Before you throw a fit, we need to explain that this is way more complicated than you think — you see, 7-year-old Mykayla Comstock has a very very aggressive form of leukemia that requires intensive chemotherapy treatments that make her an unfathomable level of ill and keeps her awake all night.
It isn’t like she just has a toothache or something. So the ‘medicine’ really helps ease the pain.
On the other hand, we’ve all read reports that marijuana is unhealthy for adolescents and their development.
Yet, twice a day she takes the capsule form of the drug. Some days, when she can’t sleep or eat, she has a gingersnap or brownie baked with marijuana-laced butter. She isn’t the only one, either: The Oregon Medical Marijuana Program serves 52 children who have a qualifying medical condition, parental consent and a doctor’s approval. Like adults, most cite pain as a qualifying condition, though many list multiple health problems, including seizures, nausea and cancer.
The weird thing is that this law was approved 14 years ago by voters, and lets parents decide the dosage for their kids — no pediatrician is required. They could be doing full-on bong rips in their living room and nobody could say a thing.
Mykayla’s odds of survival with chemo were placed at 76.9 percent and her chance of relapse at 7 percent, which looks pretty good to us, but is still super scary.
So, what would U do in this situation? Do U think it’s okay for kids to get marijuana treatment, and does the legalization of the drug in some states sway U??
[Image via Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian.]
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