Think fast: would you give your child an illegal drug? If you said "of course not," hear, hear! But I've got another question for you: would your answer change if an illegal drug was going to help ease your teenager's pain?
Sharon Letts has done it. The California mom admitted in a recent piece for Toke of the Town that she let her then 16-year-old daughter smoke pot. Then she brewed her a cannabis tea. And if she had it to do all over again, Letts says she would even make her a salad with marijuana leaves to help with her fibromyalgia pain.
First off, I need to give her credit. Letts is brave to admit she gave her daughter pot right out on the Internet, with her name at the top of the piece. Most mom and marijuana articles, including Jezebel's latest incendiary piece on the mom who thinks pot makes her a better mother, are written anonymously. But Letts has put her own name to this, or at least seems to -- there's no editor's note marking the moniker as a pseudonym.
And her candor has provided an important service to parents. Because Letts didn't just talk about giving her kid medicinal pot. She has tackled the big no-no: what really happens when your kid gets high on your watch.
It may come as a shock to parents who rail against medicinal marijuana because they're afraid it will turn their kids into stoners. But it turns out her daughter didn't like the euphoric feeling of smoking a joint or even the tea. It's kind of like giving your toddler icky-flavored cough syrup, isn't it? They associate the unpleasant part with "medicine" and have no desire to abuse it for the good properties.
Could this be the key to differentiate "pot as recreation" vs. "pot as medicine" for our kids? Making it just unpleasant enough?
I'm not ready to jump on the pot for kids train just yet -- it's still an illegal drug -- but it's given me food for thought. If my kid were in pain, and this was the only option ... I might just have to do it.
How about you? Would you give your child pot if it would help ease their pain and they wouldn't be tempted to use it for recreation?
Image via "it was 3 a.m."/Flickr
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Comments 40
Of course I would!! It's much safer then any other pain reliever or prescribed pain killer. And its the one drug you can't OD on. they already use it for cancer patients to easy the pain on upset tummys due to the chemo it also helps them want to eat (aka the munchies LOL) It's a wild weed that God put on the earth I say he put it there for a reason so why not use it for all the right reasons. Helping people who are in pain and without further hurting them with other chemicals that we don't know how they will affect us long term ( Tylenol causes Liver damage, strong pain killers can cause a dependency pot will only make you hungry and make you feel a little tipsy that's all) I applaud this mother and i know her daughter will thank her when she's a little older and I'm sure will continue this treatment for her illness.
My brother took pot pills when he had cancer and was so sick from the chemo. He HATED it. Took a few doses and tossed the bottle, said he'd rather puke all day. Using for medicinal purposed does NOT turn people into stoners. I'd get it for my kids if it was clearly needed.
Back off to the fibro doubters. I have put my fibro into remission with the discovery (on my own- doctors only eanted to dope me up with pharmaceuticals) of multiple food intolerances. Now with an extremely strict dietery regimen I can send most of my time pain free.. now I am no longer fat- as 100 pounds fell off me after I quit eating my problem foods (gluten, corn, soy, dairy, BPA packaged items) and I am pharmaceutical free. It still flares up if a food sneaks in or with weird weather, or if I get sick.. but is much more tolerable to be in pain sometimes than have a migraine 5 days a week. (along with all of the other pain I had). I KNEW everyone else was not walking around feeling like I was- (I managed to stay employed during my worst bits thanks to my union)- and I was RIGHT!!! I no longer walk around in pain like that AT ALL!!- to have people doubt your pain and say you are lazy is just an asshole thing to do.
Not everyone's fibro is due to diet- mine is.. but many would benefit from an improvement in their diet. Not eating processed crap and fast food is key. And no soda.
...The only medicine I currently take that manages my symptons (insomnia, asthma, endometriosis, GERD, arthritis, ADHD, allergies, pain, depression, anxiety) is cannabis. In multiple forms- inhaled, topical and edible. They all have different uses. There is no reason we could not treat our children with it, it has far fewer side effrects than anything prescription or OTC out there!!! (Tylenol kills people every year!)
But, I am not brave enough to treat my kids with it. I do not have the emotional energy for the battle that would entail, I wish for the knowledge to become current, and for the sociatal climate to become more reasoned. So my ADHD, learning disabled, spectrum daughter takes pharmaceuticals that hurt her stomach and appetite and can damage her brain.. instead of cannabis which heals instead of harms.
This is a simple question for most moms. Child in pain, something will stop pain, therefor give child the medecine. The stigma attached to marijuana is somewhat founded, but at the same time detrimental to so many. Just think of the speed/adderol connection. And the results of people taking speed are far, far more detrimental than from smoking pot recreationally. I personally have met people who have superglued white rocks to their gums because they've lost teeth due to drug use, and it sure as sure wasn't pot. Just because it's a convenient drug to vilinize doesn't make it right.
As for the "but it's illeagle!" argument... so what? On the one hand, every day I do my darndest to abide by the law. I never speed, I rarely drink (never drink then drive, even one), the list goes on... but if it came to my kids, I'd do anything to make them better. And that's the case with every mom I've ever met.
its way better for her than prescription pain meds... id' do it in a heart beat to help my child
this article is some moralistic slosh if I ever did see it. ugh for another Stir stinker. boring
To the ignoramus posting about fibromyalgia. As a cranial sacral therapist/physical therapist/massage therapist who has studied tons of biology and chemistry I can assure you that fibromyalgia is indeed as real as arthritis or osteoporosis. A close friend of mine suffered with this health problem for years. She had been a cheerleader for Duke University and had always been an athlete. She didn't own a TV or take drugs. She was still the most in shape sexy woman I know despite her ongoing pain. Fibromyalgia is a disorder where the sheathes that cover the muscles and tendons hardens and literally squeezes the muscle inside from every angle. It causes debilitating pain. If you've ever pulled a muscle then you could liken the pain to fibromyalgia only you'd have to amplify it about 5 times and cover most of your body or at least a large portion of it with such pain.
What gives you the right to tell others it's made up? Is your high cholesterol made up? How about your ignorance? No, but they're both self induced so I guess you did make them up after all. Now go read a book and do something constructive with your life.