The blond toddler pounced from the floor without warning and reached for a toy deep within Savannah Woods' entertainment center. She remained on the plush, beige carpet, her eyes following the toddler through the room. In attempt to rein in the child's energy, Woods called him back to her side and asked him to name a smiling woman in the picture she held. "Momma," the two-year-old said. The photograph captured Woods and her wife, Carly. [continues 2110 words]
Leila Attar to discuss dangers of the drug with youth, parents Leila Attar was unconscious on the floor of her Ottawa home when a loud knock at her door shook her from a drug-induced blackout at 2 a.m. "It was non-stop I thought it was the cops because of how loud it was," she recalled. It turned out to be a close friend coming to check on her because Attar, now 19, had stopped responding to texts. Later, she would be told by doctors that she was overdosing on fentanyl after taking pills she thought were Percocet. [continues 781 words]
Two Milwaukee men were charged Tuesday in connection with a shooting on the city's northwest side that killed a teenager late last month. [name redacted], 21, and [name redacted], 34, were charged with first-degree reckless homicide, as party to a crime and use of a dangerous weapon in a shooting that killed Ramsey Wheeler, 19, on June 28. A 21-year-old man who was injured during the shooting was identified as Wheeler's brother in a criminal complaint filed Tuesday. [continues 341 words]
This lethal drug makes a discussion urgent, writes Dr. Richard Thatcher. The dangers of fentanyl as a frequently used mood-modifying, recreational drug, on its own or laced into other opiates are gradually becoming well known. The substance has recently gained a reputation as the Grim Reaper of illicit drugs. The number of deaths and near deaths originating with fentanyl use is simply shocking. Surely parents must initiate a serious discussion with their children and teens about this and other drug use. In this case, talk is, arguably, the primary preventive measure. [continues 595 words]
Fears legalization may 'normalize' use of marijuana Teenagers who go from occasional pot smoking to weekly or daily use are two-and-a-half times more likely to have recurrent psychotic-like experiences, a new Montreal study says. And with legalization of recreational marijuana in Canada less than a year away, the study's senior author says governments are ill-prepared for the fact that adolescents will interpret the policy change as proof it's OK to smoke pot. "Our data show that transitioning to daily or weekly use of cannabis very significantly increases adolescents' risk of having more exaggerated and more frequent psychotic-like experiences," Patricia Conrod, a professor at the Universite de Montreal's psychiatry department, said in an interview. [continues 411 words]
Distributors say they don't want the headaches that come with marketing to young Canadians Cam Battley is a father to a Grade 9 son and 10-year-old daughter. He's a scout leader of nine years and a soccer coach to both of his kids. He's also the executive vice-president of one of Canada's largest marijuana distributors. As Canada prepares for the legalization of marijuana, he and others in the industry have something they want you to know: they aren't interested in selling to your children. [continues 858 words]
A 13-year-old girl found dead over the weekend in Texas was abducted as ransom for stolen marijuana, according to authorities. Police said Shavon Randle was kidnapped Wednesday from a Lancaster home after the boyfriend of one of her relatives stole about 22 pounds of pot, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. Soon after she was abducted, suspects allegedly called a relative from a private number and told them, "Give us our sh-t back or we are going to kill her." [continues 167 words]
Re Canadian pot ads? Think beer ads. Then think again, Delacourt, June 24 With studies showing that young people smoking marijuana run a greatly enhanced risk of seriously damaging their developing brains, I sure hope columnist Susan Delacourt is correct and the Trudeau Liberals won't flood Canadians with ads to increase pot sales. What I find mind-boggling is that after governments spent billions on negative tobacco ads, and many young people are now not taking up that addictive and health-damaging habit, the Trudeau government is adding a potentially even more damaging drug to the mix. [continues 93 words]
Dianne McIntosh is continually alarmed by the teens who come into her Vancouver office telling the psychiatrist that they use cannabis to treat their mental-health issues because it's a natural - and harmless - - substance. "It's a natural product? So is tobacco, so is alcohol, these are all natural products," Dr. McIntosh said. With the federal Liberal government saying that cutting down on teen cannabis use is a core reason it is pushing to legalize the drug next year, Dr. McIntosh and a panel of three other experts are gathering in Richmond, B.C., on Sunday to clear the air about the dangers young people face when using the substance. [continues 560 words]
Health implications of marijuana policy are ignored, says Mitchell Moir. Canada's Liberal government has stated that marijuana will be decriminalized by July 2018. This means the removal or, at the least, a lessening of laws and restrictions related to marijuana use and associated pot services. While people on both sides of the debate have strongly held and differing opinions, the protection of youth is an area of agreement. Marijuana has been illegal in Canada for close to 100 years. Marijuana can't be produced, sold or even possessed. If caught, one faces fines, jail time or both. [continues 571 words]
I t was terrific to see leaders from Surrey RCMP and the Surrey School District offer parents such common-sense advice this week about the drug crisis afflicting our communities. School Superintendent Jordan Tinney and Assistant Commissioner Dwayne McDonald urged parents to talk to their kids about the extremely high level of risk posed by street drugs these days and not to assume that their little darlings aren't experimenting with them. The warning came a few days after Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall made a similar plea, noting that 19 B.C. teenagers have died of overdoses since January 2016 and concerned that teenage drug use may rise soon with year-end parties and summer concerts. [continues 637 words]
Educating teenagers about the safety of recreational drug use is an age-old conundrum for Canada, one at the forefront as the country pushes ahead with legalizing marijuana by next year The ad shows four pretty young women laughing as their convertible rips past the picturesque Rockies on a warm sunny day, the driver - eyes narrowed slightly - joyfully passing a doobie to her friend. In the next one, a hip young guy with high-top dreadlocks pinches a smouldering joint (backwards) in one hand and adjusts the car stereo with his other as his date leaves her house and approaches in a red party dress. [continues 1238 words]
In the ongoing battle to stem the heroin and opiate epidemic in Maryland, the newest focus is a state law that mandates teaching students in elementary schools through college about the dangers of the drugs. Public schools are tweaking drug-education lessons and colleges are preparing sessions for incoming students to comply with the Start Talking Maryland Act, which becomes law July 1. The act, passed by state lawmakers and signed by Gov. Larry Hogan earlier this year, requires public schools to offer drug-education that includes the dangers of heroin and opiates starting in elementary school. [continues 1207 words]
A federal civil rights lawsuit filed last week against a south Georgia sheriff offers new details of the bizarre school-wide search of hundreds of students where deputies allegedly touched girls' breasts, vaginal areas and groped boys in their groins. One of the nine Worth County High School students who filed the lawsuit, identified as K.P., told the AJC that the April 14 search was "very, very scary." She said the incident was stuck in her memory and it colored the rest of her senior year. The day of the search, she said, students didn't know what was happening when an announcement was made early in the day that the school was on lock-down. [end]
Re: Legalizing weed will harm youth, warns CMA editorial, Brian Cross, May 29 The Liberal federal government wants to bring the proposed Cannabis Act (Bill C- 45) into force by July 2018 legalizing the use of marijuana beginning at age 18. It is irresponsible, foolish and dangerous for the government to condone the use of marijuana at the age of 18 knowing the evidence indicates that the use of marijuana is harmful to the still developing brain which, according to the CMA, doesn't reach maturity until around age 25. [continues 81 words]
Drug use among teens is nothing new. But street drugs are a bigger threat than ever, because they can be laced with deadly substances. The Spectator investigates what youth are using, and how to identify the dangers A GIRL is hanging out with friends after school. One of them has stolen a gram of marijuana from an older brother. They pass around a pipe. It is her first time getting high. She is 14. A 15- YEAR-OLD walks through the hall at school. He sees a classmate selling cannabis-edibles out of a backpack and a friend making a purchase. A GIRL is invited to meet up with friends behind her school. Someone lights a joint and passes it to her. She is in Grade 7. [continues 1911 words]
High school students in North Bay are vaping marijuana juice and crushed Oxycontin before and during school. The startling news came in March when Almaguin Highlands Secondary School principal Donna Breault made a presentation to the Near North District School Board about vaping and its dangers. Board chairman David Thompson says parents need to be aware of what their kids are doing. "I think parents would be shocked," Thompson says. "Students are vaping marijuana juice, crushed Oxycontin and sharing filters, which is putting them at risk of some serious health concerns like hepatitis." [continues 386 words]
It's hard to imagine that a year has passed since May 21, 2016, when I received the news that is every parent's worst nightmare. I was told over the phone by the RCMP that my only child, Robby, had passed away from an overdose. He was only 24, and a week later we learned from the coroner that he had died from an accidental fentanyl overdose. Losing a child to an overdose is no different than losing a child to a disease such as cancer, or to a vehicle accident, or violence. You have joined a club that you never planned or wanted to be part of. Suddenly, the empathy you have felt for other parents' losses over the years has become a real and tangible thing in your own life. [continues 616 words]
Motor-vehicle collisions kill more Canadians aged 16 to 25 than any other cause. More than half of these deaths are related to the use of drugs or alcohol. For many young people, this statistic may seem far removed from their day-today lives. For many parents, it may seem to represent something that happens to other people's children. But the research tells a different story, and our recent study out of the University of Waterloo has found that almost half of Grade 11 and 12 students across Canada - representing 351,900 teens - reported engaging in at least one alcohol-or marijuana-related driving or passenger behaviours that may put them at risk. [continues 635 words]
Author cites 'toxic' effect on developing brain The interim editor-in-chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal is pleading for the defeat of a federal government plan to legalize marijuana, fearful youth will have easier access to a drug that damages their developing brains. "Simply put, cannabis should not be used by young people," Dr. Diane Kelsall writes in an editorial published Monday in the journal. "It is toxic to their cortical neuronal networks, with both functional and structural changes seen in the brains of youth who use cannabis regularly." [continues 545 words]
Youth
