I’m not what you would call a sentimental guy. It takes a lot for me to become so upset with a situation that I lose it. But I had to turn off an audio recording I was listening to. I have not finished listening to it yet.

If you are interested in determining whether you have a stronger stomach than I do you can check it out at http://www.freemybabies.org/.

Daisy Bram lives in Butte County, CA. She and her husband were growing marijuana legally as patients when they were raided by the Sheriff’s Office.  Her two children Thor, aged 2, and Zeus, 28 days old, were ripped from her arms and placed in County Supervision by Child Protective Services (CPS). Their intent was to declare Daisy and her husband, incompetent and negligent parents, permanently remove the children and to place them up for adoption. The county would collect a fat check from the federal government for the transaction.  In fact it would get a bonus because the children would be “special needs” because of their mother’s “drug” use.

Daisy is a strong, determined woman who had the ability to fight the system. Luckily she won back custody after three and a half months. She is still facing criminal charges of child endangerment, but I think that case will be dismissed in the preliminary hearing.

While Daisy’s struggle to keep her children seems to be headed for a happy ending her case opened up a shocking policy of infant and toddler kidnapping by Child Protective Services in conspiracy with local District Attorneys. I know that superlative adjectives such as cruel, shocking and inhumane are used all the time to emphasize situations, but in this instance, there are no other words for it.

CPS in at least three California counties has a policy of seizing infants and toddlers from mothers connected in any way with marijuana. They use criteria such as THC in the infants blood, the admission that the mother used marijuana and breast feeds, allegations that the child had access to marijuana or any other excuse they can to remove the baby or toddler from the mother instantly. Then it’s up to the parents to try to get them back. Most of the victims don’t have the funds or legal sophistication to fight a bureaucracy stacked against them.

Once it has children in hand CPS quickly acts to have them adopted. The most adoptable children are white infants and toddlers that have no apparent disabilities. Older children are harder to adopt so they are usually not taken. In at least one case the toddlers were taken but the older brother was not removed.

Being a parent, I know how close and intimate the relationship is between mother and child. The thought of separating them is abhorrent and the recording of an infant torn from a mother’s arms reminds us to the horrors of war, genocide and terrorism. These are apt images. The idea that an arm of the California State government is responsible for this is beyond my comprehension.

When I was appointed Executive Director of Green Aid the Board of Directors set as a goal that we would use the courts to address child custody issues. It is a bigger problem than any of us thought when we first decided that the organization should get involved.

State organized child kidnapping attacks the very heart of our society. Stopping it now is extremely important. Although Green Aid is going to devote much of its resources to this issue, it is a small organization and we know that we must form a broad task force to change policy.

The first step we are taking is to invite relevant individuals and organizations to a meeting in September to set up a task force. With this group we will be able to use talent and contacts from many organizations to end the heart wrenching policy of state organized kidnapping.

Green-Aid, The Medical Marijuana Education and Legal Defense Fund is a 501(c)3 corporation and all donations are tax deductible. We have no office rent, paid employees and little overhead. Almost all the money you contribute goes to directly fight for your freedom.

Help us fight this human rights violation. No mother should be threatened with the loss of her child over cannabis. This fight will be costly, but we are ingenious and by working cooperatively with other organizations we will end this practice and restore the sanctity of the mother-child bond.

Please be as generous as you can. Think how empty your heart would be if your child were torn from your arms and given to someone else, and the State was the culprit. We need your help now. Donate now at www.green-aid.com