Navy vet sues Kansas, says marijuana led to kids’ removal

Schwab during Wednesday press conference- photo courtesy KSNT

BILL DRAPER, Associated Press
MELISSA HELLMANN, Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Navy veteran seeking to get five of his children back from state custody in Kansas says his use of medical marijuana to treat PTSD — not the family’s past scrapes with the law in Riley County — prompted the state’s action.

Raymond Schwab has campaigned on the Statehouse steps to get his children back, and drawn national attention as medical marijuana proponents describe the case as an example of government overreach.

Schwab ended a hunger strike protest Wednesday after a lawsuit was filed against the state of Kansas in the ongoing dispute.

State officials have declined to specify why the children were removed, but say Schwab isn’t telling the truth about it being because of marijuana.

Protesters supporting the Schwab family in Manhattan on March 10

Police and court documents show that in the five months before it occurred, Schwab’s wife was arrested for domestic battery and hospitalized for mental health issues, and police were called to their home for a domestic disturbance.