Is it ok to give a seven-year-old medical marijuana?
Mykayla Comstock is a little girl from Oregon who suffers from acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
She’s also one of the youngest cancer patients authorized to use cannabis by the state.
Her mother, Erin Purchase, gives her a gram of cannabis oil daily in pill form (so it’s not like she’s lighting up a joint…) to help combat the side effects of the intense chemotherapy treatment she’s been receiving.
(Mykayla Comstock)
Purchase credits the medical marijuana with her daughter’s remission. It helps with nausea and restlessness even though it makes her feel “funny.”
“As a mother, I am going to try anything before she can potentially fall on the other side,” she told reporters.
“It helps me eat and sleep,” said Mykayla. “The chemotherapy makes you feel like you want to stay up all night long.”
(Mykayla and her mother Erin)
Mykayla is one of 52 children in Oregon served by the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program. Each one has a qualifying medical condition, parental consent, and a doctor’s approval.
But many are concerned by the notion of children using marijuana – including Mykayla’s father Jesse Comstock.
He’s worried that the cannabis oil will impair his daughter’s mental development and has even contacted child welfare officials, police and her oncologist.
There is still very little research on the effects of marijuana on the developing brain, which makes this issue especially sticky.
As a parent, how do you possibly make this decision?
Do you give your child something to ease the incredibly brutal side effects of chemotherapy… or do you watch them suffer because of the possible long term consequences?
