The use of medicinal marijuana has grown in the last decade thanks to loosening laws in several states. The drug is credited with increasing appetite, decreasing pain and calming anxiety just to name a few. All of this from a drug with zero reported deaths. That’s why so many are a proponent of medical marijuana. But what if the patient is a child?

That’s where this debate gets even stickier. Recently, it was reported that an Oregon woman gave her 7-year-old daughter medical marijuana to combat the symptoms of chemotherapy. When Mykayla Comstock was diagnosed with leukemia her mother, Erin Purchase, applied for a medical marijuana card for her. The young girl takes the drug in pill form to help her eat and sleep. Her mother said that when Mykayla is very sick, she and her boyfriend will feed her marijuana-infused foods to help.

All of this sounds like a mother trying desperately to help her child. What mother would deny their child comfort if it were available, and even legal.

Does the fact that this little girl’s mother is a marijuana smoker change your mind? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. What about that the mother’s boyfriend, also a daily marijuana user, is listed with the state as Mykayla’s “grower”? Both adults are unemployed and live off of Mykayla’s supplemental security income and food stamps.

I’m not going to lie and tell you that after reading the story, these adults sounded more than a little odd, and more than a little eager to treat their daughter with marijuana.

As I thought more and more about it, I decided it didn’t really matter what I thought about Mykayla’s parents as people. They are doing what they think is necessary for their daughter. Not everyone may agree with what they are doing, but not everyone is charged with the care of this little girl going through chemo.

If it were my child going through cancer treatment, I would do anything I possibly could to help them. I can’t even promise that the law would be a factor in my decision. If it were my child, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do. And the last thing I would care about is what other people thought.

So I will give that same courtesy to Mykayla’s mom. I hope you will too.

Cat Koehler is married with two children. She works full time. Read her Mondays on momaha.com

View photos from The Oregonian, by clicking here. 

Is medical marijuana safe for children?

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