Pennsylvania parents may have found that child custody battles are not always between two parents or other family members. Sometimes, the child custody fight is against a larger entity. One man and his wife are fighting a state for custody of their five children after the state removed the children nearly a year ago on accusations of child endangerment.
The man is a United States veteran with PTSD complications who uses medical marijuana in the form of butter in his quest for relief. Other medications he had previously used to combat the disorder resulted in an addiction to heroin. He and his wife decided to move from a state that does not consider medical marijuana to be legal to one that does so they could grow the substance for distribution to other veterans who suffer as he does. They left their children in the care of family members until they could get settled, but a family member told police the children had been abandoned by the parents to go to work on a pot farm in another state.
Federal guidelines state that using medical marijuana around children is considered to be child abuse. The state where the parents previously lived considers exposing children to any activity related to illegal drugs as child endangerment. The father has only seen his children three times since the state took them from his custody. He says he has to submit to a urine test that must be clean before he can see his children, and he must be clean for at least four months before regaining custody. He feels his children are being held hostage and plans to sue the state once his children are again in his custody.
This issue is becoming increasingly common, as more afflicted veterans are needing the medical marijuana to function. These parents who reside in states that have not yet legalized this drug have to live between fearing they will lose custody of their children and the fear that they will not be able to cope with the world around them. Pennsylvania parents who face this often debilitating illness may want to speak to an attorney about their legal options as they seek relief from any anxiety child custody concerns may bring.
Source: inquisitr.com, “Medical Marijuana: U.S. Veteran Loses Children Due To Using Medical Marijuana“, Louis Babcock, Feb. 2, 2016
