T
The420Guy
Guest
A Deltona woman who lost custody of her children in a drug case gets support from the Cannabis Action Network. DELAND- A National group dedicated to decriminalizing marijuana has entered a new legal arena - family court.
The Cannabis Action Network based in Berkely, Calif., usually stages rallies for legalizing pot around the country and most recently has begun a push to get a referendum on medical marijuana before Florida Voters in 2002.
Today, they'll be outside the Volusia Courthouse, holding signs and standing in support of Judy Scherer, a Deltona woman who wants the department of Children and Families to give her children back before
Christmas.
Scherer, a single mother of five, lost custody of her children last month for violating a judge's order that stemmed from a DCF finding that Schere had been smoking pot.
The Cannabis Action Network has helped defend people over such constitutional issues as improper searches and arrests, but it has never gone to family court before now, said Kevin Aplin, the group's co-founder and director of its Melbourne office.
He said that today, outside the courthouse, supporters will hold a somber and peaceful protest.
Aplin said Sherer is a good mother, a provider with a full-time job who has proved to the court and the Department of Children & Families that she no longer is smoking pot.
And her defenders add that Sherer was only using pot to alleviate migraine headaches. Sherer could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Sherer will be in the Volusia County Court today, appearing before Judge Julianne Piggotte.
Aplin said Sherer's case is one of the war on drugs going too far. "There is no evidence of neglect or that she had endangered her children," Aplin said. "There is concrete evidence that she is no longer smoking marijuana; and yet she lost her children"
Pat Thigpen, a spokeswoman for the local DCF office, said that the DCF is not allowed to comment on any pending case or the
particulars of any investigation.
"We can't confirm or deny that we have a case," she said. "It's to protect the family." However, Thigpen said that children are only taken from a parent under the
gravest of circumstances, when the safety and welfare of the children are at stake. Any action the agency takes is under the strict scrutiny of the court. "It is the court that makes the final dedsions," she said.
Sherer lost her children in November because she failed to follow a judge's instruclons to the letter in the aftermath of testing positive for marijuana four months ago, according. to her attorney, Robert Dowd Jr., of Orlando A family court judge ordered Sherer to submit to random drug tests and get drug counseling and meet with a children's advocacy group. She lost
custody of the children after missing an appointment with the guardian ad litem, Dowd said.
Meanwhile, Dowd insists that Sherer had passed seven drug tests and compiled with all other court orders.
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 01
40 -0500
From: cowboy@jug-or-not.com
To: cowboy@jug-or-not.com
Subject: FLCAN Helps Woman Trying to get Kids Back
The Cannabis Action Network based in Berkely, Calif., usually stages rallies for legalizing pot around the country and most recently has begun a push to get a referendum on medical marijuana before Florida Voters in 2002.
Today, they'll be outside the Volusia Courthouse, holding signs and standing in support of Judy Scherer, a Deltona woman who wants the department of Children and Families to give her children back before
Christmas.
Scherer, a single mother of five, lost custody of her children last month for violating a judge's order that stemmed from a DCF finding that Schere had been smoking pot.
The Cannabis Action Network has helped defend people over such constitutional issues as improper searches and arrests, but it has never gone to family court before now, said Kevin Aplin, the group's co-founder and director of its Melbourne office.
He said that today, outside the courthouse, supporters will hold a somber and peaceful protest.
Aplin said Sherer is a good mother, a provider with a full-time job who has proved to the court and the Department of Children & Families that she no longer is smoking pot.
And her defenders add that Sherer was only using pot to alleviate migraine headaches. Sherer could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Sherer will be in the Volusia County Court today, appearing before Judge Julianne Piggotte.
Aplin said Sherer's case is one of the war on drugs going too far. "There is no evidence of neglect or that she had endangered her children," Aplin said. "There is concrete evidence that she is no longer smoking marijuana; and yet she lost her children"
Pat Thigpen, a spokeswoman for the local DCF office, said that the DCF is not allowed to comment on any pending case or the
particulars of any investigation.
"We can't confirm or deny that we have a case," she said. "It's to protect the family." However, Thigpen said that children are only taken from a parent under the
gravest of circumstances, when the safety and welfare of the children are at stake. Any action the agency takes is under the strict scrutiny of the court. "It is the court that makes the final dedsions," she said.
Sherer lost her children in November because she failed to follow a judge's instruclons to the letter in the aftermath of testing positive for marijuana four months ago, according. to her attorney, Robert Dowd Jr., of Orlando A family court judge ordered Sherer to submit to random drug tests and get drug counseling and meet with a children's advocacy group. She lost
custody of the children after missing an appointment with the guardian ad litem, Dowd said.
Meanwhile, Dowd insists that Sherer had passed seven drug tests and compiled with all other court orders.
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 01
40 -0500From: cowboy@jug-or-not.com
To: cowboy@jug-or-not.com
Subject: FLCAN Helps Woman Trying to get Kids Back
