{"id":4475,"date":"2015-08-01T11:41:13","date_gmt":"2015-08-01T11:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/?p=3599"},"modified":"2015-08-01T11:41:13","modified_gmt":"2015-08-01T11:41:13","slug":"south-dakota-mom-says-marijuana-is-right-for-her-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/south-dakota-mom-says-marijuana-is-right-for-her-son\/","title":{"rendered":"South Dakota: Mom Says Marijuana Is Right For Her Son"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/south-dakota-mom-says-marijuana-is-right-for-her-son\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Lisa Schaunaman breaks the law every day.<\/p>\n<p>She does it for her son, a wheelchair-bound 26-year-old who was disabled in a drunken driving accident nine years ago. But she also does it for taxpayers, she says.<\/p>\n<p>Were it not for the marijuana she claims has kept her son Faron Demarrias seizure-free for two years, taxpayers would be on the hook for his Medicaid bills. The last seizure in September of 2013 ran up an $80,000 bill.<\/p>\n<p>Schaunaman is one of an unknown number of South Dakotans who flouts the law and purchases \u201cmedical\u201d marijuana on the black market, without a prescription or legal protections. She reached out to the Reader\u2019s Watchdog in response to a story about an initiative to decriminalize marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Petitioners are gathering signatures for an initiative that would legalize medical marijuana in the state. Activists say those who choose to supplement their medical treatments with the drug are often left to navigate a black market they didn\u2019t know prior to their decision or to travel to states with legal weed and risk arrest.<\/p>\n<p>Schaunaman has talked to the media before, but always shielded her identity. This time, she was open to cameras and videos.<\/p>\n<p>The risk of a misdemeanor charge is worth it, she says, because \u201cI want people to be able to put a face to this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope they pass that initiative,\u201d she said. \u201cThe state needs to be open to it. It\u2019s saving the taxpayers so much money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She spends about $80 a month out-of-pocket on marijuana, which supplements her son\u2019s prescription medication for seizures, Lamictal. Demarrias\u2019 pills are covered by Medicaid, but the out-of-pocket cost for them would be $2,071.81.<\/p>\n<p>The family buys $20 worth of marijuana at a time \u2014 which Demarrias smokes three or four times a week \u2013 and leaves it outside their home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t abuse it like some people do,\u201d Demarrias said.<\/p>\n<p>They know they\u2019re breaking the law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s always a concern,\u201d she says of her worries about a criminal charge. \u201cWe never keep enough to get a felony. It would be a misdemeanor. If it happened, I would take the charge. I haven\u2019t gotten in trouble, aside from a few no insurance tickets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bob Newland, a longtime marijuana activist from Hot Springs, got into more trouble than that. Newland was charged with felony marijuana distribution in 2009 after a traffic stop. He was charged with possession of more than an ounce but less than a half pound of marijuana and two misdemeanors.<\/p>\n<p>He was taking the drug to a South Dakota family for medical purposes, his lawyer said. The judge gave him 45 days in jail, but the felony stuck.<\/p>\n<p>Newland wants marijuana legalized for recreational and medical purposes and has for years. Now that marijuana is legal for both purposes in Colorado, friends have asked him if he plans to move there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI tell them \u2018as soon as it takes me more than 15 minutes to find marijuana in South Dakota, I\u2019ll move to Colorado,\u2019\u201d he said this week.<\/p>\n<p>The problem of access to medical marijuana isn\u2019t for people like him, Newland said. It\u2019s for previously \u201cstraight\u201d South Dakotans who don\u2019t know the underground market when they decide to try the drug for medical purposes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re either looking to buy it on the street or going across two states where it isn\u2019t illegal to buy it, then traveling back through those same states and risking arrest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Attorney General Marty Jackley has said he\u2019ll only support medical marijuana if it\u2019s approved by the Food and Drug Administration, dispensed by a pharmacy, tracked and secured. There\u2019s little of that in the initiative currently being circulated by South Dakota Family Coalition for Compassion.<\/p>\n<p>Jackley says he\u2019s concerned about some of the language and implementation issues the initiative might present if passed.<\/p>\n<p>One way or the other, Schaunaman says she\u2019ll keep doing what she sees as right for her son, whom she cares for full-time. The family\u2019s medical team is aware of what they\u2019re doing, as are family and friends.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re very open about it,\u201d Schaunaman said. \u201cPeople know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/gallery\/data\/1412\/14958.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>News Moderator: Jacob Redmond <a href=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a><br \/>\nFull Article: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.argusleader.com\/story\/news\/2015\/07\/23\/mom-marijuana-right-son-taxpayers\/30603891\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mom: Marijuana is right for my son, taxpayers<\/a><br \/>\nAuthor: John Hult<br \/>\nContact: <a href=\"mailto:jhult@argusleader.com\">jhult@argusleader.com<\/a><br \/>\nPhoto Credit: Stripes<br \/>\nWebsite: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.argusleader.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Argus Leader, argusleader.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lisa Schaunaman breaks the law every day.<br \/>\nShe does it for her son, a wheelchair-bound 26-year-old who was disabled in&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/2015\/07\/south-dakota-mom-says-marijuana-is-right-for-her-son\/\" class=\"read-more\">[Read More]<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1614,9,1,3],"tags":[4182],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4475"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4475\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}