Kelsey Osborne and her kids, Madyson and Ryker (Photo: Kelsey Osborne) 
 
 GOODING - It's a topic that has sparked debate across the nation over the last few years - legalizing marijuana. In Idaho, recreational and medical marijuana is still illegal. 
 
 Last month, Kelsey Osborne, a Gooding mother of two, had her children taken from her after she gave her daughter a smoothie with marijuana in it as an attempt to stop her seizures. 
 
 A month later, the two children - Madyson and Ryker - are still living with their father and Osborne is still trying to get them back. 
 
 "I didn't ever think it would come down to this, but it did," Osborne told KTVB. "It tore me apart." 
 
 She says her 3-year-old daughter has a history of seizures, but one morning early October, it was worse than ever before. 
 
 "They would stop and come back, stop and come back with the hallucinations and everything else," Osborne said. 
 
 At the time of her seizure, Madyson was withdrawing from a medication called Risperdal, which is used to treat schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder. Osborne says when she couldn't calm her daughter down, she gave Madyson a smoothie with a tablespoon of marijuana-infused butter. 
 
 "Everything stopped 30 minutes later," said Osborne. 
 
 A couple of hours later, Osborne took Madyson to the doctor. That's where she tested positive for marijuana and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare was called. She was charged with misdemeanor injury to a child, and has pleaded not guilty. 
 
 "To me I felt like it was my last resort," said Osborne, who maintains that she did the right thing. "I've seen it for my own eyes with people out of state who have used it and it's helped them or their children." 
 
 Tom Shanahan with the Department of Health and Welfare says in any case dealing with marijuana, there is one bottom line. 
 
 "Marijuana is illegal, period," said Shanahan. 
 
 States that border Idaho, including Montana, Oregon, and Washington have legalized medical or recreational marijuana, and in some cases both. But Idaho isn't one of them and Shanahan says the two drugs aren't interchangeable. 
 
 "Even in states that have legalized it it's not legal to give to children," said Shanahan. "The cannabis that is used for children with epilepsy is called cannabidiol oil and it has had THC removed from it." 
 
 Without THC, there aren't any psychoactive properties found in the drug. 
 
 "It can cause brain development issues with a child, so we view that as unsafe or illegal," said Shanahan. "We want children to be in a safe place." 
 
 Meanwhile Osborne says she will continue trying to get her children back, who are currently with staying with their father. 
 
 "I'm not going to stop," she said. 
 
 While cannabidiol oil (CBD) is still illegal in Idaho, Shanahan says there is a program in Boise through the FDA that uses CBD as an experimental treatment for 34 children with severe epilepsy. 
 
 According to Shanahan, there are strict guidelines for those who qualify, one being that the child has to have tried several other treatments that have failed to work. 
 
 "It's a totally different substance and I think people confuse that," he said. 
 
 Copyright 2016 KTVB ||||| A mother from Gooding is fighting to regain custody of her children and facing criminal charges after giving her 3-year-old daughter marijuana. 
 
 Kelsey Osborne and the Idaho Mom’s for Marijuana group rallied outside of the department of Health and Welfare in Boise Thursday afternoon, calling for medical marijuana reform. (KBOI photo) 
 
 Kelsey Osborne and the Idaho Mom’s for Marijuana group rallied outside of the Department of Health and Welfare in Boise Thursday afternoon, calling for medical marijuana reform. 
 
 "Hopefully it'll open everybody's eyes on cannabis,” Osborne said. 
 
 The Department of Health and Welfare placed Osborne’s two children – Madyson, 3, and Ryker, 2, with her ex-husband in Jerome, leaving her with only supervised visitation rights. 
 
 "It tore me apart,” Osborne said, choking back tears. “I didn't ever think that it would come down to this but it did." 
 
 It all started in early October when her daughter, Madyson, was suffering from seizures and hallucinations after coming off a prescription anti-psychotic medication. 
 
 Osborne said she did what she thought was right as a mother; she made Madyson a smoothie with marijuana butter. 
 
 She has since been charged with a misdemeanor count of injury to a child. But says she will continue to protest Child Protection Services until she regains custody. 
 
 "It's something that I'm going to fight for and I'm not going to give up until I have them back home where they have been begging me to be," Osborne said. "I'm not going to stop. I won't stop. If it takes me two years, then it's going to take me two years." 
 
 Tom Shanahan, spokesman for the Department of Health and Welfare, responded to the protesters, saying CPS simply follows the laws currently in place. At the end of the day, the department’s main concern is the safety of the children involved. 
 
 “Marijuana is illegal. Even in states that have legalized it, it is not legal to use on children," Shanahan said. 
 
 In Idaho, medicinal marijuana is only legal for a small group of children with epilepsy. The 34 children enrolled have to go through a series of tests before getting approved, and even then it is a different form of cannabis than that of recreational marijuana, according to Shanahan. 
 
 “There’s two different kinds of substances. The one they use for epilepsy doesn’t have THC, it doesn’t appear to have any kind of brain development issues. Recreational marijuana does cause that so it’s not safe for these children.”
– A 3-year-old Gooding, Idaho, girl tested positive for pot at her pediatrician's office on Oct. 5, and mom Kelsey Osborne was the reason why. The 23-year-old lost custody of her two kids because of it. Now, she's fighting back. Osborne describes the smoothie she made for daughter Madyson—a drink that contained a tablespoon of marijuana-infused butter—as a "last resort," reports KTVB. She says Madyson suffers from seizures, and that the October ones were particularly bad: "They would stop and come back, stop and come back," with hallucinations and vomiting. The girl was also in the midst of withdrawing from Risperdal, which is used to treat schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder (it's unclear why Madyson was prescribed the medication), and Osborne says the pot stopped it all within 30 minutes. Problem is, "marijuana is illegal, period," says a rep with the state's Department of Health and Welfare. Indeed, Osborne was charged with misdemeanor injury to a child; she has pleaded not guilty. Medical marijuana isn't legal in the state, and in those places where children with epilepsy are permitted to partake in pot, they use cannabidiol oil, which is free of THC. The Twin Falls Times-News says Osborne couldn't get the oil, and so resorted to using butter that she prepared herself. KBOI reports Madyson and brother Ryker, 2, are currently with Osborne's ex-husband; she is allowed supervised visitation. On Thursday, she teamed up with Idaho Moms for Marijuana outside the Department of Health and Welfare in protest. "I won't stop [fighting to get them back]," she says. "If it takes me two years, then it's going to take me two years." (This mom's pot tea was problematic.)