rockin'robin
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A Kansas woman is questioning the legality of a police search on her home and the removal of her son from her custody, after the boy spoke up in favor of medical marijuana at a school presentation last month.
TheBlaze reports Shona Banda returned home from work on March 24 to find a Garden City police officer and social workers on her front porch and officers in her backyard and driveway.
She recorded on video (shown below) the interactions and conversations that followed.
In the video she can be heard asking the people on her porch what they are doing at her house.
The officer tells Banda they got a report from the Department of Children of Families regarding the “well-being” of her son and “possible drug use in the home.”
Banda responds that she would like everyone to leave unless they have a warrant to be there but the officer tells her that won’t happen.
“We have a right to be where the public has a right to be,” the officer is heard saying.
Although Banda protests, and says the public is not allowed in her backyard, the officer says they are there to keep her from entering her residence and to make sure her son “comes home to a safe house.”
A police sergeant, who arrives later, explains in the video that the police are there to search for marijuana and are waiting for a warrant. He again tells Banda she can’t enter her home until the search has been conducted for fear that she might destroy “evidence.”
According to an article from the website of investigative journalist Ben Swann, the police eventually obtained their warrant and searched the house. They reportedly found 2 ounces of marijuana and 1 ounce of cannabis oil, although a full list of items removed from the home has not been released.
Banda was reportedly using the cannabis oil to treat her Crohn’s disease.
Banda said in an exclusive interview with BenSwann.com that she believes the search was initiated because her 11-year-old son spoke out at an anti-drug presentation at school.
After speaking out, she said, her son was “interrogated” by school officials without officials calling either her or her son’s father.
Banda, a medical marijuana activist who once lived an hour to the west in Colorado, where marijuana is legal, said the whole chain of events has been very confusing for her son.
“For him to have spoken up in class I can’t be upset about because he hears me daily on the phone talking with people, encouraging people to speak up and speak out,” she said. “We did have the talk about how it’s not OK to bring this up in Kansas, because it’s a different state [than Colorado].”
Banda has not yet been charged with a crime. Her son has been removed from her home and is living temporarily with his father, from whom Banda is separated.
Banda said she still can’t believe the search on her home, based on things her young son said at school, was legal.
“I have not been charged with anything at this point, but I have a hard time believing that it’s OK for them to interrogate my child without parental consent for hours,” she said.
Banda has a custody hearing for her son scheduled for Monday.
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/soci...home-and-took-her-son-because-he-spoke-out-ab
TheBlaze reports Shona Banda returned home from work on March 24 to find a Garden City police officer and social workers on her front porch and officers in her backyard and driveway.
She recorded on video (shown below) the interactions and conversations that followed.
In the video she can be heard asking the people on her porch what they are doing at her house.
The officer tells Banda they got a report from the Department of Children of Families regarding the “well-being” of her son and “possible drug use in the home.”
Banda responds that she would like everyone to leave unless they have a warrant to be there but the officer tells her that won’t happen.
“We have a right to be where the public has a right to be,” the officer is heard saying.
Although Banda protests, and says the public is not allowed in her backyard, the officer says they are there to keep her from entering her residence and to make sure her son “comes home to a safe house.”
A police sergeant, who arrives later, explains in the video that the police are there to search for marijuana and are waiting for a warrant. He again tells Banda she can’t enter her home until the search has been conducted for fear that she might destroy “evidence.”
According to an article from the website of investigative journalist Ben Swann, the police eventually obtained their warrant and searched the house. They reportedly found 2 ounces of marijuana and 1 ounce of cannabis oil, although a full list of items removed from the home has not been released.
Banda was reportedly using the cannabis oil to treat her Crohn’s disease.
Banda said in an exclusive interview with BenSwann.com that she believes the search was initiated because her 11-year-old son spoke out at an anti-drug presentation at school.
After speaking out, she said, her son was “interrogated” by school officials without officials calling either her or her son’s father.
Banda, a medical marijuana activist who once lived an hour to the west in Colorado, where marijuana is legal, said the whole chain of events has been very confusing for her son.
“For him to have spoken up in class I can’t be upset about because he hears me daily on the phone talking with people, encouraging people to speak up and speak out,” she said. “We did have the talk about how it’s not OK to bring this up in Kansas, because it’s a different state [than Colorado].”
Banda has not yet been charged with a crime. Her son has been removed from her home and is living temporarily with his father, from whom Banda is separated.
Banda said she still can’t believe the search on her home, based on things her young son said at school, was legal.
“I have not been charged with anything at this point, but I have a hard time believing that it’s OK for them to interrogate my child without parental consent for hours,” she said.
Banda has a custody hearing for her son scheduled for Monday.
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/soci...home-and-took-her-son-because-he-spoke-out-ab