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CANNABIS OR CUSTODY?
July 8, 2011 By
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A Medical Marijuana Patient in Lansing Is Sentenced to Jail After
Failing to Comply With a Court Order to Not Use Marijuana As He Seeks
to Maintain Custody of His Daughter
In a case that could have implications for medical marijuana patients
who are parents, a Lansing man was sentenced Tuesday to three days in
county jail because he refuses to stop using medical marijuana and may
lose custody of his child because of it.
Livingston Thompson Jr., a state-registered medical marijuana patient
who suffers from epilepsy, has been fighting to maintain custody of
his 10-year-old daughter stemming from a November incident between the
father and daughter that attracted attention from Child Protective
Services.
After months in the Ingham Circuit Court family division system,
Thompson was ordered on June 8 by Judge Richard Garcia to stop using
marijuana as part of the conditions to maintain custody of his
daughter. But because Thompson tested positive twice for using
marijuana since June 8, Garcia sentenced Thompson to three days in
Ingham County Jail for “woeful contempt of court orders.”
Garcia refused to recognize Thompson’s right to use marijuana for
medical purposes Tuesday and said he “fraudulently” obtained his
state-issued card.
“You need marijuana because you’re addicted to it,” Garcia
said.
Garcia also chided Thompson, who is 32, Tuesday for appearing on
WILX-TV last week with his daughter to discuss his case.
“The best thing you can do is not throw her in front of you (on TV) so
you can smoke pot,” Garcia said. “(That) offends me.”
However, Thompson’s attorney, Matt Newburg, said he plans to appeal
the court order restricting Thompson from using marijuana “before
Friday,” the day Thompson is due in jail. Newburg said Thompson is
protected under the state Medical Marihuana Act to use cannabis for
medical reasons and should not have to risk losing custody because of
it.
“You couldn’t have a clearer conflict (of the Michigan Medical
Marihuana Act),” Newburg said. “Evidently he (Garcia) believes
everyone who gets licensed through the state (to use medical
marijuana) is a fraud.”
The state Medical Marihuana Act, approved by Michigan voters in 2008,
states: “A person shall not be denied custody or visitation of a minor
for acting in accordance with this act, unless the person’s behavior
is such that it creates an unreasonable danger to the minor that can
be clearly articulated and substantiated.”
During testimony Tuesday, Newburg asked Ingham County family court
case worker Wanda Kester, who is overseeing the case, if Thompson4s
daughter has been in any “unreasonable danger” that she could specify
for the court.
Kester did not mention specific incidents, but said: “I can say I have
concerns for (the daughter) in this house.”
“‘Concerns’ is not enough,” Newburg said outside of the courtroom in
an interview.
Newburg said this is the first case he’s aware of in mid-Michigan in
which a parent who is a medical marijuana patient could lose custody
of a child because of his medicine-of-choice. He said Garcia’s ruling
Tuesday could have implications for medical marijuana patients who are
parents.
“It’s clear what it means for parents in this county: It’s going to be
an uphill battle,” he said.
Garcia stated several times that Thompson’s case is not about his
medical marijuana card, but about if his daughter is safe in his
custody. During the 30-minute show cause hearing, Garcia went through
the child’s past. From 2001 to 2003, she was placed in foster care due
to “unsanitary home conditions” and domestic violence issues between
Thompson and his former wife. She was placed in foster care again
later that year due to a drug raid at Thompson’s home that turned up
cocaine and marijuana, though Thompson said no criminal charges were
filed. In 2006, Thompson confirmed that his home was red-tagged by the
city. Then in 2009, an infant child of Thompson’s “came back from
parent time and tested positive for marijuana,” Garcia said, which
Thompson confirmed.
“You can understand the court has concerns about the stability of your
household,” Garcia said.
Kester, the case worker, also was unable to locate Thompson’s
10-year-old daughter before Tuesday’s hearing because Thompson had
moved out of his downtown Lansing home over the weekend and into his
sister’s house with his daughter and his wife. Thompson said he was
unable to afford rent for the house on Allegan Street because of
“legal fees.”
While Garcia sentenced Thompson to three days and “more weekends” if
he continues to test positive for cannabis, he allowed him custody of
his daughter. But he ordered Kester to investigate the house where
Thompson’s daughter is staying after the hearing and if it is not
satisfactory, then the daughter would be placed in foster care.
Dan Korobkin, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union
of Michigan, said cases have popped up in California and Colorado that
deal with visitation issues.
He said the state Medical Marihuana Act “specifically speaks to
whether parents can be denied custody or visitation based on them
being a medical marijuana patient,” and that courts in other states
have ruled the same way.
However, the Associated Press reported last year of a Washington state
man who lost custody of his two pre-teen boys because his marijuana
grow operation was raided in 2007, even though criminal charges
against him were dropped because he’s a certified patient.
Korobkin said the ACLU of Michigan recently filed an appeal in Oakland
County that involves the denial of visitation rights because the
mother is a medical marijuana patient.
