Amid the flurry of accusations in child custody disputes, allegations of marijuana use rank high on the list. Until recent years, the court's position on this subject was easy to predict since judges and child custody evaluators maintained a zero tolerance policy toward smoking pot. In child custody cases within the greater Denver area, attorneys routinely admonished our clients that even if you're smoking only when the kids are with the other parent, enjoying a Rocky Mountain high is illegal, ill-advised and potentially devastating to your parenting time request. In court, when one parent cried marijuana, the other parent was ordered to a drug testing facility for a hair follicle test or random urinalysis. If the offending parent flunked the drug test, the next visit with their ten year old just might be under the supervision of a local agency.
Flash forward to 2011. The soup du jour is medical marijuana, and MM dispensaries have been sprouting up like weeds throughout the Denver/Boulder area and the entire country. Since implementation of Amendment 20, which amended the Colorado Constitution to recognize medical marijuana, the MM business has flourished. According to a recent report from The Daily, Denver now has more MM dispensaries than Starbucks and at least 125,000 Colorado residents have a license to smoke MM. If smoking irritates the lungs, one can always opt for medicated pizza or cheesecake at the edible outlet. In a state which is otherwise known for its healthy, fit and youthful population, a surprising number of people now require regular medication for the treatment of sore joints, chronic pain or additional physical ailments.
While Colorado is particularly fertile ground for growers and users of MM, all indications are that the legalization of medical marijuana is becoming a national phenomenon. A recent report from ProCon.org states that sixteen states plus Washington DC now have laws legalizing medical marijuana. According to the See Change Strategy report of March of 2011, the medical marijuana industry nationwide is a $1.7 billion dollar market with 24.8 million potential customers. In Phoenix, Arizona, where voters approved medical marijuana last fall, a local big box store which does not sell marijuana but which specializes in hydroponic equipment for marijuana growers is commonly referred to as the "Walmart of Weed."
The explosion in medical marijuana has caused a corresponding relaxation in the national attitude about use of this drug with or without an MM license. All of this poses new questions and challenges for the courts in cases where one parent's allegation of substance abuse is solely related to marijuana. If a parent is a card-carrying marijuana patient, does this give the parent a carte blanche license to take their medication before or during their court ordered parenting time? Since the doctor's prescription for this medicine has no specific dosage, can the court rationally determine that a particular patient is over-medicating? When one parent's use of marijuana is undisputed, is that conduct sufficient to order supervised parenting time or must the accusing parent also establish that unsupervised parenting time would endanger the children's physical health or emotional development?
The latter question was answered by the Colorado Court of Appeals in the 2010 case of Marriage of Parr, 240 P.3d 509 (Colo.App.Div.1 2010). At the time of their divorce, the parties' parenting plan required the father to take ongoing UA's to show that he did not return to marijuana use. Shortly after the divorce, dad got his MM license. Dad filed a motion to waive the drug testing and, when it was denied, mom filed a motion to restrict dad's parenting time. One year later, after dad had been exercising unsupervised parenting time for the past eighteen months, the trial court ordered dad back to supervised parenting time with mandatory hair follicle testing. The Colorado Court of Appeals reversed this portion of the trial court's order upon a finding that the trial court could not require supervised parenting time for dad based solely on his marijuana use without a specific finding that dad's conduct endangered the child physically or impaired the child's emotional development as set forth in C.R.S. §14-10-129(1)(b)(I). Since Colorado follows the Uniform Dissolution of Marriage Act, it is likely that the Parr case will be cited as legal precedent in other states which have legalized medical marijuana. (Note that the Parr decision does not address the parties' property settlement but the rumor is that mom was awarded the house and dad got the potato chips.)
In the wake of the Parr decision, attorneys and litigants in child custody disputes have some measure of guidance when addressing one parent's accusation regarding the other parent's marijuana use. If you're the parent who is seeking supervised parenting time for your pot smoking partner, whether or not they have an MM license, be prepared to present credible and specific evidence that the other parent's conduct endangers the child's physical health or emotional development. If you're the smoking parent, your first and arguably best approach in a child custody dispute is to do a cost/benefit analysis of the situation and "Just say no" to future marijuana use. When that's not a viable option, be ready to show a strong pattern of competent, child-focused parenting along with evidence that your consumption of marijuana has never endangered your child. That said, if your testimony lacks conviction and you're sinking fast under a blistering cross examination, you may have to switch gears at the end and employ the defense of a former president, "I didn't inhale".
You can view and sign the petition here:
http://wh.gov/4kR
Here's some more information about this petition:
Eliminate the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
The legislation that congress used to create the Office of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP), also known as the Drug Czar’s office, requires that
the ONDCP reject any attempts to reform laws for any substances on the List
of Controlled Substances.
Because of this restriction, the ONDCP has shown time and again that it is
willing to lie and distort facts in order to fulfill that mandate. This
behavior by the ONDCP is un-American and immoral, and should not be allowed
in a free and democratic society.
This petition requests that the ONDCP be eliminated.
Yes, because prohibition works so well & because Americans can afford to keep paying for failure.
There is a sound reason for that, or at least an explanation that sounds good:
"A fool and his money are soon parted."
Hay where did our infrastructure go, if only I could... like... remember where I put it...man. Did... somebody...like... smoke it away? Couldn't be?!?!?!?!?!?
I agree it should be decriminalized but still regulated, and no i don't know how, and neither does anyone else. There is no perfect solution for an imperfect problem.
Argue for your limitations and they are yours...
Are you advocating a return to prohibition that includes coffee and cigarettes? Do you ever go to parties? Please stay out of the voting booth.
There are 4 living federal medical marijuana card holders under the CIND program, ended by GHWB in 1992. They receive 300 marijuana cigarettes a month directly from the federal government for medical purposes, and have for decades.
Washington DC, a federally controlled non-state, has legal medical marijuana.
In 1976 a federal judge, in the ruling that led to the creation of CIND, said "Medical evidence suggests that the medical prohibition is not well-founded." Quite the well-aged precedent - it's been around longer than I have.
Granted, there's a lot of propaganda out there on both sides of the argument, but the double-standard of the federal government alone is mind boggling.
Having worked on San Francisco's medical marijuana initiative and California's statewide initiative, this article exemplifies the uphill battle that reason has in penetrating the discussion.
Anyone who witnessed the wasting sickness of a generation of AIDS patients reversed by the medicinal use of cannabis, would demonstrate more respect for this plant. The fact that cannabis is being prescribed for less life-threatening ills reflects the lack of will in US society to continue to destroy people's lives to enforce an unenforceable marijuana prohibition — it doe not diminish the significance of cannabis as medicine.
There's no drug on the planet that can not be misused or abused, but focus on marijuana in a divorce is usually an attempt to harm an ex-spouse rather than to protect a child. As a parent, I would be more concerned about the use of alcohol for which there's no such presumption of harm or intrusive "hair-testing."
As a journalist, I would prefer to see research adequate to understanding the complexities of a significant social issue, rather than snide and contemptuous comments about a drug that is responsible for advancing the survival and improving the quality of life for so many people.
Joey Tranchina, M.A., since 1989, founding co-director
California Drug Policy Reform Coalition
It is the voice of patients that have won these victories for medical cannabis, across the country. As a drug policy reform advocate, politicians in Sacrament and DC know that I have a political position on the abject failure of US drug policy and the need for reform.
It has been patients, like you, honestly relating their personal experience of medical benefits from the use of cannabis, that has changed the minds and hearts of millions of people and thousands of politicians in both parties.
Sorry that your situation is not being addressed.
#227 Fanned for sharing your experience... Again, thank you...jt