Monday, February 15, 2010

Pot and Parenting Non Neurotypical Children

As a mother of two neurotypical, textbook healthy children, I've been told that I have no idea what it's like to parent a child anywhere along the autism spectrum by three mothers who do. They are so right. I do not.

In doing research, I came across this blog post about a mother who treats her autistic son with cannabis, the safest drug known to man, as an alternative to hardcore psychotropic pharmaceuticals that many parents of non neurotypical kids readily dispense without due diligence and informed consent because they are at the end of a very short, painful rope.

I know you three moms are lurking. And I know you roast bowls. I'm tossing you this cookie because my cracks are now also cannabinated for patients registered with the OMMP who need the digestive benefits of the herb are too ill to smoke it (smoking produces less effective pain relief and sleep aid results).

I'm not advocating the use of cannabis or any other homeopathic or pharmaceutical medication for any child or adult without first learning about all of the side effects of each and every thing you ingest that isn't food (and even then). I do advocate the use of cannabis as a safer alternative to almost any pharmaceutical solution to hundreds of ailments.

Why I Give My 9-year-old Pot

The Autism News | English

He has autism and a medical marijuana license.

By Marie Myung-Ok Lee | Double x

Question: why are we giving our nine-year-old a marijuana cookie?

Answer: because he can’t figure out how to use a bong.

My son J has autism. He’s also had two serious surgeries for a spinal cord tumor and has an inflammatory bowel condition, all of which may be causing him pain, if he could tell us. He can say words, but many of them—”duck in the water, duck in the water”—don’t convey what he means. For a time, anti-inflammatory medication seemed to control his pain. But in the last year, it stopped working. He began to bite and to smack the glasses off my face. If you were in that much pain, you’d probably want to hit someone, too.

J’s school called my husband and me in for a meeting about J’s tantrums, which were affecting his ability to learn. The teachers were wearing tae kwon do arm pads to protect themselves against his biting. Their solution was to hand us a list of child psychiatrists. Since autistic children like J can’t exactly do talk therapy, this meant sedating, antipsychotic drugs like Risperdal—Thorazine for kids...

I urge you to read on. She's funny and honest and intelligent and offers a perspective that is worth consideration if you care about kids.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a very interesting article and I thank you for sharing. However, I was hoping you could address the large elephant in the room by explaining what *isn't* in the room. Where did all of your previous entries go and why did they need to leave?

I'm in awe of your story. Found you by way of ggc, liked you better, have followed since the demise of bmc to katie and now here. Had a small freak out when I stopped by last week and saw emptiness. Hope all is well.

CatiV said...

I'm always amazed at how easily doctors prescribe drugs that have been barely tested. I've read her testimonial and I gotta say, good for her, really. I wouldn't give a child a drug tested in... 49 subjects! WTF? is that considered a representative amount of subjects for testing a drug that's gonna be used in children suffering from a severe condition such as autism?.

Either the world has gone crazy with all that medication thing or I'm missing something. Probably something about pharmaceutical industries' profits, am I right?.