Last week, 13WMAZ introduced you to Matthew and Suzeanna Brill, a couple that openly admits they gave their teenage son marijuana to smoke.
“I smoke it first, I know where it comes from, I know my people. I make sure the bag is good, pack the bowl in my bowl, which I know ain’t been anywhere else, and I set it on the table and told him it was his decision,” said Matthew Brill when we spoke with him nearly a week ago.
According to Twiggs County Sheriff Darren Mitchum, what they did was against the law and the couple was arrested for reckless conduct.
However, they say they were doing it to keep their son safe. They claim marijuana stops his seizures.
It’s that aspect of the case that has, at least in part, helped catapult the Brills into the middle of the national conversation on marijuana legalization and given them plenty of supporters around the country along the way.
“The bottom fell out of it,” said Matthew Brill, “at two days after this.”
Media all over the country has reported on their story, and in less than a week, they’ve raised over $20,000 on a GoFundMe page.
Matthew Brill calls the support “the biggest impact in my life, period.”
But not all the messages have been positive.
A Twiggs County Sheriff’s Office spokesman said their office has been swamped with calls and some, like one from an unidentified caller, were threats:
“Yeah, you [expletive] try to take away my kids, you [expletive] see what happens. I’ll [expletive] shoot you all,” said the caller in a voicemail message.
Sheriff Mitchum says the angry calls have been mostly from marijuana supporters who believe the Brills shouldn’t have been arrested at all, but he’s standing by the charge.
“Had I been there, I’d have made the same decision,” said Mitchum. “The deputy has a job to do. I think the charge was appropriate — there could have been more that he could have charged him with.”
Steve Sadow, a lawyer representing the Brills, says he condemns any threat to law enforcement.
He’s also asking law enforcement to drop the criminal charges against the Brills.
The Brills’ son is currently in the custody of the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services.
According to Mitchum, the case is a DFACS investigation.
