Should parents give their children a drug that has not been approved by the FDA?
Fox News Channel reported that a California mother chose to give her autistic son marijuana. Mieko Hester-Perez is providing her autistic son with marijuana, even as some in the medical community, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, believe the use of marijuana as so-called medicine is unproven and potentially harmful.
Dr. Sharon Hirsh of the University of Chicago Medical Center states that marijuana has not been tested and could be dangerous for a child’s developing brain. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, when marijuana is smoked, THC travels throughout the body, including to the brain. THC attaches to sites called cannabinoid receptors on nerve cells in the brain, which affects the way those cells work. Cannabinoid receptors are abundant in parts of the brain that regulate movement, coordination, learning and memory, higher cognitive functions such as judgment, and pleasure. Dr. Hirsh appropriately points out that, while a parent wants to help her child, reaching for a substance that could potentially harm the child further isn’t the answer.
Should parents give their children a drug that has not been approved by the FDA for treating such conditions, especially when the drug in question, marijuana, is known to have harmful effects on a developing brain?
Click here to watch Hester-Perez on Fox & Friends.
