​​​The state cannot take children away from a mother simply because she tests positive for marijuana use, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday.

The Oregonian. According to the decision, reversing a Marion County juvenile court ruling, the children can’t be taken away without evidence showing the mother’s cannabis use endangers the kids, reports Helen Jung at

The juvenile court had earlier ruled that the state Department of Human Services had jurisdiction over the two children, a 19-month-old and a 6-month-old. The state had argued that the simple fact fact that the mother used marijuana “presented a reasonable likelihood of harm to her two children.”

But the appeals court reasonably agreed with the mother’s argument that the state had failed to provide any evidence connecting her marijuana use with risk to the children.

The children and the mother are identified only by their initials in the case to protect their anonymity.





​The state of Oregon first became involved with the children in October 2009 when it received a report that a man was selling methamphetamine at the family’s home.