Minnesota Mom Faces Jail Over CBD Oil

I’m fortunate at 420RADIO to get to meet many of the top names in marijuana activism from around the country. One esteemed colleague is Michael Hughes, a lawyer and a fan from Bend, Oregon. He has volunteered to defend Angela Brown, a Minnesota mother who is facing child endangerment charges. Her 15-year-old son, Trey, was hit in the head by a baseball line drive in 2011 and has suffered excruciating pain and seizures since.

After trying 19 different prescription medications for Trey, Angela got some non-intoxicating CBD oil from Colorado to try. One or two drops made all the difference in Trey’s condition. As he got markedly better, his teachers began asking Angela how her son had improved so much? Angela explained she was using this marijuana derivative that doesn’t make you high, cannabidiol, and that was what brought her son back from the brink.

Angela was turned in by the school to the police for giving her son marijuana. She is charged with child endangerment and could face fines, jail time, and a lifelong criminal record, not to mention the potential for supervision or loss of custody by child protective services.

The greatest irony is that Minnesota has passed a medical marijuana law allowing for both CBD and THC extractions. Trey almost certainly qualifies for protection under that law.  But, alas, the law doesn’t go into effect until the summer of 2015, so the prosecutor in her Minnesota county is going forward with the trial.

Below is my phone interview with Michael Hughes following his filing to throw out the charges against Angela.