Should children be treated with cannabis for medical conditions? That's the hotly debated question in Oregon, where a seven-year-old girl is suffering from an aggressive strain of leukemia.
According to an article in Jezebel, chemotherapy makes Mykayla Comstock violently ill and keeping her up all night. To ease her pain, the girl's mother sometimes rustles up a drug-laced brownie or ginger snap, or pot in pill form.
The drug use is a prickly issue for the Comstock family. And it doesn't sit well with Mykala's dad, who worries about the side effects on his daughter's developing brain.
The law, however, stands behind Mykayla—who is one of more than 2,000 cancer patients permitted to 'use' by the State of Oregon.
As part of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program, 52 children with "qualifying medical condition, parental consent, and a doctor's approval" are authorized to dope up for pain relief.
Legal or not, many people find the girl's prescription—up to 1.2 grams of cannabis oil a day, or around ten joints—hard to swallow.
Even though the pills make Mykayla "feel funny," she insists that the herbal medicine helps her eat and sleep.
Right? Wrong? What's your take on medical Mary J for children?
Ever desperate to put pennies in the proverbial piggy, Nadya "Octomom" Suleman's latest venture is selling out her octuplets as the next Osmonds or von Trapps. That's right, the The Roctuplets have bagged their first singing gig at The Ruth Moore LAUSD Christmas Party.
According to an article in the Huffington Post, fresh out of rehab, Suleman is hoping the charity performance will be the first of many (paying) gigs for her kids. Obviously her porn career wasn't panning out, so she needs another income source. As my grandmother always said, "...more to be pitied than laughed at."
The show is slated for December 17 at a Los Angeles high school. Of course The Roctuplets have a single lined up, "I’m Ready For Christmas," and available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes.
They're also taking bookings now for holiday parties... (Hey, it beats Karaoke.)
Cutesy choir or child labour?
image: Roctuplets
In true Seussian style, it seems the Salvation Army (SA) has been graced with a happy ending. Following our report last week that $2m worth of toys and food were stolen from its Toronto warehouse, police have recovered a good deal of the missing goods at a commercial warehouse in Brampton.
In fact, according to an article in the Huffington Post, the bounty comprising "toys, baby cribs, strollers and food" filled three tractor-trailers.
An estimated 100,000 donated items were "diverted" over the past two years from the charity, then sold for profit. It's not apparent what percentage of the stolen items were recovered via this cache.
So far no arrests have been made in connection with the theft, though the SA's executive director, David Rennie, was fired.
Approximately 140,000 toys from the Toronto warehouse are said to be donated to families every holiday season.
"I can assure you that anyone in need this Christmas will be helped by the Salvation Army," said SA spokesperson, John Murray.
After performing a full inventory, police will eventually return the goods to the charity for proper distribution, though it seems unlikely that this will happen before Christmas.
Printer-friendly version