Parents' Marijuana Possession Gets Their Kids Taken Away

slimvictor

slimvictor

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"Darkness cannot be dissipated with more darkness.
It was a small amount of marijuana, but it cost a Bronx parent dearly.

The New York Times has a story about New York City caseworkers taking away the son and niece of Penelope Harris, after police found 10 grams of marijuana in her apartment (which is less than the limit threshold for a misdemeanor) according to her lawyer.

The piece is only the latest controversial story involving New York marijuana policy.

In February, it was reported that the NYPD arrested 50,383 people for having marijuana in 2010. That made it the number one reason for arrest in the city.

In March, news broke that New York spent $75 million last year putting people in jail for pot possession.

cont at
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/...-away_n_930796.html?google_editors_picks=true
 
'the fuck is this shit? I can imagine them taking the kids away for finding meth, heroin, or crack but weed? This is disgusting to know how much effort they put into busting people for weed when they could be putting that effort in to stop other far more dangerous crimes.
 
I'm surprised that New York doesn't have decrim/medical laws. It seems like a big candidate considering its population, those figures, and that its a more of a democratic state, than say the south where I'm at. 51,000 people is close to the size of the town I live in.
 
This has got to be a fucking joke right?

I think this is good though if the newyork times wrote an article about it and there are numbers that show how much money is wasted on jailing people for simple possessin.

This will get a alot of controversy stirred up and people will start to realize how fucked up it is that the marijuana plant is illegal. Everyone knows that this women will be returned to her children soon. Theres no way they can do this and people are gonna freak.

This is seriously fucked up whats a worse crime? Smoking pot while supporting a child or taking a mothers children away?
 
LogicSoDeveloped said:
I'm surprised that New York doesn't have decrim/medical laws. It seems like a big candidate considering its population, those figures, and that its a more of a democratic state, than say the south where I'm at. 51,000 people is close to the size of the town I live in.
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I thought that NY was one of those states that has a MMJ law, but doesn't have anything set up for people to legally buy it yet. Like NJ passed a MMJ law, but has yet to set up any dispensaries or set up guidelines for how patients are to obtain the right to use MMJ and whatnot.

highhooked said:
This has got to be a fucking joke right?

I think this is good though if the newyork times wrote an article about it and there are numbers that show how much money is wasted on jailing people for simple possessin.

This will get a alot of controversy stirred up and people will start to realize how fucked up it is that the marijuana plant is illegal. Everyone knows that this women will be returned to her children soon. Theres no way they can do this and people are gonna freak.

This is seriously fucked up whats a worse crime? Smoking pot while supporting a child or taking a mothers children away?
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As much as this should have people talking about how it's a bit outrageous that someone can have their kids taken away just because they had pot at their home, unfortunately I doubt this will get much coverage in the news anywhere and people will just glaze over it and not pay much attention.

Thizz_Machine_138 said:
'the fuck is this shit? I can imagine them taking the kids away for finding meth, heroin, or crack but weed? This is disgusting to know how much effort they put into busting people for weed when they could be putting that effort in to stop other far more dangerous crimes.
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I don't think that it's fair to say that it's unfair to take their kids away because they found pot, but it would be acceptable if they did so after finding a different drug like heroin, crack or meth as you stated. I think it's unjust to take someone's kids away for finding any drugs. Just because someone uses a drug, doesn't automatically mean they are a bad parent or they neglect their children. As long as the person is either a recreational user or a functioning addict and they can tend to their duties as a parent just as well as any other parent, I don't see an issue with them using drugs.
 
Theyre gonna create some really angry people when taking away theyre children for a couple of grams weed. What those angry people will do will most likely not be beneficial to society in any way. Except maybe after going anarchy on their ass and rebuilding a better society after that.
 
ATLL765 said:
I don't think that it's fair to say that it's unfair to take their kids away because they found pot, but it would be acceptable if they did so after finding a different drug like heroin, crack or meth as you stated. I think it's unjust to take someone's kids away for finding any drugs. Just because someone uses a drug, doesn't automatically mean they are a bad parent or they neglect their children. As long as the person is either a recreational user or a functioning addict and they can tend to their duties as a parent just as well as any other parent, I don't see an issue with them using drugs.
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Perhaps not fair, but at least more understandable.
 
LogicSoDeveloped said:
I'm surprised that New York doesn't have decrim/medical laws.
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Believe it or not, marijuana has been "decriminalized" in New York for decades (less than 25 grams = $100 violation). This is one of the reasons that I think anything short of unconditional legalization is a set-up. For instance, the recent decriminalization initiative in Miami Beach would've set up a situation in which two overlapping police forces would've been enforcing a contradictory set of laws.
 
^ agreed. The revenue from those fines just motivates the police to bust more people and have them pay more money. I'm surprised more places haven't decriminalized all drugs for this reason, you can make a lot more money fining everyone rather than having to pay to imprison them.

It's not right to take away a child unless the parent/s are negligent, which often happens without the use of any drug.
 
Thizz_Machine_138 said:
'the fuck is this shit? I can imagine them taking the kids away for finding meth, heroin, or crack but weed? This is disgusting to know how much effort they put into busting people for weed when they could be putting that effort in to stop other far more dangerous crimes.
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you can justify taking somebody's kids away just because they are dependent on meth or heroin or crack? that's no different than taking away a pothead's kids. it's completely discriminatory, and it's a nonsensical attack on an imagined subculture (eg heroin users, pot users, have different stereotypes). if somebody is hurting a kid, charge them for the actual crime... don't charge them for participating in a behavior (eg sniffing heroin) that might sometimes be correlated with certain crimes.

it's disgusting when these lines of thinking (take their kids away, because if they have heroin they must be horrible parents) are put into systematic practice in society... i don't have kids yet, but i plan to, and i use opiates safely while hurting no one. why should child services stop at my door?
 
qwe said:
you can justify taking somebody's kids away just because they are dependent on meth or heroin or crack? that's no different than taking away a pothead's kids.
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Really? No difference between a pothead and crackhead parent? Sure, you can smoke weed or take opiates and be an alright parent, but are you really saying cocaine or meth-addicted parents have not comprimised their child-rearing abilities at all?
 
^ Psychosis doesn't make for the best parenting, I would think. Its one thing to indulge once in a while but someone who is addicted to a hard drug has a greater focus in life than their children. I watched my cousin vegetate for years on her couch out of her mind on Hydrocodone, then oxycodone, and then high dose morphine pills while she fed her kids ADD pills because "They don't need them in the summer according to the doctor but its just so much easier when they behave." This is what she said to me. Had she spent less time getting high and doing nothing, she would've been more involved in her kids lives. Last time I heard, she lives in a weekly motel with her dealer boyfriend and doesn't see her kids often.

The drugs didn't force her to do this but they enabled her to escape the reality of raising three kids. Her kids definitely show many signs of her neglect. I'm not saying the drugs are responsible but if they weren't in her life, she might've been more inclined to parent.
 
Pegasus said:
Really? No difference between a pothead and crackhead parent? Sure, you can smoke weed or take opiates and be an alright parent, but are you really saying cocaine or meth-addicted parents have not comprimised their child-rearing abilities at all?
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not everyone who uses meth or heroin uses it to excess.

if they were legal, i'd bet my bank account heroin and meth users' lives would be more stable than alcoholics', on average. with prohibition, whether you can live a stable life with those drugs depends mostly on how much money you have, unfortunately.

the idea that addicts are not "rational agents," cannot make their own decisions, do not deserve (and cannot handle) help/"handouts", and even should have their children taken away... it's flat out discrimination, no different than what racial discrimination used to be (racists used, incorrectly, science, biology, and social correlations, as well...).

even if i am wrong, and only a minority of heroin users have not compromised their child-rearing capability, that minority should not have their children taken away. when we consider taking kids away, we should consider actual habits/behaviors/crimes that directly influence kids--violence being the main factor imo.

if someone is in possession of a chemical, that says nothing about their parenting, or even their lifestyle. at all. it cannot be a basis for taking kids away, that's an extremely radical and dangerous precedent.
 
Did I say you can justify taking sometimes kids away because they use crack, heroin, or meth? No, I never said that, I said it would be more imaginable if it happened. That doesn't necessarily mean I think it's right to take someones kids away for using those substances. But it would baffle me much less if they had their kids taken away for the above mentioned drugs rather than weed.
 
qwe, I was just responding to the stimulant addict part of your post. Crack/ meth addiction really changes people; I really don't think it's possible to be addicted to uppers and competently raise children. I agree that a simple possession is a different story however (potentially opiate addiction as well), and certainly marijuana is a different story.
 
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