California Policy Manager, Drug Policy AllianceThe Difference Between Real and Fake News About Marijuana
Honest, science-based drug education has been acknowledged as a cornerstone of the prevention of drug abuse among teenagers. Yet for decades, young people have been exposed, indeed bombarded, with messages, particularly about marijuana, that are exaggerated. Many are just plain false. The latest "installment" of such scare tactics comes from an old source, Drug Abuse Resistance Education. For many years, D.A.R.E. was the most widely-implemented youth drug education program in the United States. While a lack of proven effectiveness drained it of federal funds in 1998, D.A.R.E. received a $13.6 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2001 to re-vamp the program to create "the new D.A.R.E." Today, new D.A.R.E. programs are used in almost 30 percent of elementary schools around the country, with 55 percent of all students reported to have been through the program, despite the commercial availability of at least 200 other drug and alcohol prevention programs and curricula. Young folks are taught to rely on D.A.R.E. as a source of evidence informed information about drugs and how to make good decisions about them. Young people are also dissuaded from obtaining information about drugs from other sources. With D.A.R.E. being held up by our government as the most reliable source of information about drugs for young people, a recent posting on the D.A.R.E. website is cause for alarm. The headline screamed "Edible Marijuana Candies Kill 9 in Colorado, 12 at Coachella." The piece was taken down after reporters started reaching out to them about the article. The post was taken from a website called TopekasNews, and a 30-second scan of the site raises red flags about its legitimacy. Take for instance a companion piece called, "Obama's Plan To Start the Ebola Zombie Apocalypse in America Revealed." Or this gem. Even if the folks at D.A.R.E. somehow did not realize that this was likely, at best, a satire site, any qualified drug educator should know that the information about marijuana contained in the article is not even close to accurate. The article claims that, "For every one joint of marijuana, four teenagers become burdened with pregnancy. And for every bag of marijuana candy sold, it seems 16 violent crimes in the 16 to 45-year-old cohort break down." It would be funny, if it were not being perpetuated by one of the government's go-to drug education service for our children. But it's not funny. Marijuana prohibition is causing real harm to the lives of thousands of American families. It's not funny because we need real, honestdrug education that provides scientific information and proven methods for teaching good decision making. It's not funny when we lie to youth and insult their intelligence under the guise of protecting them. Once they figure it out, they lose trust in everything. It's not funny because we owe our youth more than misinformation and outright nonsense posted by D.A.R.E. Here is a screenshot of how the piece appeared on the D.A.R.E. website:
Amanda Reiman is the manager for marijuana law and policy for the Drug Policy Alliance. This post originally appeared on the DPA blog.
When I tried cannabis at 17 I realized what I was taught in school about this dangerous drug was **.
It seems we still have this reefer madness propaganda going on in our schools.
No one has ever died from a cannabis overdose and teaching our kids that it kills is ensuring that reefer madness will be a part of our culture for another generation.
In a free country no one should have their kid taken away because the kid disagrees with the Teacher about the cannabis propaganda being taught.
The fact that people are being locked up in this day and age for having and using a safe non toxic medicinal plant amazes me.
In [ame="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00ZRSDNWC/reasonmagazineA/"]Live Free or Die[/ame], 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.
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 scientificevidence that cannabis is an effective treatment for the symptoms of Crohn's disease.
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 misdemeanorsendangering a child and possession of drug paraphernaliaand 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:
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.
That "securing" of the residence, University of Kansas law professor Richard Levy toldThe 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 monthsmore 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:
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.
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."
