Pubdate: Thu, 14 Jan 2016
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2016 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: David Olinger

WAR VETERAN'S FIVE CHILDREN IN KANSAS CUSTODY OVER POT USE

Raymond Schwab, an honorably discharged veteran, moved to Colorado 
last year to get medical marijuana treatment for post-traumatic 
stress disorder and chronic pain.

He didn't expect Kansas would take his children in return.

"They're basically using my kids as a pawn to take away freedoms I 
fought for," he said. "It's a horrible position to put me in."

He and his wife, Amelia, say Kansas took the five youngest of their 
six children into custody in April, and they've seen them only three 
times since.

"I don't think what we're doing is illegal, immoral or wrong," Amelia said.

The Schwabs' case highlights how differences in marijuana laws can 
make a legal user in one state an unfit parent across the border. 
They're not the only Kansas parents at risk of losing their children 
over cannabis use. In Garden City, medical marijuana advocate Shona 
Banda was arrested on child-endangerment and felony drug charges 
after her 11-year-old son talked at school about his mother's drug use.

Kansas has rejected legislative efforts to permit medical marijuana 
use. Colorado legalized medical marijuana then passed a referendum 
that allows recreational use as well.

Child welfare officials in Kansas did not return phone calls 
Wednesday concerning the Schwabs.

Raymond Schwab is a 40-year-old Gulf War veteran. He served from 1994 
to 1996 in the Navy and later qualified for a 50 percent disability rating.

He lived in Colorado when the state legalized medical marijuana, and 
he obtained his own card.

He also tried to treat his symptoms with an assortment of medicines 
prescribed by the Department of Veterans Affairs - pain medicines, 
muscle relaxants, anti-anxiety drugs - but "they were making me 
crazy; they made me worse," he said.

Finally, he developed a heroin addiction, but he said he overcame 
that years ago with cannabis therapy.

The turning point in his family life began with a VA job offer in 
2013. He went to Topeka to work as a benefits agent for fellow 
veterans. "I loved it. I loved my job," he said tearfully. But two 
years later, he decided to transfer to a VA job in Denver, where 
medical cannabis is legal. That's when a family squabble led to the 
loss of five children, ages 5-16.

Raymond and Amelia say that as they were packing to leave, her mother 
took the kids to a police station in another county and reported them 
abandoned, an action her mother now regrets.

Nine months later, they say, child-protection workers and a Kansas 
judge are demanding that they give up cannabis if they want their kids back.

One condition, they say, is four months of drug-free urinalysis 
tests, including a drug that is legal in Colorado for therapeutic uses.

Raymond remains skeptical and worried. "What if I didn't make it 
through four months?" he asked. He fears his condition might worsen 
without cannabis.

He and his wife question why Kansas child-protection workers are 
holding onto children who should not have entered their system in the 
first place.

Among the documents Raymond carries in a battered briefcase is the 
one-page result of a Kansas child-abuse investigation.

It shows that in April, the state began investigating allegations 
that Raymond and Amelia emotionally abused all five children. Three 
months later, those allegations were dismissed as unsubstantiated.

So, "why do you still have my children?" he asked.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom