Op-Ed by Josh Paniagua

April 16, 2015

(ANTIMEDIA) Most Americans who attended school after the year 1983 are likely familiar with D.A.R.E., a privately and federally funded anti-drug program notorious for using exaggerated facts, falsified science, and fear tactics to scare kids into “just saying no”. Not only is their approach to drug prevention laughable (at best), it is a complete and utter failure.

As if spreading misinformation to children isn’t despicable enough, it would appear that they are willing to ruin lives to protect their propaganda.

Shona Banda is a mother of two living in Kansas, sufferer of Crohn’s disease, and cannabis oil activist who has recently fallen victim to US drug policy. On March 24th, Shona’s 11-year old son and the rest of his class were visited by D.A.R.E. officers. During the drug education class, Shona’s son, knowing his mother’s life was saved by cannabis, decided to speak up to inform them that the information they were giving was incorrect. From there, he was detained and questioned by Kansas State authorities.

After realizing that her son was late coming home from school, she contacted the school office and found out that her son had been taken by police.

“My husband and I are separated and neither parent was contacted by authorities before [our son] was taken and questioned,” Banda says in an interview with Ben Swann.

Based on the information they obtained from interrogating the 11-year old boy, police developed a suspicion of illegal substances on the property and obtained a search warrant hours later while prohibiting Banda back into her home until the warrant was approved and executed.

Police found and confiscated two ounces of cannabis and one ounce of cannabis oil. In other words, police broke in and stole this sick woman’s medicine and proceeded to take her child into custody.

“On the 24th, he was taken into custody. That was on a Tuesday. He was taken out of town Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday we had a temporary hearing… and temporary custody was granted to my ex. Now the only reason why temporary custody was granted to my ex is because the judge said something to the effect that the amount of cannabis found in my home was going to possibly be felony charges and it was pointless letting the child return home to his mother,” Shona says in her interview with Ben Swann, “The state is trying to deem it to where [Shona’s ex-husband] is not fit and I’m not fit and they’re trying to take custody of our child.”

Coincidentally, Shona has a hearing regarding custody of her son on April 20th (4/20).

Please support her legal fund here.

Do these people ever stop to wonder what kind of image they’re actually portraying by enforcing such ridiculousness? The kind of people willing to rip a child away from his mother because of the type of medicine she takes for a serious illness don’t seem like the most ideal people to take any sort of advice from. Unless, of course, one seeks advice on how not to win a war on drugs, how to lie to children, and how to tear families apart in the name of outdated and outrageous policies.

Updated on April 17, 2015 for accuracy.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of TheAntiMedia.org.

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