Michigan Attorney General: Recreational Marijuana Use NOT Grounds for State Custody of Children

It may be bad journalism, but there are two rules that are going to be broken in this first sentence: 1) I am going to speak in the first person and 2) I cannot cite all of the references I have regarding this topic. First, I feel that this topic is strongly emotional and I am compelled to tell a first person narrative moreso than outline the "who, what, why, where and how". Secondly, due to the overwhelmingly emotional nature of this topic, my own heart cannot stand to review the previous cases of human rights abuses that I've seen just in the past month regarding this issue.

At least three times in the past month alone, and more when counting back another month, I have seen stories posted about parents who were not only raided through extreme force of SWAT teams, but also who've lost their children to the State over small amounts of marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia. Children as old as three years old, who've spent every waking moment with their parents, in peace, are being ripped out of the loving arms of their caretakers and being put in cold, distant facilities with strangers to whom they share no affection.

This literally disgusts me to the point of heartache.

Imagine being a father or a mother, casually drinking a few beers with friends, when all of a sudden on no particular Saturday night, your front door is busted in, you hear gunshots and your dog yelp out its last, painful yelp. All of a sudden you're being surrounded by fully armored SWAT officers that are yelling to GET DOWN and NOT TO RESIST OR THEY WILL SHOOT. Your children are crying, your friends are scared out of their minds and you are left alone as your husband is shot for making a sudden move. You are in disbelief. Everything is surreal. This CAN'T be happening. You refocus as soon as you see an officer grab your son by the arm and yank him behind the police line of guns and shields. You boil. Your infant is lifted less than gracefully from her highchair and carried away before your eyes.

Why?

Because you got intoxicated. Because you chose to celebrate life with alcohol, with friends.

This may not be the case in our society but it is EXACTLY what happens to some marijuana smokers. Despite the fact that marijuana is less addictive and less dangerous than alcohol, cannabis remains illegal according to the Federal government and they're not afraid to send Federal officers to residential homes to disrupt peaceable citizens over a marginally upsetting life choice. Looking past the stigma built up over the past seventy-five years, marijuana use is looking less and less upsetting when compared to the debt and lies that we've been hit with over punishing people for a victimless crime.

Well, thank GOD, the Attorney General in Michigan, Bill Schuette, has decided that marijuana use is NOT a valid reason for the State to take custody of our children. This decision came in response to a question posed by State Senator, Rick Jones. A huge thanks is due from across the country to Rick Jones and to Bill Schuette for leading the pack in sensible policy that doesn't do more harm than the circumstance itself.

Cannabis is proving to be a battleground between the individual rights of US citizens and the Federal government's warrant over the life choices of the same, said, citizens. While government agencies themselves recommend the integration of cannabis into our society, the administration cannot come to terms with cutting off its own perceived arm by disbanding much of the lifeblood that the DEA and other illegal government branches use to justify their expanse of power over the individual citizen. I have one thing to say about that.

300,000,000 > 300,000

Count every government employee against every citizen, and you will lose every time.