Shona Banda is a medical marijuana activist living in Kansas. She suffers from Crohn’s Disease and after years of traditional medical treatment, she discovered her greatest relief was from cannabis oil. So, she became a regular user and she says medical marijuana changed her life, even writing a book about her experience with medical marijuana.
Almost exactly one year ago, her son challenged a “drug education” officer who was telling students about the “danger” of marijuana. Her son told the officer that marijuana was known to have some medical benefits. Just like that, the boy was detained by police for hours, Shona Banda was arrested and the state soon took custody of her 11-year-old son.
Shona Banda is fighting back, taking half of the Kansas government to court in a lawsuit that has been filed in federal court:
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.
She is still facing charges from that fateful day and could end up in prison for a very long time, thanks to draconian marijuana laws in Kansas:
Banda has been charged in Finney County District Court with three felonies and two misdemeanors connected to her marijuana use: possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of school property, unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia to cultivated less than five plants, possession of drug paraphernalia and child endangerment. Adjudication of that case is pending.
She faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
A 30-year prison sentence for medical marijuana is the definition of outrageous. If Kansas and its conservative governor and legislature were truly serious about their “fiscal conservatism,” they would stop wasting taxpayer money on the arrest and prosecution of people like Shona Banda. If they were serious about finding ways to bring new revenue to the state, which faces a $200 million deficit this year, all they have to do is look to neighboring Colorado. During the first year of legalization, Colorado saw nearly $1 billion in marijuana sales which translated to more than $70 million in tax revenue, surpassing the tax revenue generated from alcohol sales.