The story of Minnesota's Angela Brown could well inspire even more people with sick kids to relocate. She's now been charged with a crime and could face jail time for providing her head-injured son with medical marijuana legally purchased during a visit to Boulder.
See also: Marijuana: High MMJ Patient Numbers Concern Lawmaker
The story comes to us from WCCO-TV in Minnesota. Angela and David Brown tell the station that their son Trey, fifteen, suffered a traumatic brain injury while playing baseball three years ago.Afterward, Trey regularly suffered from headaches, seizures and more. His condition was severe enough, the Browns say, that he couldn't attend school and began engaging in dangerous behavior. Specifically, he began to hit and cut himself.
With traditional medical care appearing to have little effect, the family traveled to Colorado this past winter and purchased some cannabis oil -- the treatment touted in the 2013 CNN reports about seizure-stricken Charlotte Figi that fueled a rush to Colorado by parents of children afflicted with similar conditions.
Within an hour after Trey took the medication, Angela says his symptoms abated. The improvement was so pronounced that the Browns brought some of the oil back home with them and continued to provide it to Trey in Minnesota.When Trey's school inquired about what was helping him, Angela told teachers about the cannabis-oil treatments. A week later, she got a call from her mom revealing that "the cops are looking for you."
Angela has now been formally charged with child endangerment and causing a child to need protection -- offenses that appear to bring with them the possibility of jail time. The 2013 Minnesota statute for neglect or endangerment of a child reads in part: "If the endangerment results in substantial harm to the child's physical, mental, or emotional health, the person may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years or to payment of a fine of not more than $10,000, or both."
At this point, representatives of the district attorney's office in Lac Qui Parle County, where the Browns live, aren't talking about the case. But Angela is speaking out, telling the station, "The prosecutor's version of this is that a good mom allows her child to be in pain, to self-harm, and attempt to take his life. I guess that's a good mom in his eyes."Once their legal battle is over, what do the Browns plan to do next? Move to Colorado.
Here's the WCCO-TV piece.
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