Tag Archives: methamphetamine

October 18, 2026 · 1:00 am

Deadly Candy

CBD Chocolate (Cannabis), Source https://www.flickr.com/photos/elsaolofsson/50211861501, Author Elsa Olofsson (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)

The accidental ingestion by children of drugs has become a serious public health concern.

A study of poison center data earlier this year showed an astounding 3307% increase between 2000 and 2024, with more than 41,000 children under the age of 6 impacted [1][2]. Some 2000 had life threatening or disabling symptoms including respiratory depression, seizures, and coma. Six died.

Much of this (84%-85%) was marijuana related, with around half of ingestions involving marijuana edibles. Other substances to which children were exposed included stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamine (8%), psychedelics like LSD and MDMA a/k/a ecstasy (3-4%), opioids like morphine, oxycodone, and fentanyl (2-3%), and dissociatives like ketamine and PCP (0.6%).

Medical marijuana is now legal in 41 states, and recreational marijuana legal in 24 [3]. Though intended for adult consumption, both medical and recreational cannabis edibles are available as gummies, lollipops, chocolates, and baked goods. For young children, these items are, for all practical purposes, indistinguishable from their harmless counterparts.

Do we need to be told that medications and recreational drugs (including cannabis edibles) should be stored out of sight and reach of young children?

A study in 2025 by the Prevention Policy Group and other experts had already warned that — despite legal restrictions on their use — social media ads for marijuana were reaching children and adolescents, potentially encouraging them to try cannabis [4][5]. 

None of this should surprise us. The United States is the world’s largest customer for illegal drugs, and has among the highest rates of drug abuse and overdose deaths globally [6][7].

Nearly half of all Americans aged 12 and older have used an illicit substance at least once in their lives [8A]. As of 2023, approximately 59.3 million individuals aged 12 and older (fully 21.4% of the American population) reported using illegal drugs or misusing prescription drugs within the prior year [8B].

Children imitate the adults around them, and young children are especially vulnerable. If parents are under the influence, they are hardly likely to take measures to protect their children of any age.

—

[1] US News, “Shocking Increase in Children Accidentally Eating Weed, Other Recreational Drugs” by Healthday, 9/1/26, https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2026-09-01/shocking-increase-in-children-accidentally-eating-weed-other-recreational-drugs.

[2] National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, “Unintentional ingestion of recreational drugs among young children, 2000-2024” by Kristen Uskovich, et al, 6/24/26, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42343328/.

[3] Wikipedia, “Legality of cannabis by US jurisdiction”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_U.S._jurisdiction.

[4] CNN, “Marijuana ads are enticing kids to try weed, study says” by Sandee LaMotte, 2/12/25, https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/12/health/marijuana-ads-child-danger-wellness/.

[5] Powers Health, “Experts Warn Marijuana Ads Are Reaching Kids Through Social Media” by HealthDay News, 2/13/25, https://www.powershealth.org/about-us/newsroom/health-library/2025/02/13/experts-warn-marijuana-ads-are-reaching-kids-through-social-media.

[6] Wikipedia, “Drugs in the United States”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drugs_in_the_United_States.

[7] United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, “World Drug Report 2025”, https://www.unodc.org/unodc/frontpage/2025/June/wdr25.html.

[8A and 8B] Addiction Help, “USA Addiction Statistics — General US Addiction Statistics” by Jessica Miller, https://www.addictionhelp.com/addiction/statistics/.

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May 22, 2022 · 1:00 am

Psychedelics for Anxiety, Depression, and PTSD, Part 1

File:Ecstasy monogram.jpg

Ecstacy a/k/a Molly, Author DEA, Source https://www.dea.gov, (PD as work product of federal govt.)

“I am more convinced than ever that psychiatric medications, over the long term, cause net harm.  I wish that weren’t the case, but the evidence just keeps mounting that these drugs, on the whole, worsen long-term outcomes…The inventor of frontal lobotomy…was awarded a Nobel Prize for inventing that surgery, which today we understand as a mutilation.”

-Award-winning science author and journalist, Robert Whitaker [1][2]

Recently, a number of drug trials have been conducted re-assessing the effectiveness of psychedelics for anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

While the results of these trials have been heralded as providing new treatment options for tenacious illnesses, there are serious dangers associated with psychedelics.

Serotonin

Psychedelics act on receptors in the brain for serotonin, a neurotransmitter that effects mood.

There is some thinking that psychedelics enhance the brain’s capacity to form and reorganize synaptic connections, especially following injury [3A].  But this hypothesis needs further research.

In the therapeutic setting, psychedelics cause a receptive, dream-like state during which memories are readily accessible [3B].  The theory is that this state opens the door to fresh ideas the therapist can introduce.

Unsupervised use is not recommended. Continue reading →

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February 7, 2021 · 1:00 am

Addicted at Birth

Week old infant weighing 430 grams,
Authors Aneta Meszko and Marcin Meszko (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)

WARNING: Graphic Images

“In America, a baby is born dependent on opioids every 19 minutes [1A]”.

In the past ten years, over 130,000 children in the United States have been born with drug dependency inherited from a mother on heroin, methamphetamine, or opioids [1B].

Infant Detox

Called Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, this dependency causes poor feeding and suck reflex, with slow weight gain; vomiting; diarrhea; sweating; muscle cramps, seizures, and twitching; irritability; sleep problems; yawning, stuffy nose, and sneezing; along with shortness of breath [2][3].

Infants, in other words, experience many of the same withdrawal symptoms their mothers do [4]. They cry inconsolably from the pain.

While one study found that pre-natal drug exposure was not associated with increased mortality, it did find significantly higher mortality rates among low birth weight infants positive for cocaine and opiates [5].

Lack of Care

“In one case, a baby in Oklahoma died after her mother, high on methamphetamine and opioids, put the 10-day-old girl in a washing machine with a load of dirty laundry [1C].”

The risk to addicted newborns does not stop there. Infants all too often die after being released home to mothers struggling with drug addiction.

Reuters has identified at least 110 such cases [1D]. More than 40 infants suffocated. Another 13 died after swallowing fatal doses of heroin, methadone, oxycodone, and other opioids.

In three-quarters of these cases, the mother was implicated in her child’s death; in other instances, a boyfriend, husband, or other relative was responsible [1E]. Continue reading →

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