LANSING — Maria Green became a medical marijuana caregiver in 2011 to help care for her husband's epileptic seizures. Little did she know two years later, it could end up potentially costing her custody of her daughter.

"Child Protective Services calls and says that they need access to our house," Green said on Tuesday. "I told them that I cannot willingly give them access to those plants or I can be charged with a seven-year felony for manufacturing and have it be outside of the scope of the Michigan medical marijuana law."

She added: "They were not happy with that answer and they told me that they could possibly remove my children if I did not comply. If they had a court order, then I couldn't be held criminally liable and I could give them access."

Bree Green, her 6-month-old daughter, was removed by CPS last Friday in Lansing.

"They told me that they were going to petition the court for a court order to enter the house and I was fine with that," Green said. "Then they changed it and instead petitioned to remove the baby and that's what happened."

Green was part of a rally in front of the Dept. of Human Services building in downtown Lansing on Tuesday as families demanded answers to why the state would remove children from homes of licensed caregivers. The Greens, who are from Lansing, were joined by medical marijuana advocates who demanded that CPS return the children of caregivers and adhere to the law.

"They told me that I have a hearing on Oct. 7," Green said. "Until then, the custody is what it is."

Green claims that her daughter was removed from the home due to safety concerns. The fear was that because the family had marijuana in the house that it would make them a target for crime.

"I was told that in a case in 2010, a guy broke into a house and a little girl was killed," she said. "Because there are marijuana plants in the house, they said that it would put a caregiver's house under greater risk of being robbed at gun point. That was the eminent danger that [CPS] saw in coming to remove my baby."

The rally attracted about 150 people, most of them friends of the Green family, and many of them waving flags and holding signs with pictures of Bree Green. Maria Green pushed a stroller with her daughter's picture and some of her toys in the front seat.

"Last Friday, an Ingham County Judge removed Bree Green from her loving parents, despite their status as state-sanctioned medical marijuana patients and caregivers," Charmie Gholson, the founder of Michigan Moms United, said during the rally. "This is just one of many, widespread incidents throughout Michigan involving CPS agencies that disregard the clearly written protections provided in the Medical Marijuana Act."

Gholson led the crowd in chants of "Free Bree" and in singing the lullaby "You are my Sunshine." Maria Green, who was nearly inconsolable during the rally, first became caregivers in 2011 when they could not find anything else suitable to treat Steve Green's seizures which have plagued him since 2006.

"He was taking 30 pills a day," Maria Green said. She added that his doctor had recommended medical marijuana as a way to end the seizures and it took hold almost immediately.

"I made his medicine and tweaked his dosing," she added. "On Dec. 1, 2011, he had his last seizure until June of this year when he was told that he had to stop taking medical marijuana. Now he's had eight or nine since the end of June."

Green insists that the marijuana is strictly for therapeutic reasons and meant to curb his seizures. "This is our life. This is his health that's at stake here."

CPS declined to comment on the particulars of the case because of privacy restrictions. They did stress that the decisions in child removal situations are made because of the parenting situation in the home.

"What kinds of choices are they making that impact their kids, and what impact is the substance use – be it alcohol, prescription drugs, etc. – having on their children," CPS spokesman Dave Ackerly said. "The safety and well-being of the children involved is always going to be paramount with a CPS investigation."

He added that marijuana itself is treated the same as any other drug, be it recreational or prescription. He also said that the only exception is in the case of pills.

"We can determine with a blood sample or series of samples if the dosage matches that of the prescription in terms of use," he said. "That simply is not the same case with marijuana."

Maria Green is allowed to visit her daughter – who is living with a foster parent near Port Huron – three times a week, but it is clearly not the same thing.

"All I can do is think about her," she said. "I can't go in certain parts of my house without breaking down. It's five hours round trip to do our supervised visits three times a week.

"That disrupts my entire family," she added. "It disrupts my ability to bring her back into a home that is now struggling with bills because of all the hurdles that I've had to jump in order to get through this."

Follow Jay Scott Smith on Twitter: @JayScottSmith. Email him at JSmith44@mlive.com Follow MLive Lansing onFacebook and Twitter.