Five Grams Of Marijuana And Five Children Taken From Their Family, What's Happening In Tennessee?

Five minor children belonging to a Black family in Tennessee were taken from their parents at a traffic stop in Coffee County and placed in the Department of Children’s Services custody following a juvenile court hearing on Monday, reported Tennessee Lookout.

What Happened?

The Tennessee Highway Patrol pulled over Bianca Clayborne and Deonte Williams last month because their car windows were tinted and for driving in the left passing lane on I-24. The Georgia-based family was traveling to a family funeral in Chicago.

However, during a car search, the patrol officers found five grams of marijuana, after which Williams was arrested for cannabis possession, which is considered a misdemeanor in Tennessee.

Clayborne was cited and released was released with their five children - ages 7, 5, 3, 2 and four months. However, the DCS appeared and took her children away from her six hours later.

Courtney Teasley, the family’s attorney said on Monday outside the Coffee County Justice Center that the “family has been without their babies for 30 days.”

Urine drug screens showed Williams had tested positive for THC, while Clayborne tested negative. However, both supposedly tested positive for methamphetamines, oxycodone and fentanyl after undergoing a rapid hair follicle test.

Even though rapid hair follicle tests are known for false positives, according to an expert in addition to the fact that the couple denied using the drugs, the DCS used the results to accuse them of severe child abuse.

For now, the children are being taken care of by Nashville-area relatives after initially being placed into different foster homes.

Unmitigated Racism? Driving While Black?

Theeda Murphy, executive director of the No Exceptions Prison Collective and one of many family supporters, blasted the DCS and Tennessee.

“The state of Tennessee has no respect for Black families,” Murphy said. “The state of Tennessee has no love for black children. I’m here to tell you that, baby, it is 2023, not 1823. We are going to fight for our children and we’re going to win.”

A spokesperson for DCS justified their harsh actions by saying that many of the agency’s front-line workers are from Black communities.

“The case managers that are working this case, they do come from diverse backgrounds,” said Alex Denis who added that nearly a third of the agency’s caseworkers and half of the department’s deputy commissioners are African-American.

MMJ Legalization Efforts

In the meantime, a push to legalize medical marijuana in Tennessee died in the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month.

Senate Bill 1104, sponsored by Tullahoma Republican Janice Bowling, would have authorized access to medical cannabis for patients with qualifying conditions like cancer, glaucoma, IBS, epilepsy, HIV, MS, opioid addiction, PTSD, TBI, and many others. It also sought to regulate the process for cultivation, production, distribution, transportation and acquiring cannabis for medical use.

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