Marijuana remains banned in the deep-red state – even though 60% of residents back some form of legalization and Wichita has decriminalized the drug

Although she has not been charged with a crime or arrested over the medicinal marijuana that was found in her home, a libertarian-leaning Kansas activist is at odds with her state over the custody and future of her 11-year-old son.

Shona Banda lost custody of her son, at least temporarily, last Monday at a court hearing tinged with the irony of its date: 4/20. Such coincidences aside, the circumstances of her case lend it symbolism about the state of the decades-long “war on drugs” in America: a registered Republican is fighting a deeply conservative state over her son and medical marijuana, while a Democratic president has hinted he will endorse a bill – co-sponsored by a Republican presidential candidate – that would allow patients the drug without fear of federal prosecution.

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With a gag order on the custody case, a friend of Banda’s could only say that she was still not with her son.

In recent years, Americans have started to buck orthodox marijuana policy: Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Washington DC have legalized recreational and medical use and 19 other states have legalized medical use. According to two recent polls, more than half of Americans support some form of legalization.

Kansas maintains that marijuana is illegal without exception, but many Kansans have moved well beyond their state on the issue. Recent polls show that more than 60% support legalizing marijuana in some way and the city of Wichita voted to decriminalize the drug earlier this month – a vote the state attorney has said he will fight.

A week later, a state senator declared that legalization inevitable.

“Everyone in this capitol knows that one day, one day, medical marijuana will be available in every one of the 50 states,” said David Haley, as he and another lawmaker introduced legalization bills. “We know that. The question is … will Kansas be the 24th state or the 50th?”

Banda, who campaigned for legalization in Colorado before moving back to west Kansas for family reasons, knows the groundswell of social change firsthand. Supporters have raised nearly $40,000 in 11 days for her legal funds and many rallied outside the courthouse on Monday, led by her friend and fellow activist Jennifer Winn, a write-in candidate for mayor of Wichita.

Banda is a minor celebrity among medical marijuana activists, having for years treated the symptoms of her Crohn’s disease with cannabis oil – and publicized her methods in a book and on YouTube.

Terry Boone, a longtime friend, said Banda’s supporters “make no bones about the fact that [marijuana] is not legal in Kansas, but this law is simply keeping somebody down.

“It needs to be looked at it needs to be fixed. But in the short term it needs to be looked at and kind of understood that this woman’s not doing anything to harm anybody. She’s simply trying to create oil from a plant that keeps her well.”

Garden City police captain Randy Ralston said officers found at Banda’s home about 20oz of “suspected marijuana” and “a lab for manufacturing cannabis oil on the kitchen table and kitchen counters”. The items “were within easy reach of the child”, Ralston said.

Banda’s online videos, however, would suggest the description of a “lab” overstates what was in her home. In those videos, Banda uses little more than a vaporizer, gel caps and marijuana.

“You can do this with a $50 machine and a $5 spatula, and a plant that you can grow for free in your backyard,” one video explains.

Boone contended that Ralston’s assertion that Banda’s son “reported to school officials that his mother and other adults in his residence were avid drug users and that there was a lot of drug use occurring in his residence” may have elided what the child actually said.

“He most likely spoke up and said something to the effect of ‘my mother calls it cannabis at home’,” Boone said, “and more than likely mentioned that his mother uses cannabis to combat her Crohn’s disease, in whatever version of that that an 11-year-old would use.”

In an interview before the gag order was issued, Banda told the journalist Ben Swann: “I can’t be upset about [her son speaking up] because he hears me daily on the phone talking with people, encouraging people to speak up and speak out. We did have the talk about how it’s not OK to bring this up in Kansas, because it’s a different state [than Colorado]. It’s very confusing for a child.”

Counselors are required by Kansas law to report to child services any possible neglect or abuse. After Banda refused consent to search her home without a warrant, officers barred her from it in an exchange she filmed on her phone.



An officer who identifies himself in the video as sergeant Chase tells her: “There is evidence in there that you could destroy. So everything that was in the house is the house is being secured.”

He then overrides Banda’s protests about officers being in her backyard, saying “it doesn’t matter” that it was not public property. The officer’s behavior has particularly outraged supporters of Banda, who have linked the case to police misconduct elsewhere.

Banda has not been arrested, but under Kansas law she could face felony charges for possession and thousands of dollars in fines. Court records show she has been forced to pay hundreds of dollars to creditors in recent years.

County prosecutor Susan Richmeier did not respond to multiple calls about whether Banda will face charges, but told the Garden City Telegram the cases were “two completely different sets of circumstances and two completely different standards of proof”.

“A child in need of care case and a criminal case don’t go hand in hand. They’re two completely different sets of circumstances and two completely different standards of proof,” Richmeier said.

Banda has said that the threat of charges alone has affected the custody case. “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,” she told Swann.

Although neither Banda or her attorney, Sarah Swain, responded to multiple calls and emails, Banda and her friend Winn have continued to run an online campaign about the case. Mixing libertarian and progressive politics, it is largely carried out on a petition page and on Facebook pages plastered with quotes from former US representative Ron Paul, elements of stoner culture and excitement about Obama’s possible drug policy.

Posts also suggest that Banda fears some form of retaliation for her activism, noting that police released her home address and alleging that two men “barged their way” into her workplace in search of her. In that post, she calls on the vigilante group Oath Keepers for protection.

“It’s getting crazy in the land of Oz,” she writes in another.

Despite the frenetic online activity – and the blurring politics of Kansans divided on issues of drug reform, policing and privacy under a hardline governor, the Republican Sam Brownback – Banda remains focused on reuniting with her son, Boone said.

“She’s happy to have the support, but at the same time she’s of course understandably distraught,” he said. “Her main concern is just getting her son back.”

Ralston said the police also feared for Banda’s son, telling the Associated Press: “The most important thing here is the child’s wellbeing. That is why it is a priority for us, just because of the danger to the child.”

The Kansas department of children and families declined to comment, citing privacy concerns. Department data shows that from July 2013 through March 2014, a parent’s alleged drug abuse accounted for 11% of child welfare removals, not including methamphetamine cases.