The (Strange) Case of Shona Banda

You've probably already seen the story:  A Kansas woman may lose custody rights to her 11-year-old son affected by her arrest on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and endangering the welfare of a child. 

The Shona Banda story is becoming a kind of cause célèbre in the medical marijuana community.  The pro-MMJ crowd is certainly putting it in the best possible light.  Ms. Banda is described as "the Kansas medical marijuana advocate who lost custody of her son after he spoke up in class in support of the treatment benefits of weed." CBS News' title for its latest story is Kansas mom loses custody of son, 11, after he gives marijuana speech.  The spin seems to be that the boy said positive things about marijuana in class, so the state is taking away his mother's custody rights.

The case is plainly an example of the problems caused by harsh drug laws, but I'm not sure it's really wise to jump on the Innocent Victim bandwagon.  According to reports, she wasn't just found with a couple of ounces for medicinal use stored carefully away from her son.  Rather, as the Wichita Eagle reported, police armed with search warrants "found about 1 1/4 pounds of marijuana and a lab for manufacturing cannabis oil on the kitchen table and counters, drug paraphernalia and other related items. . . .  Authorities said the items were within easy reach of the child."  At about $350 an ounce (an estimate of the illegal street price in Kansas in late 2014). we're talking about a substantial amount of weed.  The boy apparently told investigators that "there was a lot of drug use occurring in his residence."

Which is presumably why she's facing potential felony charges.  The stories seem to make it pretty clear that she was distributing marijuana, whether or not she charged for it.

Possessing some medical marijuana is one thing; operating a distribution business out of the house where you live with your 11-year-old son is something different.  I can sympathize with someone who has a personal supply of illegal prescription painkillers in the house; I have less sympathy for somebody who's a drug distributor.  Cannabis oil processing is, after all, not a risk-free operation, and doing on the kitchen table while the kid is making a sandwich strikes me as something that clearly ought to be considered in deciding a custody dispute.

If we change the gender, and assume that a divorced dad was found to be operating a cannabis business out of the home on the weekends he had custody, don't you think mom would have some legitimate cause for concern?