As the province's opioid crisis continues, family, friends or foster care can step in for missing parents When Mary Purdy died of a suspected fentanyl overdose on January 17, she became another victim of an opioid crisis that killed more than 900 people in British Columbia last year and has made fentanyl a household word. She also left behind two young children, underscoring the multi-generational impact of the overdose epidemic and raising questions about what more could be done to prevent people from turning to illicit drugs and to help them if they get hooked. [continues 1351 words]
As desperate parents of children with severe epilepsy turn to alternative therapies, researchers are launching a study examining the efficacy and safety of treating seizures with medical marijuana products. "Parents are becoming more aware of the use of cannabis to treat epilepsy from social media and parent support groups," said Richard Tang-Wai, a pediatric epileptologist at the University of Alberta. "Because there is little scientific evidence regarding the use of cannabis products in children, most physicians are reluctant to prescribe them, resulting in parents trying to make their own preparations at home or turning to suppliers who cannot verify the quality of their product. This adds to the urgency of doing studies like this." [continues 389 words]
As desperate parents of children with severe epilepsy turn to alternative therapies, researchers are launching a study examining the efficacy and safety of treating seizures with medical marijuana products. "Parents are becoming more aware of the use of cannabis to treat epilepsy from social media and parent support groups," said Richard Tang-Wai, a pediatric epileptologist at the University of Alberta. "Because there is little scientific evidence regarding the use of cannabis products in children, most physicians are reluctant to prescribe them, resulting in parents trying to make their own preparations at home or turning to suppliers who cannot verify the quality of their product. This adds to the urgency of doing studies like this." [continues 370 words]
The search of a teenager by Sarnia police as a common practice for detained persons was ruled unlawful leading to dismissal of drug charges in Sarnia court this week. Sarnia police were raiding a family member's house in 2015 when the adult teenager was seen leaving the premise. The teenager was detained by an officer and asked if he had anything to harm an officer. The teen said he had cocaine and "weed." A search - which the officer testified was for officer safety - turned up cocaine and marijuana. [continues 211 words]
In a grim indicator of the toll the opioid crisis is taking on children, a program is being launched in Massachusetts specifically to help newborns, infants, and toddlers with addicted parents. Health officials say they believe it's the first such early-intervention program in the state to target these children, some of whom were born drug-addicted. The government-funded initiative will pay for weekly home visits to 36 low-income families in New Bedford, a South Coast community where the number of children born with opiates in their bloodstreams is four times the state average. [continues 493 words]
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, center, arrives in the Assembly chamber of the Statehouse to deliver his State Of The State address Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, in Trenton, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) TRENTON - Gov. Christie vowed Tuesday to devote his final year in office to battling drug addiction, skirting other challenges confronting New Jersey as he delivered an unusual and impassioned State of the State address focused almost exclusively on the issue. Telling personal stories of people affected by addiction - a state employee whose son died from a heroin overdose two days after she celebrated his sobriety at a Statehouse vigil; the son of a state Supreme Court justice, now in recovery and opening a treatment center - Christie said he hoped to make New Jersey an example for the nation on drug recovery. [continues 916 words]
Mary Louise received her first dose of CBD oil Saturday, about four months after the bill allowing children to receive the oil extracted from marijuana was signed into law. The oil helps children like Mary Louise with severe epilepsy control their seizures. It took only a simple phrase to see how Mary Louise Swing's life would improve from cannabidiol. On vacation with family in Myrtle Beach last weekend, Mary Louise stunned her mother, Jill, and a roomful of relatives with a simple "Hi everybody" as she got out of bed. [continues 685 words]
Narcotic painkillers - which can cause birth defects - commonly were prescribed for women of reproductive age, according to new data presented Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The research, which looked at the years 2008-2012, found that 39% of women ages 15 to 44 on Medicaid and 28% of those on private insurance received an opioid prescription. "Many women of reproductive age are taking these medicines and may not know they are pregnant and therefore may be unknowingly exposing their unborn child," CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a statement. [continues 710 words]
A Canadian Senator with roots in the Peace Country is deeply concerned with the Liberal government's intention to legalize marijuana. "We are clearly headed in the wrong direction and our young people will be the most victimized due to the damage that marijuana causes to a young person's brain development," Senator Betty Unger states in a news release dated Dec. 14. She responded to the final report of the Task Force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation, a process led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. [continues 208 words]
[photo] Lieutenant Michael Pappalardo said the 10-month-old girl's family is cooperating with an investigation that includes state child-protection authorities. METHUEN - A 10-month-old girl who narrowly survived after ingesting fentanyl is the latest victim of an opioid epidemic that has been blamed for hundreds of deaths in Massachusetts. Police were called to the baby's home shortly before 12:30 p.m. Saturday when the girl was having trouble breathing. She was rushed to Lawrence General Hospital, where she stopped breathing twice and had to be resuscitated. She was later flown by helicopter to Tufts Medical Center in Boston and was listed Monday in stable condition, according to police. [continues 755 words]
Across the country, thousands of children use medical marijuana for a range of ailments including intractable epilepsy, pain, anxiety and symptoms of multiple sclerosis. As the number of pediatric medical users grows, so do issues that confront parents, patients, doctors and policymakers. There are no federal laws specifically covering children's use of medical marijuana, and state laws on the subject are a complex and sometimes contradictory patchwork. Twenty-nine states and the District have made medical marijuana of all kinds legal. Among those state is Maryland, which has not yet set up a system for distribution. [continues 320 words]
Dear Editor: I definitely have trouble wrapping my head around the idea of spending money to provide a safe monitored space for fentanyl and other drug users, giving them a second chance to inject another death wish. Our friends are grandparents to a beautiful three-year-old granddaughter, Emma who was born like so many children to a life of suffering and pain with no future antidote in sight. She lived with a loving mother and father just a few miles north of Penticton. Emma was buried on Dec. 29, 2016. This beautiful tiny tot had no chance at a long life on earth but as she enters heaven, I pray that God has a special place saved for her - a place where she can play and be happy and pain free with those many other babies that went to heaven before her. [continues 109 words]
An Arlington police officer is popular on social media Thursday because of a video that shows he gave a teenager caught smoking marijuana in a movie theater parking lot an unorthodox alternative to being arrested: pushups. Officer Eric Ball was working off-duty Monday night at the theater in Arlington when someone told him that a teenager was smoking marijuana outside, WFAA-TV reported. Ball went outside to find the teen finishing a cigarette and discarding it, and Ball smelled marijuana when he approached him. [continues 175 words]
Fighting Epilepsy: Should Children Be Given Controversial Cannabis Oil?' Kim Hearn believes marijuana plant oil can help her 10-year-old son, who has epilepsy. Each morning, Kim Hearn attaches a feeding tube to her son before outfitting him in specialized clothes that lend support to his torso, ankles and legs. A seizure often disrupts the process. It's a rigorous routine for this Stratford mom but it's nothing, she says, compared to what the 10-year-old, who can't speak or sit on his own, endures: "Sean just accepts it." [continues 413 words]