Shona Banda is a longtime cannabis activist in Kansas that suffers from Crohn’s disease. Cannabis has been proven to be very effective at treating Crohn’s disease, and as such, Ms. Banda consumed cannabis oil as part of her treatment regimen, and did so responsibly. Unfortunately cannabis is illegal in Kansas, even for medical purposes. Kansas’ harsh marijuana laws have torn Shona’s life apart.
It all started on a normal day at a school that Shona’s son attended (he is 11). During a presentation Shona’s son spoke up in support of medical cannabis. That then lead to school officials contacting law enforcement and essentially interrogating the poor boy, all without Shona Banda or the boy’s father being contacted first. That unauthorized contact with the son then lead to the raid of Shona’s home. The cops took all of her medicine and all of the equipment that was used to make cannabis oil. The authorities also took Shona’s son.
I can’t imagine what level of sadness Shona (and her son) have had to endure. From what I’ve read, Shona’s son is no longer in state custody, and is living with his father. On the one year anniversary of when this all started, which was Thursday, Shona Banda filed a lawsuit against the State of Kansas and other authorities that participated in the removal of her child. Per Kansas.Com:
The Garden City mother who has become a face of the medicinal marijuana legalization movement in Kansas is suing the state and some of the agencies involved in questioning and removing her 11-year-old son from her home last spring after he spoke up about her cannabis use at school.
Shona Banda claims in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, that the state and the agencies are depriving her of her civil rights to treat a debilitating condition she suffers from and to parent her child. She also claims employees at her son’s school and the Garden City Police Department violated her constitutional rights when they questioned her son without parental permission and searched her property without a warrant.
The 20-page suit names the state, Gov. Sam Brownback; Kansas Department for Children and Families Secretary Phyllis Gilmore; the Garden City Police Department and its chief, James R. Hawkins; and Garden City Unified School District 457 and one of its former counselors, Tyler Stubenhoffer, as defendants.
There is a GoFundMe page setup for Shona. You can donate to it at this link here. The State of Kansas is ripping families apart and ruining lives in the process. Kansas is the same state that took Raymond Schwab’s kids too. No one should ever have their children taken from them because they are treating their condition in a responsible way. I’m a parent, and I couldn’t imagine having my son taken from me. My heart hurts very much for these parents, and for their children.
