In April, fifteen-year-old David Brill was forcibly removed from his parents’ home by Georgia’s Division of Family and Children’s Services after his parents gave him marijuana to stop his severe seizures.
After more than a month of separation, a judge threw out the protective order and David is reunited with his family.
His parents, Suzeanna and Matthew Brill of Macon Georgia, were charged with reckless conduct for allowing David to smoke cannabis, which had kept him seizure free for 71 days.
The ACLU had filed an amicus brief in support of the Brill family and appealed to the court to reunite them.
At a hearing on Monday, July 1 in Twiggs County Juvenile Court, the state conceded that David should be returned to his parents. The order to allow David to come home also gives the Brills a chance to have their charges dismissed.
The court also acknowledged that it was clear David was being well cared for at home by his parents who had his best interest at heart. Not long after the hearing, David texted his mother that he would be coming home.
Despite dropping the protective order against the Brills and the decision to return the teenager to their custody, the family will be required to meet with a Division of Family and Children Services case agent twice a month for the next six months.
Their visits will include random drug tests for David to ensure he is not using smokeable medical cannabis.
The Brills never denied they had given their son cannabis. “We openly admitted to them, in front of Twiggs County sheriff’s deputies,” said stepfather Matthew Brill.
While David will no longer be allowed to use medical marijuana in a smoked form, he will soon be receiving one of the first prescriptions for Epidiolex – an anti-seizure medication made from medical grade cannabis.
Epidiolex was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in treating intractable forms of epilepsy.
