PTSD Marine Faces Prison for Pot

UPDATE
UPDATE: Charges Dropped Against Okla. Veteran Treating His PTSD With Marijuana


Veteran With PTSD Faces Up To Life In Prison For Growing Marijuana
BuzzFeed
Claudia Koerner
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Jul. 7, 2015, at 1:28 a.m.

A former Marine is facing a severe sentence for growing marijuana in his Oklahoma backyard for medicinal use. His wife says the situation has been “devastating.”

Whitney Lewandowski

Kris Lewandowski had survived tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Marine, but he feared the side effects of the dozen pills prescribed by a doctor would kill him.

That’s when the 33-year-old father of two began growing marijuana in his backyard to treat his PTSD symptoms, his wife, Whitney Lewandowski, told BuzzFeed News.

The couple and their two young sons were living outside Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in June 2014 as his honorable discharge from the Marines processed. Finding the best mix of medication for his mental health was a process of trial and error, Whitney Lewandowski said, and one Sunday night, there was an “issue.”

“We called for help,” she said.

Comanche County Sheriff’s deputies responded around 10 p.m. to a report that Kris Lewandowski had been chasing his wife with a knife. As he surrendered to authorities, they found six marijuana plants in the garden.

Local media called it a “major pot bust.”

“When we get there and we find out we have marijuana there that’s being grown, it seems to get worse,” Sheriff Kenny Stradley told KSWO-TV. “And then with children present this is a bad situation gone worse for the whole entire family.”

Though the amount of pot growing at the Lewandowski home would in many states be seen as appropriate, Oklahoma law has no provision for medical marijuana. Cultivation of any amount of the drug carries a sentence of between two years and life in prison — among the strictest penalties in the country.

Kris Lewandowski’s next hearing is scheduled for July 22, and in the meantime, his wife is talking with more lawyers in Oklahoma, raising money for his defense, and petitioning Gov. Mary Fallin for clemency.
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