Pubdate: Thu, 30 Sep 2010
Source: Canadian Champion, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2010 Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing Ltd
Contact:  http://www.miltoncanadianchampion.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1503
Author: Stephanie Hounsell

HIGH TIMES FOR EXPECTANT CHAMPION REPORTER? NOT EXACTLY

Being a reporter, you come to expect the unexpected in the course of a
day.

But never did I envision myself, at 33 weeks pregnant, calling
Telehealth Ontario to ask if marijuana could harm my baby.

Stay with me.

It all started when I received a phone call from Halton Regional
Police Sgt. Brian Carr informing me there'd been a recent discovery of
yet another marijuana grow operation in Milton and that a press
conference would be held later that day for reporters to get a look at
the plants before they were harvested.

I was a wee bit paranoid, not unheard of for a pregnant woman. (A
photo in a recent Champion of an officer standing with some fresh
plants and wearing a mask over his face added to my concerns. Why the
mask?)

My conversation with the public health nurse went something like
this:

"Um, I have a really weird question about marijuana.. I'm 33 weeks
pregnant and a reporter and I have to cover a press conference where
I'll be standing somewhere near a bunch of marijuana plants. they may
still be growing in the ground, or they may be in a big truck or something."

So much for eloquence.

"Sure, and pigs fly," I could almost hear her thinking, although she
was probably giving me kudos for my creativity, not prefacing my query
with the probably-more-common "I have a question for a friend.."

I proceeded to ask her if there could be any danger to my baby from
the plants. And what if there was an abundance of pesticides emanating
from them? I asked. I don't think the criminal element is too
concerned with obeying the Ontario-wide pesticide ban.

"Hmmmm, good questions," she said. I could tell she was a bit stumped,
while at the same time quite possibly holding back a laugh. At this
point I think she believed my situation.

She asked me if I'd be ingesting any of it. No, I don't think the
officers would be giving out free samples. Would I be touching it? Not
if I could help it. How far away would I be standing? As it turned
out, much closer than I thought I would.

She didn't know, she admitted, and put me over to a pharmacist, who
asked a litany of questions about my medical history before giving me
a similar answer to my "Am I endangering the baby?" question.

"I don't know, but I can't really see how.." she concluded in a
doubtful voice.

Since I wouldn't be partaking, this really wasn't her area of
expertise, she said.

Thanks. Exactly the answer a paranoid pregnant woman wants to
hear.

In the end I covered the press conference, and was extremely worried
the entire time, hoping my baby wouldn't somehow inhale.

Now I'll simply file the incident away as a slightly amusing story
I'll one day tell my daughter about her first - and hopefully only -
experience with illicit drugs.

She'll be fine, the police officer at the scene assured
me.

If you know differently, please keep that knowledge to yourself. You
don't want to be responsible for setting off an overly-emotional
pregnant woman. Trust me (and my husband).  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D