DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus Georgia couple loses custody of son after giving him marijuana to treat seizures

A Georgia couple who says they gave their son marijuana to treat his seizures, is fighting to regain custody of him. The state took custody of Matthew and Suzeanna Brill's15-year-old son, David, in April when he tested positive for marijuana. They are charged with reckless conduct and facing jail time.

The Brills say their 15-year-old son David went from having up to 10 seizures a day to being seizure free for 71 days after he began smoking marijuana, reports CBS News' Omar VIllafranca. The couple said he's never gone that long without a seizure before.

"For our son, it was a miracle for him," Matthew said.

Currently, medical marijuana is legal in 29 states and Washington, D.C. Nine states and D.C. allow for legal recreational marijuana. But Georgia has some of the strictest marijuana laws in the country. Physicians are not allowed to prescribe marijuana for medical use and it's illegal to sell or possess it. But the law does allow those with a state-issued medical card to possess low THC oil.

"The only way he could get a medical card would be a six-year waiting list," Suzeanna said.

So the Brills, frustrated with traditional prescription medication, took matters into their own hands. Matthew said he smoked the illegally-purchased marijuana first to make sure it was okay before giving it to his stepson.

The Brills were charged with reckless conduct after someone alerted the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services. The couple said they spent six days in jail. On April 20, David was removed from the Brills' custody. That day, he had a seizure and had to be rushed to a hospital.

"When I talked to him tonight… the 10-minute phone call I was allowed to have with him, he is on the verge of going into a seizure," Suzeanna said.

David is currently living in a group home about 60 miles from his parents.

The Georgia Division of Family and Children services said in a statement, "Case managers continue to work with the parents…so the family can be restored as quickly as possible."

"They're facing real criminal charges," said criminal defense attorney Rachel Kugel. "I think even if they beat the criminal case… They still are definitely in hot water with regard to Child Protective Services."


In a statement, the Twiggs County sheriff defended the charges against the Brills, saying, "It is my duty to enforce state law."

The Brills say they understand that, but they were just trying to help their son. Asked if they consider themselves criminals, Suzeanna said no. Added Matthew, "I'm a father that did what it took to make sure my son was okay."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-cou...linkId=52451272

Stricter marijuana laws could have prevented this, they need to BAN marijuana.

because that worked so well in the past(sarcasm)

YAY limited government.. YAY individual liberties.. YAY parental rights to parent your kids the way you see fit.. YAY everything I thought conservatives stood for..

Libertarian, we are now the true conservatives

Yeah, with billions spent since the 60's to do just what you propose, that has worked so well. lmao

I took Vambo’s post as satire. It wasn’t?!

We've went back and forth at times and agreed at other times in terms of politics, but never in my lifetime have I actually questioned the motives if the Republican party the way I do now.

In the past I've questioned their policies, but never their actual motives and morality. That's all changed now.

The harder question I have, and I know it's a hard one for moderate Republicans to answer, is when it comes time to re-elect Trump, will they rebuke Trump by either refusing to vote for him or to vote for another party?

I never know with him.

It should be legal. But it is not, sadly. You cant pick and choose the laws we want to follow and don't want to follow. That is how a nation will fall. I want this law changed. But its up to the people to change it. Until then, its the law and should be followed.

As I said in another post, I've always known the republicans had their share of nutbags.... but I supported many of the ideals of the party... now, since they have brought the nutbags center stage and given them the keys.. I agree with you..


The only reason this is a hard one is because I don't know what my other options are yet... As of now, democrat, libertarian, and don't vote are all on the table for me... I officially become an unrestricted free agent before the next election cycle.

It's not so much an issue of being legal or illegal for me. I agree with you that it's illegal and we have laws in place. I think the issue here runs much deeper.

The issue for me is the punishment. There has always been two things that the law is supposed to consider. The spirit of the law and the letter of the law.

The letter of the law was certainly broken. I have no issue with that. But how has the spirit of the law being considered here? It's not like they were just having big parties feeding drugs to teen agers.

This was done to help their child from having seizures. It was done in an act of mercy. Surely the law allows courts to take circumstances into consideration in sentencing. That's my issue.

Regardless of how much you have to watch your own child suffer?

Since taking office, this is Trumps 241st opportunity to use his platform to speak up for what is decent and right.. ultimately it's not his place to impose his will on the state of Georgia on this but his input would carry significant weight.. to date he's 0-240... let's wait and see.

Of course,

And if you were a parent of a kid having violent seizures, trying to find some way to help your child; what would you do?

I'd break every law on the books short of hurting another human being... but that's just me.

Me too

10 freakin seizures a day, and they want to enforce the law on a parent who's trying to stop that.

Our society is incredible.


Meanwhile, drug companies who care about nothing but profits, will sell drugs that aren't as effective, with far worse side effects, and that's okay. It's also okay for them to do everything they can to keep Marijuana (Medical) from being legalized unless they make a profit on it by lobbying to our corrupt government system because Corporate Money is "Free Speech"

But, This is America............



Anyway, back to the point. Who the heck would enforce the law against these people for that. Some things you overlook. This is one of those cases. Whoever caused this is a sick-hearted every word in the book.

I agree, they should have taken that into consideration when sentencing. Do we know anything about the judge? past cases, etc.?

I absolutely agree, but I wouldn't be mad about getting the repercussions. The issue here, is why hasn't this law been changed.

People want to argue over "is this right or wrong" in each case. Meanwhile, stupid laws go unchanged because people are arguing over the law, instead of arguing against the law.

I think you meant.. who care about nothing BUT profits.. Yes?

And yes, this is America.. we have priorities, they just aren't what you think they are... that should be on our currency.

Well we can disagree.. I take my kid from 10 seizures a day to 0 seizures for 71 days.. and you yank him away from me and put him in a group home where he doesn't know anybody and the seizures are starting again and put me in jail? Oh yea, I'd be mad as hell and I'd make sure everybody knew it...

I'm trying to think of a word much stronger than pathetic.. if you know one, help me out.

Fixed it. But yes. Pretty amazing. But I don't want to take anymore away from the topic at hand here.

A family just lost custody of their 15 year old child who's having issues with seizures.

I'd be furious with the repercussions. Absolutely furious.

The one treatment that works might not be available to the kid because it's marijuana. How pathetic is that.

I'm sorry man. But there's no way in hell you wouldn't be angry at the repercussions if that was your child. You didn't have a choice. Now there's a new obstacle in your way, and by god, that obstacle must be removed for the safety of your child.

I mean, really........ Wouldn't be mad? I'd be furious

EDIT: Just to be clear. If that was me. Heads would be rolling. I would move heaven and earth. Wouldn't get mad about the repercussions? lol. I'd be the new repercussion to that repercussion

I would be more angry that I didn't do what I could to get the law changed. Look man, I am on the side of the parents being able to give this kid the weed to make him better. I fully support weed being legal. But until then, its the law.

Now, my post about not being mad about the repercussions was taken wrong. I would be mad, im saying is that I wouldn't be surprised. That's a better way to put it.

I knew I was breaking the law, and I would have taken the same risk. But I would not be surprised that if caught, there was going be repercussions. I would be mad yes, surprised no.

I think that explains it better.

Gotcha. That makes much more sense

So you wouldn't be surprised that the court system would go to this extreme given the circumstances?

im reminded of the movie (yes I know a movie) John Q. Dude takes a hospital hostage, gets his son a heart, and when its said and done - take me away.

Basically that's what I meant, mad about it, but I fully know and am aware that I broke the law and understand that something is going to happen.

Take them to the hospital.

Rand Paul talked about the very thing of legalizing medical weed to treat exactly this.

yet at the end of the day, one thing i've learned early in life is that the there are certain people who only want individual freedoms when it comes to owning/running a business, because individual freedoms take a back seat with our government, specifically the party currently in office.

also, one would think it would be common sense that the "pro-growth" and "pro-business" GOP would be more than willing to legalize weed, bringing in a new industry worth billions upon billions, increasing tax revenue and paying for the tax cuts themselves.

but nope. instead, we still practice archaic and draconian drug laws and policies based on stereotypes and religious beliefs, which by the way, could certainly be considered unconstitutional if brought up to the supreme court.

legalization not only help kids and families like this, but it creates a huge dent in cartel profits, making it easier for our law enforcement to focus on more specific drugs.

i feel for these parents and their child. the GOP would rather we continue this opioid crisis and have everybody hooked on man made drugs, rather than something that is GOD GIVEN according to these so called party of christian values that can help millions of people, including so many kids.

I'm really not sure if your posts in this thread are serious or not......

Damn I wish he would run for the Repub nomiation or come over and run as a libertarian

Because certain factions(criminal justice system, prison systems and all their suppliers) make way too much money in fighting the supposed drug war against wees, and also the pharma industry, who are very powerful lobbyists, dont want medical mary jane because it would cut into their legalized drug dealing

smh... He's always been a hardliner against pot in his posts. I bet he has a full copy of reefer madness under all the Russian bot memes in his DT posts treasure chest.

That is what this family did. Now are you saying you would not be willing to face the repercussions of breaking the law?

Cake and Eat it too?

You don't think they already tried that? So the docs can prescribe him thousands of dollars of medication with a ton of side effects that don't do anywhere near as much good as a little bit of weed was doing?

No, that is what this family TRIED to do (or started to do).. now their son is a crappy state run group home restarting his seizures and I'm locked in jail.. you can bet your arse that I would no where close to finished with this yet and willing to accept my repercussions..

Ones legal the other is illegal.

Move to a state where it is legal???

Sucks it isn't legal everywhere.

Too many people just assume that if they have a good enough excuse, they should be allowed to get away with it.

For those point at the drug companies, get a clue; Georgia is one of the few states left were this would be a problem. Find another boogeyman.

I particularly liked the part where the father had to "test" the weed to make sure it was safe. Riiiiiiight. At least he didn't bogart the whole stash.

Now, MJ does often help with seizures, however, the only data in this case is coming from the folks making the excuse. You can find similar testimony for a lot of crazy folk remedies, often those kids die while the parents pursue a course of treatment they are sure will work.

The obvious solution is to pick up their stuff and move to a state with more lenient weed laws.

Georgia is backwards on many things.

But they do allow medical marijuana for a handful of illnesses and adding more all the time.

I think they just approved it for ptsd.

Things just move slow in the South. We are the bible belt.

It wasnt too many years ago that Sunday sales of alcohol was approved.