Raymond & Amelia Schwab. (Photo: Facebook)
Kansas doesn’t agree with veteran Raymond Schwab using medical marijuana, so they stripped custody of five of his six children.
From 1994-1996, Raymond Schwab served his country with distinction during the first Gulf War.
For his efforts, like many vets, he returned home from the war with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Last year, after trying a number of different prescription therapies to help with PTSD and chronic pain, which led to a heroin addiction, Schwab finally found success with cannabis therapy after medical marijuana was legalized in Colorado, where he was living at the time.
And for those efforts, Kansas, an ardent anti-medical marijuana state, took custody of five of his six children.
Schwab and his wife Amelia have only seen their children three times since they were taken by state welfare authorities in April 2015.
Now before you scratch your head and say, “there has to be more to this”, this isn’t Kansas’ first rodeo. According to the Denver Post story on Schwab, Shona Banda, a Kansas medical marijuana advocate, was arrested on charges of child endangerment and drug possession after her child talked about her mothers work during a school presentation.
Schwab fears what could happen with his PTSD during the four-month hiatus, telling the Denver Post that he worries that his condition could worsen during the time off.
According to the Garden State (KS) Telegram, Banda’s arraignment has been postponed until July, but until then, she has to face the stigma of pending drug charges, and the possibility of losing her son as well. Banda is a sufferer of Crohn’s Disease, and attributes alleviation of her symptoms to her use of cannabis oil.
Schwab is qualified as 50 percent disabled, which makes him eligible for benefits, and led him to a job working as a benefits agent at the Topeka, KS VA helping veterans who suffered the same issues as he did.
This is where the problems for Schwab began.
According to the Denver Post, a family dispute arose after a Schwab transfered to a VA job in Denver, resulting in the children ending up in state custody.
From there, a number of accusations have been leveled against Schwab and his wife, including allegations of emotional abuse against the children, aged 5-16, but those charges were since rescinded due to lack of evidence.
Even though the charges were debunked, a Kansas judge says that if the Schwabs want their children back, Raymond will have to give up his cannabis therapy and submit to urinalysis tests which have to be clean for four consecutive months.
The Schwabs still live in Colorado, where cannabis is legal. They are within the law. Kansas won’t give the kids back unless they’re clean.
Certainly, Schwab could comply with the Kansas judge’s order and stay clean for four months until custody of children is released back to the family, at which point he moves them all to Colorado and wash their hands of Kansas once and for all, but it isn’t that simple.
Schwab fears what could happen with his PTSD during the four-month hiatus, telling the Denver Post that he worries that his condition could worsen during the time off.
At this point, without any allegations against the Schwabs, there isn’t any reason the state should have custody of the children, and as this virtual standoff enters its ninth month, it’s clear that Kansas is holding the Schwab children hostage for no other reason than they do not agree with medical marijuana and its benefits for people who clearly need it.
So much is made over supporting veterans as they defend our freedoms abroad, but our treatment of veterans who come home bent, broken and in pain always ends up in contrast to the rah-rah attitude we espouse.
The men and women who come home from war are simply not always OK, and while we think it’s OK to pump opioids and other man-made pharmaceuticals into these people, even though there is clear evidence that in many cases – such as Schwab’s – end up with addiction to harder drugs, like heroin.
It’s one thing to not legalize medical marijuana in one’s state. That’s Kansas’ right and if it is the will of voters not to legalize it at a state level, so be it, but to punish a man, a veteran, for using it in a state where cannabis is legal by taking away his children should absolutely be considered a crime in its own right.
Hashim R. Hathaway (Uncle Shimbo) is the host of the Never Daunted Radio Network, and proud father to NeverDaunted.Net. You can reach him on Twitter @NeverDauntedNet