Marijuana and Children: still safer than hamburgers

A recent Huffington Post article pointed to 14 kids being admitted to Hospitals with side effects from accidently ingesting of marijuana. If you want to read the article then feel free, but let me save you some time: kids, just like adults, could have some side effects to marijuana.

These included: laughing, glassy eyes, acting goofy, and unsteady walking; but never death. The most serious result was a five year old boy who had trouble breathing. All of these children left the hospital fully recovered within a very short time frame.

Of course, any trip a child takes to the hospital should be taken seriously, but given the circumstances it could have been much worse. Those kids could have had a burger!

Recently there was a case in the state of Washington where several children had been sickened by an epidemic of food poisonings linked to Hamburgers bought at Jack in the Box. The popular fast food chain was suspected of not cooking hamburgers thoroughly, and this misstep is responsible in sending nine kids to Children’s Medical Center of Seattle. Of those nine eight children were on kidney dialysis, two more were in intensive care, and a nine year old girl was in critical condition.

However tragic the story of those kids are, they weren’t the worst of it. A two year-old boy died from the bacteria E. coli, which shut down his kidneys causing his heart to fail.  The child’s grandfather was quoted as saying “he loved hamburgers”.

Of course this entire series of events was terribly tragic, but it goes to show that almost nothing is 100% safe. A hamburger, consumed by the millions every day, put thousands of people at risk, and that was something those kids were supposed to eat.

Those youngsters recently sent to Colorado Children’s Hospital were never meant to get their hands on their parent’s medical marijuana, but this kind of thing does happen. Kids are curious, and notorious for putting things in their mouth that they shouldn’t.

 This fact is evident by the ten thousand calls to poison control every day. The only difference is if a toddler ingests bleach, laundry detergent, anti-freeze, or even common pain medications versus medical marijuana the consequences will be much more dire for the former.

With all the things parents should worry about their children ingesting, medical marijuana is a long way down the list. It’s even safer than peanuts, aspirin, a lack of exercise, and yes, HAMBURGERS.

It is the parent’s responsibility to keep things out of the hands of children in their house. This includes everything from guns, alcohol, household cleaners, prescription pills, and medical marijuana. The Huffington Post shouldn’t be blaming medical marijuana; it should be blaming the lack of attention some parents give their children.