A mother from Idaho lost custody of her children after she was charged for giving her daughter a smoothie containing marijuana butter to help relieve her seizures.
Her seizures disappeared after she was given the marijuana butter
Kelsey Osborne, 23, said that she was trying to treat her daughter, Madyson, who was suffering from a severe series of seizures. Her daughter was diagnosed with both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and was suffering from withdrawals from her antipsychotic medication when the seizures started.
According to Kelsey, the symptoms became worse overnight, so she decided to give her daughter a smoothie that had marijuana to help calm her daughter’s seizures.
Within 30 minutes, her daughter calmed down and the seizures disappeared.
Doctors found out that she was given marijuana because Madyson had a doctor’s appointment later that day, and drug tests came out positive. A doctor then contacted the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
She was charged for giving her daughter THC
Kelsey was then charged with a misdemeanor count of injury to a child. She lost custody of her children and they were taken to her ex-husband, Jerome.
She shares, “To me I felt like it was my last resort. 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.”
While some other states in the US have legalized marijuana, in Idaho, the use of marijuana hasn’t been legalized save for a few limited medical cases.
Tom Shanahan, public information manager for the Department of Health and Welfare in Idaho said, “Even in states that have legalized it it’s not legal to give to children.”
He adds, “The cannabis that is used for children with epilepsy is called cannabidiol oil and it has had THC removed from it.” However, the smoothie that Kelsey gave her daughter did contain THC, which is the active component in marijuana.
She is rallying for medical marijuana reform
In spite of the charge, Kelsey is still fighting for medical marijuana reform as well as getting back custody of her children. She and the group Idaho Moms for Marijuana rallied outside the Department of Health and Welfare to protest for marijuana reform.
She said, “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. 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.”
Go to the next page to learn more about the use of medical marijuana.
Is medical marijuana really effective?
You might have already heard about ongoing research into the use of marijuana as a medicine. While some people say that it’s a miracle plant that has no ill effects, others are still wary of the drug’s psychoactive effects and potential for abuse.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of certain pills that contain THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, to relieve pain, nausea, muscle stiffness, or problems with movement.
Some researchers have also found that marijuana has a positive effect on people that are suffering from seizures or epilepsy.
What should parents do?
However, the main thing to understand about it is that the positive effects of marijuana still hasn’t been confirmed. Additionally, it’s legal status is also an issue as while some countries have already legalized marijuana, it’s still illegal in a lot of countries.
The effectivity of marijuana as medicine is still a hotly debated topic. That’s why, it’s also important to keep an open mind since we still don’t actually know a lot about the effects of THC on the body. Some reputable doctors and scientists have actually given their support for medical marijuana.
But as parents, it’s still best to err on the side of caution and try to wait until medical marijuana has been approved by the medical community as an effective form of treatment before we try and use it ourselves or on our children. We simply can’t afford to risk our children’s lives on an untested form of treatment.
READ: Parents choose Cannabis oil to treat baby’s rare form of epilepsy
Sources: rt.com, foxnews.com, kidshealth.org
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