Children Taken from Mother who Used Cannabis to Stop Her Three-Year-Old’s Seizures

Cannabis legalization has been a big part of this election cycle. There are passionate people on both sides of the argument, but one thing is clear, cannabis is still illegal in some states.

One of these states is Idaho, where Kelsey Osborne and her two children live. Osborne’s youngest daughter Madyson suffers from epilepsy and last month the condition took a turn for the worse, causing her daughter to face lots of seizures. “They would stop and come back, stop and come back with the hallucinations and everything else,” Osborne said.

Three-year old Madyson was suffering from withdrawals from Risperdal, a medication used to treat schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, when her mother gave her a smoothie infused with cannabis butter. Madyson returned to normal within a half hour.

Later that day, Osborne took her daughter to the doctor. When cannabis was detected in Madyson’s system, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare was alerted. The mother was charged with injury to a child, a misdemeanor, to which she plead not guilty.

“To me I felt like it was my last resort,” said Osborne, “I’ve seen it for my own eyes with people out of state who have used it and it’s helped them or their children.”

Department of Health and Welfare’s Tom Shanahan made it clear that the only thing that mattered was, “Marijuana is illegal, period,” said Shanahan.

He continued to elaborate that the even states that have legalized cannabis recreationally or medically still do not give it to children. “Even in states that have legalized it it’s not legal to give to children,” said Shanahan. “The cannabis that is used for children with epilepsy is called cannabidiol oil and it has had THC removed from it.” THC is the psychoactive component to cannabis.

The children are currently in the custody of their father, and Osborne hopes to be reunited soon.