How Medical Marijuana was Almost Ruined

In April, Raymond Schwab and his wife Amelia wanted to move their family to Colorado. Schwab is a Gulf War veteran suffering from chronic pain as well as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder since his horrible discharge. Schwab would like to relocate so that he could be given medical cannabis, the only effecting medicine for his conditions.

In addition, Schwab is a Veterans Administration (VA) employee. Schwab was able to keep his job and move to Denver, so everything was going well. The problem was that the Schwab family was moving from Kansas, a state where cannabis is illegal for medical and recreational use. As a result, when a family member reported Schwab’s cannabis to officials, five of their children was taken away.

Since then, Raymond and Amelia have only seen their children just a few times. As their lives remain in a constant purgatory, a judge from Kansas decided that the Schwabs can only have their children back after demonstration sobriety for four months straight. This does not seem like a very hard task but for Schwab, he fears his mental health will become worse as time progresses.

“They’re basically using my kids as a pawn to take away freedoms I fought for,” said Schwab. “I don’t think what we’re doing is illegal, immoral, or wrong.”

Cases such as this are not unheard of. Medical cannabis is legally allowed in some way to almost fifty percent of states. Also, studies show that medical cannabis is a good medicine for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, epilepsy, nausea during cancer treatment, sharp pains, and more. Veterans such as Schwab have been speaking out against the prohibition of medical marijuana and VA hospitals in New Mexico, and Maine has just started distributing marijuana. However, at the federal level, the drug is still a Schedule I drug with other drugs such as heroin, LSD, ecstasy, Quaaludes, and peyote.