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MADISON, Minn. (AP) — An attorney for a Minnesota woman charged with endangering her son by giving him cannabis oil for chronic pain asked a judge Wednesday to dismiss the charges.
Angela Brown of Madison appeared in court with her 15-year-old son, who has a traumatic brain injury. Brown is charged with two gross misdemeanor counts of child endangerment.
Brown said her son improved dramatically after he tried the marijuana tincture, which the family bought legally from a dispensary in Colorado, the Star Tribune (http://strib.mn/1w0bpfj ) reported. Before the cannabis oil, his mother said, muscle spasms from the brain injury he suffered when he was hit by a baseball line drive three years ago would leave him curled in a fetal position or in so much pain he would punch the walls or hit himself hard enough to break his nose and crack his collarbone.
"I didn't harm my child," the 38-year-old mother of three said. "I really don't want any other mother to have to go through this and that's why I'm putting myself out there."
Medical marijuana will be legal in Minnesota by July. But since that law isn't in effect yet, the Lac qui Parle County Attorney opted to prosecute Brown — not for possessing the small amount of cannabis in the dropper bottle, but for endangering her child by involving him in a drug transaction.
"This simply is not a situation where someone has endangered their child," said Michael Hughes, an attorney from Oregon who volunteered to defend Brown. The statute, he said, was meant to protect children found in meth houses, not a child swallowing drops of cannabis oil to help with seizures and pain.
The court did not take action on Hughes' request for the case to be dismissed. The two sides will submit additional paperwork early next year.
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Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com
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