Jessica King's daughter was in the intensive care unit. The newborn was twitching, and doctors were monitoring her for symptoms such as vomiting and sweating. King, 35, felt devastated to see her daughter this way. She was also gutted by guilt that her actions had put her there. "I just remember thinking, 'I'm either going to let this consume me, the guilt and the shame, or I'm going to move on, and I'm going to keep trying to do the next right thing,'" said King, who battles with opioid addiction, which can include heroin, fentanyl and prescription pain relievers like oxycodone. [continues 901 words]
With the legalization of cannabis only a few months away, one of Canadaas top medical organizations is warning women about the risks the drug poses if used during pregnancy and breastfeeding. According to the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, marijuana use can lead to preterm birth and low birth weight, as well as lower IQ and hyperactivity after a child is born. aWe want to make sure women understand just because itas legal doesnat mean itas safe,a said Jocelynn Cook, chief scientific officer with the SOGC. aThe science does suggest there are effects on pregnancy and on fetal development.a [continues 309 words]
Recommendations too late for many families 'broken apart' by flawed drug and alcohol tests The Ontario Motherisk Commission's two-year effort to repair the damage to families ripped apart by flawed drug and alcohol testing has produced sweeping recommendations aimed at preventing a similar tragedy, but in only a handful of cases has it reunited parents with their lost children. Alice, a Hamilton mother whose daughter was apprehended in 2011 after hair testing from Motherisk purported to show she was a heavy drinker, is among the lucky few. [continues 2231 words]
Karen Klassen has been emerging of late from her condo unit, socializing with her neighbours over coffee and when they ask what's brought her out more, she's been reluctant to answer. For at least 25 years, Klassen has endured chronic pain and she believes medicinal marijuana is what has been helping her. It began with fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis, but Klassen later suffered a broken back. The last diagnosis, which she says is the most significant, is a failed back surgery, spinal stenosis and ankylosing spondylitis. [continues 940 words]
Most charged in raids were 'budtenders', along with some managers and owners An Ottawa judge has discharged drug-trafficking charges against a young clerk who worked at a marijuana dispensary but said she didn't realize the business was illegal. The woman was only 21, had no criminal record, has accepted responsibility and expressed remorse, and is at low risk of reoffending, Justice Norman Boxall said in his sentencing decision. Selena Holder-Zirbser is one of about 44 people who have been charged in police raids on illegal shops in Ottawa. She says she took the $12-an-hour job because she needed to pay her rent. [continues 732 words]
A day after what would have been her son Ashley's 38th birthday, Betty Niemi told the story of her only child's losing battle with addiction to a rapt audience Thursday night. Niemi, who has started a local chapter of Grief Recovery After Substance Passing (GRASP), took to the podium at the fourth Not My Kid: Adolescents and Addictions seminar before a crowd of about 300 at the Caboto Club. "Losing a child is like having an arm or leg amputated, but no one can see it," Niemi told the crowd. [continues 496 words]
Dajia Brown cares for Brooklyn at their Somerville home. She credits a Boston Medical Center program for her progress. Last June, Dajia Brown embarked on a dangerous phase of life - so dangerous that many in her situation do not survive. It started when she gave birth to her daughter, Brooklyn, several months after entering treatment for addiction to fentanyl pills. The postpartum period, a tough time for many women, can be particularly challenging for women with opioid use disorder, putting them at high risk of relapse and overdose. [continues 982 words]
CHICAGO -- The Latest on lawsuit to allow 11-year-old to receive marijuana treatment while at school. The Illinois attorney general's office has told a federal court it will allow a suburban Chicago school district to administer medical marijuana to an 11-year-old leukemia patient to treat her for seizure disorders. The commitment made to Judge John Blakey on Friday came two days after the student's parents sued Schaumburg-based District 54 and the state for the girl's right to take medical marijuana at school. Illinois' medical cannabis law prohibits possessing or using marijuana on school grounds or buses. [continues 251 words]
Analysis of 50 cases sheds light on how people often suffering from poverty or other disadvantages were tarred by test results indicating that they were drinkers or drug users In an Elliot Lake, Ont., courtroom in 2011, a woman fighting for custody of her step-grandchild tried to convince the judge that Motherisk's results were bogus. The Children's Aid Society of Algoma had submitted Motherisk's tests of the woman's hair, which were positive for cocaine and opioids, as proof she had recently used drugs. The woman, identified by the court as L.G., argued the lab must have miscalculated because she had been clean for several months. The judge was not swayed. [continues 2243 words]
Lawsuit's fate rests on judge, whose verdict could set off years of legal wrangling Motherisk's flawed hair-strand tests tainted thousands of child protection cases across Canada, but was every parent who tested positive for drugs or alcohol potentially harmed in some way? How much is that harm is worth? And what's the best way to determine who should pay? These are among the complex questions that were debated in a Toronto courtroom this week in the high-stakes battle over the fate of a proposed national class-action seeking millions in damages for families affected by the litany of failings uncovered at the Hospital for Sick Children's Motherisk Drug Testing Laboratory. [continues 826 words]
Cheryl Guardiero should have spent Thursday celebrating her son's 30th birthday. Instead, she attended an International Overdose Awareness Day vigil in Nanaimo, her boy now among the dead for whom they grieved. Brett Colton Mercer was born in Nanaimo on Aug. 31, 1987, to loving parents who eventually had five children. He died Aug. 19, 2017 of an accidental drug overdose, alone in a motel room in Hope, where he had recently landed a job with an oil and gas firm. [continues 812 words]
Two local mothers are bringing awareness to the rippling effect drugs leave on families by sharing the stories of their own children enveloped in the throes of addiction. Opening a public discussion about drug addiction is how mothers Shawna Taylor of Airdrie and Christina Sackett of Crossfield first connected. "There are so many families being affected," Taylor said. "I think the stigma is so incredible that people are embarrassed to come forward. It took us a long time." Taylor has been married to her husband Jeff for 23 years and said the two raised their daughter, Kenedee, and son, Nathan, to respect curfews and stay away from drugs. [continues 992 words]
As debate raged around health care and Russia-gate last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions quietly held a "national summit" of law enforcement representatives to discuss the future of policing. Vice President Mike Pence predicted that the summit, which was largely held behind closed doors, would "impact this country for years to come." Its purpose was to influence the recommendations - due out next week - of the Department of Justice Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety, created in response to one of President Trump's executive orders. Drugs featured prominently on the agenda. [continues 1154 words]
Auditors uncovered what a prison spokesman called "terrible" and "unacceptable" failures to conduct contraband searches of inmates, cells and staff. The Michigan Department of Corrections said Thursday it may take disciplinary action after auditors uncovered what a prison spokesman called "terrible" and "unacceptable" failures to conduct contraband searches of inmates, cells and staff at a women's prison. Auditor General Doug Ringler said during two five-day periods last year, the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti did not conduct or document nearly a quarter of the required cell searches and prisoner shakedowns. Using surveillance video, auditors also found that 58 of 170 required cell searches were not backed up by the footage -- meaning they were potentially falsified. [continues 272 words]
Deb Sheamer and other friends of Charmaine Bassett protest her arrest and detention outside of the Lucas County Courthouse on June 21. Friends of Charmaine Bassett protest her arrest and detention outside of the Lucas County Courthouse on June 21. Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Michael Goulding on Friday found a Toledo woman charged with selling marijuana and illegal mushrooms for "spiritual purposes" competent to stand trial on felony drug charges. Charmaine Rose Bassett, 56, of the 3400 block of Secor Road entered not guilty pleas to aggravated possession of drugs, aggravated trafficking in drugs, and trafficking in marijuana. She is the founder and "medicine woman" at Anyana-Kai, a member of the Oklevueha Native American Church. [continues 298 words]
There are good days for West Tarricone. Days when she can laugh and live like any other 9-year-old. Days when she can play with her brother, Blake, and watch "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on her iPad. But there are also bad days. Days when her body weathers 100 seizures. Days when it has closer to 1,000 - some lasting more than 90 minutes. Lately, she's been having more good days thanks to Connecticut's new experiment with medical marijuana. [continues 2285 words]
A Philadelphia city councilwoman says she will try to block a medical marijuana dispensary from being located in her East Mount Airy district. "This is not a debate about the merits of medical marijuana -- which the community and I both support -- but it is solely about the proposed use at this location," Parker said in a statement, citing concerns about public safety and security. "I remain vehemently opposed to this site." State Rep. Chris Rabb (D., Phila.), who lives four blocks from the proposed dispensary, said he was happy to have one in the neighborhood. But Rabb said he believes the two-story structure is "specifically an awful location." [continues 278 words]
Members of a West Toledo church that describes itself as "an alternative medicine and naturopathic healing center" demonstrated outside the Lucas County Courthouse today in support of the woman they call their head medicine woman. Charmaine Rose Bassett, 56, is held in the Lucas County jail on felony charges of aggravated possession of drugs, aggravated trafficking in drugs, and trafficking in marijuana. Bassett, who founded Anyana-Kai at 3344 Secor Rd., was indicted by a Lucas County grand jury after Toledo police raided the church and seized marijuana and illegal mushrooms. The indictment alleges she sold the marijuana and mushrooms to members who paid a fee to join the church. [continues 188 words]
When Andrea Dobbs began experiencing perimenopausal symptoms, she had no idea that her search for a remedy at a local dispensary would put her on the path to opening up one of her own. Andrea Dobbs operated the Village Dispensary for a year before she smoked any of its cannabis. Amanda Siebert photo. Now the co-owner of the Village in Kitsilano, Dobbs says her initial experience at a local pot shop in the early days of Vancouver's dispensary explosion wasn't ideal. [continues 1302 words]
Jeanine Moss never expected to get into the cannabis industry. But that was before her hip-replacement surgery. Ms. Moss, 62, of Marina Del Ray, Calif., had quit her job as a marketing consultant before she had her hip done in 2014. As she left the hospital, her doctors handed her a "shopping bag filled with opiates," she said. The drugs made her disoriented and woozy. So she switched to medical marijuana, which is legal in California and was familiar to her, having grown up in the nearby Venice section of Los Angeles. Within a week, she had tossed away her pharmaceuticals. [continues 1073 words]
