of this entire witch-hunt. These are people who are either incredibly ignorant of the important and sometimes life-altering benefits medical marijuana provides to tens of thousands of seriously ill patients across this country (37 states now permit at least limited medical use of marijuana), or they are truly mean-spirited people who simply do not care.


Regardless, it reminds me of how much work we still have ahead of us, and why I would never wish to live in rural Kansas.

 

https://reason.com/archives/2015/06/22/shona-banda...


<hgroup>\t\t<h1>Shona Banda Faces Decades in Prison Because Her Son Questioned Anti-Pot Propaganda</h1>\t\t\t\t\t<h2>A fifth-grader's comments about marijuana lead to felony charges against his mother.</h2>Jacob Sullum | June 22, 2015


In Live Free or Die, a 2010 memoir recounting how cannabis oil saved her life, Shona Banda emphasizes the importance of "self-taught knowledge," acquired by constantly asking questions and "looking at all of the angles of any information given." Her son may have learned that lesson too well. Had he been less inquisitive, less prone to question authority, he might still be living with his mother, and she might not be facing criminal charges that could send her to prison for decades.


</hgroup>Banda, a 38-year-old massage therapist who appeared in criminal court for the first time last week, is free on a $50,000 bond while her case is pending. She was able to pay a bail bondsman the $5,000 fee necessary to stay out of jail thanks to donations from supporters across the country who were outraged by her situation. The case has drawn international attention partly because it features draconian penalties and a mother's forcible separation from her 11-year-old son but also because of the way it started.


During a "drug education" program at his school in Garden City, Kansas, on March 24, Banda's son heard some things about marijuana that did not jibe with what he had learned about the plant from his mother. So he spoke up, suggesting that cannabis was less dangerous and more beneficial than the counselors running the program were claiming. That outburst of skepticism precipitated a visit to the principal's office, where the fifth-grader was interrogated about his mother's cannabis consumption. School officials called Child Protective Services (CPS), which contacted police, who obtained a warrant to search Banda's house based on what her son had said.


As translated by the Garden City Police Department, Banda's son "reported to school officials that his mother and other adults in his residence were avid drug users and that there was a lot of drug use occurring in his residence." From Banda's perspective, what her son had observed was her consumption of a medicine that had "fixed" her Crohn's disease, alleviated her pain, and restored her energy. "I had an autoimmune disease," she says in a 2010 YouTube video during which she displays the scars left by multiple surgeries aimed at relieving her crippling gastrointestinal symptoms. "With Crohn's disease, it's like having a stomach flu that won't go away." But after she started swallowing capsules containing homemade cannabis oil, she says, her life was transformed. "I'm working for the first time in four years," she says. "I'm hiking. I'm swimming. I'm able to play with my kids [two sons, one of whom is now 18]….Anything beats raising your kids from a couch and lying there in pain all day." Banda's personal experience aside, there is scientific evidence that cannabis is an effective treatment for the symptoms of Crohn's disease.
<hgroup>
\t\t\t</hgroup>

As far as the police were concerned, none of that was relevant, since Kansas is not one of the 23 states that allow medical use of cannabis. In the cops' view, what they found at Banda's house-"approximately 1 ¼ pounds of suspected marijuana"-was contraband, not medicine. And when CPS caseworkers took Banda's son away from her, they were protecting him, not kidnapping him. "The most important thing here is the child's well-being," Capt. Randy Ralston told the Associated Press. "That is why it is a priority for us, just because of the danger to the child."


The precise nature of that danger remains mysterious. Ralston says "the items taken from the residence"-the marijuana, plus "a lab for manufacturing cannabis oil on the kitchen table and kitchen counters, drug paraphernalia and other items related to the packaging and ingestion of marijuana"-were "within easy reach of the child." But police came to Banda's house in the middle of the afternoon, so that detail is less alarming than it sounds. "She was producing oil during the day, while her son was in school," says Sarah Swain, Banda's criminal defense attorney.


So far Banda has been unsuccessful at regaining custody of her son, who is living for the time being with her husband, from whom she is separated. "He is in state custody and has been since the beginning of the case," Swain says. "He is placed [temporarily] with the father." A family court judge ultimately will decide whether it is in the boy's best interest to be reunited with his mother.


But as Swain notes, that process will be "moot" if "Shona goes to prison." The charges against her, which Finney County Attorney Susan Richmeier announced on June 5, include two misdemeanors-endangering a child and possession of drug paraphernalia-and three felonies: unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance, possession of equipment used to manufacture a controlled substance, and distribution or possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of school property. The distribution charge, a "drug severity level 1 felony," carries the longest maximum sentence: 17 years. Swain says Kansas law allows sentences for different offenses to be imposed consecutively as long as the total term does not exceed twice the longest maximum, which means Banda could be sent to prison for as long as 34 years. Richmeier, apparently based on the assumption that any sentences would be served concurrently, says the maximum term Banda faces is 17 years.


It seems unlikely that Banda, who has no criminal record, would receive a sentence as long as 34 or even 17 years. But a substantial prison sentence is a real possibility given the charges she faces. "When your cure is illegal," says a caption at the beginning of Banda's 2010 video, "you are forced to make the choice to live free or die." If Richmeier has her way, living free will no longer be an option for Banda.


One way to keep Banda out of prison may be to challenge the actions that police took before obtaining a warrant to search her house. Banda initially turned away the officers and CPS employees who came to her house, ostensibly to "investigate the safety of the residence for the child." Capt. Ralston describes what happened next:
<blockquote>
The residence was secured pending investigation and application [for] a search warrant. Officers remained on scene until the search warrant was granted to prevent the destruction of evidence while the application for search warrant was proceeding.
</blockquote>That "securing" of the residence, University of Kansas law professor Richard Levy told The Wichita Eagle, may have amounted to an unconstitutional seizure, which casts doubt on the validity of the subsequent search. And without the evidence obtained in the search, the case against Banda crumbles.


Even if the search is upheld, Banda may be able to avoid conviction on the distribution charge, which seems to be based on the amount of cannabis found in her home, as opposed to evidence that she was selling pot. The quantity of cannabis that Banda had may seem like a lot for a recreational user, but it isn't for a daily medical user who consumes marijuana in the form of extracts. "I know of no evidence that Shona Banda was ever distributing marijuana," Swain says, noting that the difference between possession and possession with intent to distribute could be the difference between a year's probation and years in prison. Banda's potential sentence also is enhanced because she happens to live within 1,000 feet of school property (assuming prosecutors measured correctly), not because there is any reason to believe she was selling pot to kids. Swain says that enhancement may be subject to challenge, depending on the nature and location of the property prosecutors have in mind.
It seems indisputable, however, that Banda engaged in the unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance as Kansas defines it. For someone with no criminal record, that charge alone carries a presumptive sentence of 98 months-more than eight years.


How does Richmeier justify threatening Banda with such harsh penalties? The same way a Texas prosecutor last year justified threatening a teenager with 20 years in prison after he was caught with a pound and a half of hash brownies and cookies: We don't make the law; we just enforce it. "The Finney County Attorney's office is responsible for upholding the law in the State of Kansas and holding violators of those laws responsible," Richmeier says in a statement she sent reporters last week. "Currently, the laws in the State of Kansas do not allow for marijuana use, possession, [or] possession of paraphernalia nor do they allow the production of oils or other by-products of the cannabis plant, regardless of a person's medical status."
Richmeier, who says her office will refrain from discussing the details of Banda's case to avoid "prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding," adds:
<blockquote>
Once a violation of law has occurred, our office does not pick and choose the persons we prosecute. Cases with legitimate, well-investigated violations are filed. Once a complaint is filed, we depend on the veracity of our legal system to ensure the appropriate punishment occurs.
</blockquote>

That defense, which presumably is Richmeier's response to the public uproar caused by her prosecution of Banda, is not quite accurate. After all, Banda was breaking the law every day she made and took her medicine. She wrote a book about it, produced YouTube videos about it, and began work on a documentary about her experience with the "amazing" and "miraculous" plant that she credits with saving her from disabling pain and premature death. "Knowledge is power," Banda says in her 2010 video. "When you decide to take your life in your own hands, and realize that you can do this with a $50 machine and a $5 spatula, a plant that you can grow for free in your own backyard, you can do this, and it's awesome." Banda's "violation of the law" was hardly a secret, but it was not until her son questioned anti-pot propaganda at school that police decided to investigate and Richmeier decided to file charges.


"Shona has always been open about her use of cannabis oil," Swain notes. "This is not someone who has chosen to live in the shadows for fear of criminal prosecution….Shona told me that when she moved to Garden City, she took a copy of her book to the sheriff's department and said, 'This is who I am.'"


So why the sudden interest in treating Banda like a criminal? "It goes to the completely arbitrary nature of the enforcement of drug laws," Swain says. "To me, this is just a glaring example of how ridiculous the war on drugs in this country has become."


This article originally appeared at Forbes.com.

 

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