Pubdate: Mon, 16 Jun 2014
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2014 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Kristen Wyatt, the Associated Press
Page: D6

MARIJUANA LAWS LEAD TO CHILD SAFETY QUESTIONS

Parents With Legal Pot Losing Custody

DENVER (AP) - A Colorado man loses custody of his children after 
getting a medical marijuana card. The daughter of a Michigan couple 
growing legal medicinal pot is taken by child-protection authorities 
after an ex-husband says their plants endangered kids.

And police officers in New Jersey visit a home after a 9- year-old 
mentions his mother's hemp advocacy at school.

While the cases were eventually decided in favor of the parents, the 
incidents underscore a growing dilemma: While a pot plant in the 
basement may not bring criminal charges in many states, the same 
plant can become a piece of evidence in child custody or abuse cases.

"The legal standard is always the best interest of the children, and 
you can imagine how subjective that can get," said Jess Cochrane, who 
helped found Boston-based Family Law & Cannabis Alliance after 
finding child- abuse laws have been slow to catch up with pot policy.

No data exist to show how often pot use comes up in custody disputes, 
or how often child-welfare workers intervene in homes where marijuana is used.

But in dozens of interviews with lawyers and officials who work in 
this area, along with activists who counsel parents on marijuana and 
child endangerment, the consensus is clear: Pot's growing acceptance 
is complicating the task of determining when kids are in danger.

A failed proposal in the Colorado Legislature this year showed the dilemma.

Colorado considers adult marijuana use legal, but pot is still 
treated like heroin and other Schedule I substances as they are under 
federal law. As a result, when it comes to defining a drug-endangered 
child, pot can't legally be in a home where children reside.

Two Democratic lawmakers tried to update the law by saying that 
marijuana must also be shown to be a harm or risk to children to 
constitute abuse.

But the effort led to angry opposition from both sides - pot-using 
parents who feared the law could still be used to take their 
children, and marijuana legalization opponents who argued that pot 
remains illegal under federal law and that its very presence in a 
home threatens kids.

After hours of emotional testimony, lawmakers abandoned the effort as 
too complicated.

Supporters vow to try again to give law enforcement some definitions 
about when the presence of drugs could harm children, even if the 
kids don't use it.

Colorado courts are wading into the question of when adult pot use 
endangers kids.

The need for better standards about when marijuana endangers kids is 
growing by the day, said Maria Green, a Lansing, Michigan, mother who 
lost custody of her infant daughter for three months last year.

Green grows pot to treat her husband's epilepsy, and though 
Michigan's medical marijuana law states parents shall not be denied 
custody or visitation with a child for following the statute, a legal 
dispute with her ex-husband led to her daughter being placed with a 
grandparent until it was resolved.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom