NZ woman convicted over cannabis in breastmilk

[AndMiffyWentToSleep]

I'm assuming she didn't deliberately ingest cannabis in order to give it to her 3 month old, though it isn't clear in the article. Maybe that doesn't matter anyway...

m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10843232

[Whitamakafullo]

Makes you wonder what other type of cases could come to court through this - smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol......

Don't get me wrong, I don't think she should have been taking cannabis whilst having such a small baby dependent on her but something about this case makes me a bit uneasy

[ReallyTired]

I agree it is not sensible to smoke cannabis and breastfeeding. However is it really worse for the baby to breastfeed than to have formula. There is plenty of evidence that formula is not ideal for babies. Is formula really better than having breastmilk with a trace of cannabis in it?

There are plenty of mygnogists who feel that breastfeeding mothers should not recieve medical treatment and deny them access to anti depresants, anti pychotic medication.

Leading psychiatrist urges caution over women of childbearing age being given anti-depressants

I suspect that the baby probably inhaled cannabis by passive smoking.

[AntoinetteCosway]

ReallyTired are you seriously suggesting that giving formula is WORSE than taking drugs and passing them on to your baby through breast milk? I mean, seriously?

Ah, fuck it. I'm not getting involved.

[ReallyTired]

A mother who is completely and utterly stoned with not be able to make up the bottles properly. It is quite likely she will not give a shit whether the bottles are sterilised or whether she has the right ratio of powder to water. Can you imagine that someone who is completely stoned will carefully make up the bottles with cooled boiled water and throw way any unused milk after an hour. Would someone who is out of their head on cannabis bother to check the used by date on formula?

Many habitual drug users cannot be arsed to do very much. Keeping a kitchen clean will not be high up the priority list.

What would be interesting would be to know how much cannabis actually gets into breastmilk. Have the prosecution actually analysised a sample of her breastmilk to know if a measurable of amount of canabiods actually exists in her milk?

This link shows that very small amount of cannabis gets into breastmilk.

www.cannabis-med.org/english/faq/20-breastmilk.htm

It is hard to know whether delays in motor skills are caused by poor parenting or by the cannabis in the breastmilk. A monkey is completley stoned won't have the energy to chase after its offspring. The truth of the matter is that no baby should be looked after by someone who regularly takes non prescribed drugs. Being a cannabis user and a good mother are completley incompatible.

My guess is that the poor baby probably inhaled a lot of cannabis passively.

[glamourousgranny42]

There is a lot of evidence that cannabis, particualrly newer strains like skunk which are high in THC, cause serious damage to developing brains and lead to psychotic disorders. I have smoked it in the past but would never allow anyone to smoke it around my chidren or grandchildren.

[echt]

Could you provide a link which shows how skunk is worse than weed and causes psychotic disorders, glamorous?

[echt]

Er..you won't find it. There is no causal link. Association, possibly.

[ReallyTired]

This the amount of THC that an infant gets by breastmilk actually enough to cause problems. I imagine that passive smoking of cannabis is a major problem. Its one of those areas where very little is know as ethics would not allow experiments on humans. Certainly its immoral to take such a risk with a child.

This is the only evidence that I can find that shows that cannabis can affect the developing brain.

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/mentalhealth/Pages/Cannabispsychoticbreakdown.aspx

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12617495