Recently, an Australian father named Michael Lambert was found guilty of cultivating cannabis, to make it into oil for treating his severely epileptic daughter. However, he surprisingly escaped conviction.

It is unclear whether or not he will face further charges or consequences, which is unusual for Australia, a country notorious for taking children away from parents. One can find headlines about Australia’s strict policies, such as this one from The Australian reading “Australia branded ‘child-stealing capital of the Western world’.”

According to ABC:

“Michael Lambert was surrounded by his family, including his five-year old daughter Katelyn, when the magistrate handed down his decision in Gosford Local Court today.

Katelyn suffers a debilitating form of epilepsy known as Dravet Syndrome but her doctors have seen a remarkable improvement in her condition since she started taking imported cannabis oil in 2014.

Mr Lambert admitted to the charges but argued he had no choice but to help treat his daughter, who had already suffered irreparable brain damage because of regular, severe seizures.”

It seems increasingly difficult for the judicial system to justify incarcerating people for cannabis oil when it is clearly saving lives. The judge tried to justify his conviction with the usual “it’s the law” argument. Magistrate Bruce Williams, according to ABC, “acknowledged medical evidence from Katelyn’s doctors that her health significantly improved after taking the oil but maintained the court “couldn’t set a moral policy.””

The judge claimed science was in a “state of flux” over understanding cannabis oil, and that “research was ongoing” but no one could “circumvent the law.”

The father, Michael Lambert said:

“I was just a normal father trying to do the best by my daughter … I just did what I had to do to save my daughter’s life and the court has found that I’m a criminal.

I knew this was a high hurdle to win. If Katelyn can’t win on medical necessity, then nobody can win on medical necessity.”

While in many US states, children are being treated with cannabis oil legally and with incredible success, Australian judges, cops, media people, and other members of the legal system claim it is untested, experimental medicine that is potentially dangerous.

One can find articles with millions upon millions of views online about cannabis oil treating seizures: the amount of people aware of this is becoming too high for the state to tolerate.

The question is, when the state has overwhelming force, does it even matter what the population is aware of?

Simultaneously in the same Australian state of New South Wales, Chase Walker, a very ill child who also has seizures, was taken from his parents for their decision to treat him with cannabis oil.

The Chase Walker story is massively blowing up on the internet, highlighting the increasing problem of the state stealing children from parents, which is developing into a problem in Western countries from Australia to the US. A piece of his complex story was summarized by a petition demanding he be returned to his parents:

“Chase Walker-Steven is a 4 year old boy who suffers from a severe case of Spastic Quadraplegic Cerebal Palsy and Epilepsy after having a reaction to vaccinations within hours of his birth.

On the eve of May 19 2017 up to 30 police officers and 2 FACS workers descended on the Church Of Ubuntu where the family was seeking refuge after going through an ordeal in Queensland to which Lady Cliento Hospital tried to kidnap him also, to remove Chase Walker-Steven from the care of his parents over test results from May 1 2017 which showed Chase had low potassium levels. Cini and Marc, Chase’s parents are PRO CHOICE. They decided to stop immunising Chase at 2 years old because of the reactions he was having to them.

Chase had been at an appointment the day before and results showed Chase’s potassium levels were fine.
Chase’s parents Marc Steven and Cini Walker had been feeding Chase a plant based diet along with cannabis oil to which he was thriving on and was healthy as agreed to by doctors at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle that very night.

After a lengthy negotiation Chase’s parents agreed to accompany him to the hospital for observation and tests. During this time police and FACS workers were plotting on how to get Chase away from his parents long enough so they could medically kidnap this little boy under the direction of the Director General.

Upon arrival at John Hunter Hospital Marc, Cini and Chase were placed in a psychiatric hold room in the Emergency Department of the hospital. Tests were done and doctors advised all involved that Chase was in no danger and his test results were fine so he could leave the the hospital and go home.

This was never going to happen. Police and FACS had already decided that Chase was going into the care of the state no matter what the outcome. FACS advised Cini and Marc he would not be going home with them and would be taken into their custody. Shortly after Marc Steven went to use the bathroom and was barricaded in by 4 police officers and his screams were described as being that of someone caught in a house fire.

Cini was then dragged and pulled from Chase’s wheelchair but she clung on wrapping her arms and legs around the chair. She begged police and FACS workers to let her go with her son to wherever they were taking him and was finally told she could so she let go. They LIED!! Cini was then wrestled to the ground and handcuffed. Physically assaulted in front of her 4 year old disabled son.”

So Michael Lambert is facing less severe consequences than many parents who treat their children with cannabis oil in NSW, Australia, and the judicial system in Australia ignores all other info about cannabis. The hypocrisy is redundantly obvious.

Yet one of the only worthwhile conclusions that can be drawn from this is: does it even matter what the citizens think or understand if a government has consolidated overwhelming force to enforce unjust laws anyway?

(Image credit: Daily Telegraph, ABC, ABC)