The US’ silent struggle on Hashish Moms
The Battle on Medicine, that grand American experiment in prohibition and punishment, has left a path of destruction in its wake that is laborious to fathom. For over half a century, this misguided campaign has torn households aside, crammed prisons to bursting, and shattered numerous lives. The numbers are staggering – hundreds of thousands incarcerated, households left in monetary smash, and communities decimated. And for what? A struggle that has did not stem the tide of drug use or dependancy, as a substitute criminalizing well being points and private decisions.
However the casualties of this struggle aren’t unfold evenly throughout society. Oh no, that will be too truthful. As an alternative, it is minority communities and the poor who’ve borne the brunt of this assault on private freedom. The scales of justice, it appears, are tipped closely towards these with the fallacious pores and skin coloration or too little money of their pockets.
But amidst all this well-documented carnage, there is a silent battle being waged that few are speaking about. It is a struggle on moms, fought by way of the insidious weaponization of Little one Protecting Providers. Even in states the place hashish has been legalized, mothers are discovering themselves within the crosshairs, their youngsters torn from their arms over a joint or an edible.
It is a twisted irony – in a rustic the place wine mother tradition is well known and children are medicated for ADHD on the drop of a hat, a mother who makes use of hashish to unwind or handle power ache can lose all the things. The identical system that is supposed to guard youngsters is getting used to traumatize them, all within the title of a plant that is much less dangerous than alcohol.
On this article, we will peel again the curtain on this hidden entrance of the Battle on Medicine. We’ll discover how overzealous insurance policies and outdated stigmas are destroying households and harming the very youngsters they declare to guard. It is time to shine a lightweight on this merciless and pointless side of hashish prohibition – a reminder that at the same time as legalization spreads, the tentacles of the Battle on Medicine proceed to squeeze the life out of American households.
I lately dove right into a deeply disturbing Rolling Stone article that make clear a hidden entrance of the Battle on Medicine – the concentrating on of cannabis-using moms. It is a lengthy, gut-wrenching piece, however I am going to attempt to distill a few of the key factors right here. Truthful warning, people – this is not a feel-good story.
Let’s begin with Doshia Givens, a single mother in Cleveland. After a horrific automotive accident left her in crippling ache, she opted for hashish as a substitute of addictive opioids to handle her struggling. Sounds affordable, proper? Effectively, Little one Protecting Providers did not suppose so. When her daughter Selah examined optimistic for THC after a routine hospital go to, Doshia was deemed an “imminent danger” to her little one. Inside 24 hours, they had been torn aside. All as a result of a mom selected a safer ache administration possibility in a state drowning in opioid deaths.
Then there’s Raneisha Hubbert in Los Angeles. Her crime? Testing optimistic for marijuana after her mischievous toddler saved escaping their new condominium. Regardless of no proof of neglect or hurt to her youngsters, each children had been taken away. The system labeled her a “substance abuser” unfit to look after her personal flesh and blood.
However absolutely this does not occur in states the place weed is authorized, proper? Incorrect. Take Lindsay Ridgell from Arizona, the place medical marijuana has been authorized since 2010. She used hashish throughout being pregnant to fight extreme morning illness, together with her physician’s blessing. But when her son was born, he was drug examined with out her consent, and she or he discovered herself below investigation for neglect. This, regardless of Arizona’s legal guidelines particularly defending medical marijuana customers from such discrimination.
These aren’t remoted incidents. The article reveals that tens of hundreds of moms throughout the nation are coming below scrutiny for hashish use. Many lose custody fully, labeled as risks to their very own youngsters. They’re pressured into drug therapy applications and subjected to humiliating surveillance, all for utilizing a substance that is authorized in lots of states and fewer dangerous than alcohol.
Which begs the query – how is that this good for the kids? The place’s the hurt in a father or mother utilizing hashish responsibly, particularly in comparison with the recognized risks of separation trauma? We do not see this sort of heavy-handed intervention when dad and mom drink alcohol, or feed their children a gentle food regimen of processed junk meals and sugar. Hell, we have fun “wine mother” tradition whereas demonizing cannabis-using moms.
The hypocrisy is staggering. These insurance policies aren’t defending children; they’re traumatizing them. Ripping a toddler from a loving dwelling over a father or mother’s hashish use is not little one safety – it is state-sanctioned little one abuse. And it is taking place proper below our noses, at the same time as we pat ourselves on the again for progressing past the worst excesses of the Battle on Medicine.
It is excessive time we confronted this ugly fact: our little one welfare system is being weaponized to proceed the Battle on Medicine by different means. And it is our children who’re paying the value.
Let’s minimize by way of the bullshit and name this what it’s: state-sanctioned little one abuse masquerading as safety. The system labels cannabis-using moms as “substance abusers” and “risks” to their youngsters. Their answer? Rip children from their properties and toss them right into a foster care system that is about as nurturing as a cactus in winter.
Now, I am not advocating for fogeys to blaze up 24/7 whereas neglecting their rugrats. However let’s get actual concerning the trauma we’re inflicting on these children within the title of “defending” them. Being separated out of your dad and mom, particularly throughout these essential early life, is not only a bummer – it is doubtlessly life-altering within the worst means potential.
The stats on children who develop up with out their dad and mom or in foster care are downright miserable. Larger charges of psychological well being points, substance abuse issues, and incarceration. Decrease academic attainment and earnings ranges. Elevated danger of homelessness and early being pregnant. It is a laundry record of societal ills that we’re primarily programming into these children’ futures.
So, what’s worse? A mother who unwinds with a joint after the children are in mattress, or subjecting a toddler to a system that dramatically will increase their probabilities of ending up depressed, addicted, or in jail?
Let’s flip the script for a second. Is a hashish mother actually such a horror present? We’re speaking about individuals who love, nurture, and care for his or her children. They clear scraped knees, cook dinner meals, assist with homework, and supply the emotional safety that is essential for wholesome growth. Does the truth that they use hashish all of a sudden negate all of that? Does it make them unfit for motherhood?
Hell no. The truth is, latest analysis means that cannabis-using dad and mom may really be extra engaged with their children. They’re extra prone to get down on the ground and play, to immerse themselves of their youngsters’s worlds. That type of interplay is gold for a growing mind.
However the legislation, in its infinite, scientifically illiterate knowledge, would not see any of this nuance. It sees “drug person” and instantly equates that with “unfit father or mother.” By no means thoughts the trauma inflicted on the kid. By no means thoughts the loving dwelling destroyed. The Battle on Medicine calls for its pound of flesh, and it is our children who’re paying the value.
Is that this actually the society we wish to stay in? One the place the state can snatch your youngsters since you selected to eat a plant that is much less dangerous than alcohol? The place households are torn aside not due to abuse or neglect, however due to outdated, hysterical drug insurance policies?
We have to ask ourselves: Is the price of this side of the Battle on Medicine increased than any perceived hurt from hashish use? Are we okay with traumatizing youngsters to punish dad and mom for a victimless crime? As a result of make no mistake, that is precisely what we’re doing.
It is time to get up and scent the hashish, people. This is not about defending children. It is about perpetuating a failed struggle that is destroying lives and households. We have to demand higher. We’d like insurance policies based mostly on science and compassion, not concern and stigma. As a result of proper now, we’re not defending youngsters – we’re sacrificing them on the altar of prohibition. And that is a price that is far too excessive to bear.
Alright, people, it is time to minimize by way of the haze and face some laborious truths. The Battle on Medicine has been ravaging our society for over half a century now. Is not it about rattling time we admit this experiment in prohibition has failed spectacularly? We’re speculated to be dwelling in an age of huge knowledge and evidence-based coverage, but right here we’re, nonetheless clinging to those draconian, uninformed drug legal guidelines like they’re some type of safety blanket.
Let’s discuss hypocrisy for a second. We have got politicians and policymakers waxing poetic about defending the kids, utilizing them as rhetorical shields of their campaign towards medicine. However when it comes right down to it, they’re very happy to tear children away from loving properties over a father or mother’s hashish use. Inform me, how precisely is traumatizing a toddler by separating them from their household defending them? It is like making an attempt to fireproof a home by burning it to the bottom.
I do not find out about you, however I believe it is excessive time (pun totally meant) that we renegotiate our relationship with medicine from a coverage perspective. We’re not the identical society we had been again in 1971 when Nixon kicked off this ill-fated struggle. We have developed, we have discovered, and we have seen firsthand the catastrophic penalties of treating a public well being difficulty like a legal one.
Utilizing the complete pressure of the legislation, together with the kid welfare system, to crack down on hashish use is like utilizing a sledgehammer to hold an image body. It is extreme, it is harmful, and it utterly misses the purpose. We’d like insurance policies that really assist households, not tear them aside. Insurance policies based mostly on science and compassion, not outdated ethical panics and political posturing.
So here is the sticky backside line: It is time to finish this mindless struggle. It is time to cease punishing dad and mom for utilizing a substance that is authorized in lots of states and fewer dangerous than alcohol. It is time to prioritize the actual well-being of youngsters over some misguided notion of drug-free purity.
As a result of let’s face it, the actual hazard to those children is not a father or mother who makes use of hashish responsibly. It is a system that is prepared to traumatize them within the title of a failed ideology. And that is a behavior we have to kick, as soon as and for all.
SOCCER MOMS AND WEED, READ ON…
