Categorized | Health, Healthcare, Page2, Politics
Medical Marijuana for Kids
by kellygrrrl
Posted on 27 November 2009 | 4:36 pm 
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With diagnoses of ADD and autism reaching epidemic proportions and concerns growing over the safety of Riatlin and other amphetamines, many parents and medical professionals are turning to medical marijuana as an alternative treatment for children.
With more than 6 million American children currently taking daily doses of Ritalin and other pharmaceutical amphetamines for disorders “discovered” in the 1970’s, one can only imagine the enormous profits at stake here. Many parents have expressed fear of the amphetamines and anger and frustration at the pressure they are receiving from public schools and pediatricians to medicate their children.
Earlier this month, the largest medical groups in the nation recommended that marijuana be rescheduled and removed from the list of Schedule 1 narcotics with no medical use. The American Medical Association, as well as the California Medical Association and American College of Physicians are pushing for more research into the medical values of marijuana in the treatment of several disorders. The American Academy of Pediatrics currently opposes the legalization of marijuana but supports more research.
Mieko Perez in Brea, California, told her story to CBS News this week. Her 10 year-old son Joey is severely autistic. “Everyone who came to my home was watching me watch Joey die. He was deteriorating hourly.” Mieko claims, it all changed with marijuana brownies. She says that not only is Joey eating more, he’s communicating. “We’re seeing Joey come out!” Mieko exclaims. “He’s never made noises. … We didn’t even know he could make noise until the first batch of brownies.”
Here is another Northern California family who found marijuana to be a life-altering treatment for their severely autistic son Sam.
Several California Bay Area doctors who recommend medical marijuana for their patients made it public in recent interviews that their client base are expanding to include teenagers with psychiatric conditions including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
California does not require doctors to report cases involving medical marijuana so there is no reliable data that exists for how many minors have been authorized to receive it. Dr. Jean Talleyrand, who founded MediCann, a network in Oakland of 20 clinics who authorize patients to use the drug, said his staff members had treated as many as 50 patients ages 14 to 18 who had been diagnosed with ADHD. Valerie Corral, a founder of the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz also has more than two dozen minors as registered clients, some as young as fourteen.
Some advocates, like Dr. Lester Grinspoon, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard University, suggest that medical marijuana’s stigma has less to do with questions of clinical efficacy and more to do with its association in popular culture with illicit pleasure and addiction.
Keith Olbermann discussed the topic with Dr. Claudia Jensen in 2004, following her testimony before Congress. Dr. Jensen was a Ventura, California, pediatrician and clinical instructor at USC, and a pioneer leading researcher and advocate of medical marijuana prior to her death in 2007. Dr. Jensen was also a vocal critic of the effects of HMOs on patient care ,which caused her to lose her job at USC teaching hospital. In 1994 Jensen explained that cannabis is a far more logical treatment for ADHD than the standard Ritalin, “It can calm you down; Ritalin amps you up. Cannabis can help you sleep; Ritalin gives you insomnia. Cannabis gives you an appetite; Ritalin makes you anorexic.”
Clearly this topic will send the social conservatives into convulsive seizures, and surely we can anticipate those Teabaggers coming to the mob defense of the pharmaceutical companies. But it also seems safe to assume that this could blow up into an enormous controversy amongst many nonpoliticized parents and physicians. Clearly, it will be vitally important to engage in tremendous research, as well as education of the public, not only as to the benefits of marijuana in treating pediatric patients, but also information on the dangers of Ritalin and other pharmaceuticals being given to so many children.
Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake has some interesting information about how Big PhRMA bought 42 members of Congress.
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At This School, It’s Marijuana in Every Class
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — At most colleges, marijuana is very much an extracurricular matter. But at Med Grow Cannabis College, marijuana is the curriculum: the history, the horticulture and the legal how-to’s of Michigan’s new medical marijuana program.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/education/29marijuana.html?_r=1&hp=& adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1259439592-urw7PmmMTHeyyiGAjFUwBw
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Certainly, there are kids who need medication, but the sudden jump in the numbers of kids who are diagnosed is just big pharma opening up a previously untapped market – kids.
I’d rather kids were on pot than on speed, just because they’d be less aggressive. However, my concern is that unless absolutely necesssary, speed-like drugs, or any type of psycho-active, should NOT be given to children who’s minds are still developing. You can create hard-wired pathways that can prove impossible to change later in life.
We NEED to study marijuana, and study it with an open mind, FINALLY, not with an agenda, and see. Until we have all the data to make an informed opinion, I’m not for medicating any kids unless it’s really necessary (and, of course, some ARE obvious).
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November 28th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
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so true … I not only worry about the effects of all the drugs on their developing brains, but also their livers.
I know so many children who have been on daily regimen of uppers and downers for 10+ years.
at some point, these livers are going to give up
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here’s video of Sarah’s “bus” tour – posted by one of her fans – the BUS is a private GII jet – and per yoosh, it’s OPM – other people’s money.
The SP doesn’t stand for Sarah Palin – it’s Samaritan’s Purse – a nonprofit group – paying for her “bus” tour.
WARNING: turn off the volume to avoid severe cheesey infection
she’s on her way to dinner with Billy Graham and fam.
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o/t Holy Cow! Malia Obama is almost as tall as her parents!!!
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
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I think she’ll be just as georgeous as her mom!
And I still can’t get over how absolutely beautiful Michelle was at the State Dinner – what a dress, what a tall beautiful woman.
Felt sorry for the Indian P.M.’s wife having to stand beside her – no wonder she didn’t smile much!
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
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I would NOT want to be photographed next to that goddess.
I actually think Malia is going to far surpass both her parents’ beauty. And to think, she is now in the “awkward” stage.
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
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Nubian princess comes to mind…
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It will only take one well-known conservative with an autistic child who is helped by medical marijuana to change everything. Look how sympathetic they all became when Rush turned out to be a drug addict?
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
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I disagree — Cheney’s position on gay marriage has done nothing to slow the hatred toward gays that seems to get worse by the day
just as John Travolta’s treatment of his son did nothing to soften the Sci’s position.
they just bury it and hide it.
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
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however … if Big PhRMA finds a way to take control of this and whip up a hearty free market profit, all bets are off
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I hear so many people say that a child has “anger management” issues.
maybe it’s time to look at why so many kids have so much anger … seems many have pretty legitimate reasons to be angry
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Oh, please – now I should share my pot with a bunch of kids???
I can hardly afford my own bad habits, let alone theirs! Besides, it seems like every kid now suffers from ADD. Why, when I was their age (stop laffing!!) we didn’t have ADD – we had laziness and a lack of stimulation.
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November 27th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
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And we liked it!
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November 27th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
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And we survived it!!
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November 27th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
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And we didn’t even have helmets or protective gear on!
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November 27th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
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helmets? Jeebus, we didn’t even have seatbelts … and I’m certain we never ever locked our doors
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November 27th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
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Howdy, m’am!
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
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:curtsy: Hope you had a good holiday?
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
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I did, thanks. Sent you an email about it.
Hope you had a great day w/ your sis and parental units?
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
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the kitties are hawt!!! thanks!
I passed it forward
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November 27th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
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it’s amazing how these illnesses were “discovered” or labeled maybe 20 years ago and we’ve managed to pin it on such a huge population of children and drug the living daylights out of them.
the “hot new” diagnosis is ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and the drug treatment for that one would make your head spin.
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November 27th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
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In my day, drugs were recreational, not ’salvational’.
I think much of it is Drs. who don’t know what they are talking about, parents who are overly worried, and kids taking the opportunity to f*** with the Drs and the parents!!
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
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we thought they were recreational, and for many that was the case — but I do think even as far back as our time, the dark ages
people, kids, were self-medicating.
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o/t Sister Sarah and Batshit Bachmann appearing together in Feb. at “First National Tea Party Convention”
Dumb and Dumberer!
http://rogersparkbench.blogspot.com/2009/11/first-national-tea-party-c onvention.html
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November 27th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
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$549 per ticket — bet that price drops to single-digit before the new year
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
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They’ll likely be paying the attendees.
*pleasegoddess*
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
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perhaps you and I should sign up to be paid to attend — you know, I’ll do it for free.
what a trip that would be!
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As a parent of a child with ADD, there are other ways of helping a child rather than resorting to drugs of any kind.
That being said, I believe ADD is overdiagnosed. Adults can’t cope with a child who may have a kinesthetic learning style, a different way of processing information or who may have other stressors in their lives. Or maybe the child is gifted and just plain BORED!
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November 27th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
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I think it is definitely overdiagnosed. Parents have no business having kids if they are not going to pay attention to them. That is the #1 reason for acting out. Have you ever read a book or seen the movie “The Nanny Diaries.” I read the book and it was so true to life.
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November 27th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
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I saw the movie but couldn’t relate to the Nanny lifestyle. Kids also “act out” in school cause teachers are overburdened, don’t know how to deal with live-wires, or the kid CAN’T READ!
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
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I think the book was better. I used to do babysitting, overnight, way back in my younger years, & some of he parents were exactly like that couple.
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November 27th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
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or maybe the kid is jacked-up on hormones and other crap in the “nutrition” they are being served 24/7
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November 27th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
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Sugar and processed foods do not nutrition make.
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
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but but but ….. they say the Happy Meal covers all 4 food groups
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
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And what four food groups are we talking about here? Fat, hormones, high fructose corn syrup and sodium.
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November 27th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
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and catchup is a vegetable!
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Terrific post Kel! I imagine they will need more research before medical marijuana is prescribed to kids in any great number, but some great points were made about side effects.
I’ve heard plenty of horror stories about Ritalin, that’s for sure.
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I hope they are able to do an unbiased study of this. It seems promising to me.
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November 27th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
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Me too. Howdee, kit!
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November 27th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
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You survived, I see.
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November 27th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
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Indeed! Good holiday all around, and glad you made it through the multiple events, as well!
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November 27th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
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the only way this will ever reach outside the CA borders and into the mainstream is if Big PhRMA is able to get their hands on the rights to distribution
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