Girl, 5, Smokes Dope

[boulder]

By EDITH BEVIN

April 1, 2004

 

 

A nine-year-old and a 13-year-old also smoke drugs and drink alcohol.

 

A five-year-old Territory girl has been smoking cannabis, it was learned last night. The case is being investigated by Family and Children's Services.

 

epartment last night refused to confirm an inquiry was under way.

 

But a former FACS officer said: ``The child's case has been referred to an assessment team to follow up.

 

``There have been no reports of physical violence towards the child _ just drug abuse.''

 

The Northern Territory News has obtained photographs that show the five-year-old girl preparing to light a bong in a house in Palmerston.

 

A 13-year-old is pictured lighting a bong while her 13-year-old friend pours herself a glass of sherry.

 

The neighbour, who admits to being a drug user, said the five-year-old girl helped herself to the bong.

 

``She lit it and correctly breathed the smoke in without any adult help,'' the woman said.

 

irl also smokes cigarettes. ``This is serious stuff _ she acts like an addict,'' the neighbour said.

 

``If she doesn't get that ganja or tobacco then she chucks a tantrum _ she throws herself on the ground and screams until she can get her hit.

 

``I've worked with addicts my whole life but I've never seen a five-year-old addict.

 

``I've seen teenagers and adult addicts and their stages of aggression _ the behaviour that this child is displaying is exactly like that.

 

``We're not talking about a one-off, it's not an accident.

 

``If FACS tested that child tomorrow she'd have THC in her blood.''

 

Health Department spokeswoman Bernadette Keefe said last night: ``If there is evidence of a five-year-old involved in drug use we would be immediately concerned and take action.

 

``But that is not the information we have received.''

 

But when asked what information the department had received, Ms Keefe said: ``I can't comment on that.''

 

Northern Territory News

[OldmanMozz]

:angry: fuckin outrageous, an not the sort of publicity we want.

[white_cluster]

thats fucking fucked up as fuck.

[Guest]

Probably just calms her down. The only thing I was really concerned about was the alcohol and cigarettes. The pot she'd get used to and probably tire of eventually. What alcohol does to a 5 year olds liver I hate to imagine.

 

Cigarettes are more addictive than heroine. She could wind up smoking a pack a day and be on a respirator machine by age 9. With the pot she probably has one or two cones and just goes to sleep. Her parents probably think its a godsend.

 

They must be out of their gourds to allow such a young child to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. They should be locked up and the kid taken away. Not for the relatively harmless bong use though. That pales into insignificance next to the alcohol and cigarettes.

 

Schools prescribe mood altering drugs to kids all the time. Its a bit of a double standard to make hyperactive ADD students into pill poppers and then scream foul about a kid smoking weed. Young kids in India smoke pot all the time.

 

Today there are very few consumable products on supermarket shelves that don't contain some form of drug cocktail. Even the fizzy drinks are full of Guarana and Caffeine. This is a stupid story in that it puts the emphasis on pot.

 

I agree its bad press for us but it shouldn't be. Parts of the general public are so fucking stupid it infuriates me and the media just plays up to it. There are no prizes for guessing how the publishers stand on marijuana.

 

Politicians and the Media have always worked together to defame the recreational use of ganja. That they would stoop to using children in their war on us is no surprise to me. What they fail to understand is that the propaganda war against us was won long ago and there is nothing more they can do to us.

 

The rebellion is composed of those who know the truth and we will never give up on spreading awareness. Our numbers grow every year and no amount of sensationalist trash is going to change that. The more we are villainised the more determined we are defy the prohibition. Some day we will outnumber them to such a magnitude that they will be forced to change the law for fear of rioting.

 

Just as this event isn't going to bring about a prohibition against alcohol and cigarettes it shouldn't justify a hardening of the governments stance on Marijuana but we all know it probably will.

[LuvBuds]

thats fucked makes us look bad

[bongenon420]

hey chong, you just broke my brain open and splashed it on the screen.

[Chev]

That's fucking abuse. No two ways about it, makes my blood run cold to think of a kid that age smokin'.

Alot of shit you say is true chong, but c'mon - would you give it to your 5 year old kid??

[Guest]

I honestly don't know. Right now I don't have any kids. A little smoke wouldn't do any harm but I certainly wouldn't give them a joint or bong. Maybe a vapouriser. Young bodies are delicate in some ways. I would be concerned about them inhaling the smoke from any burning leafy material. They are chock full of nasty incarcenogens. However if I had a choice of them either using weed, tobacco or alcohol I'd definately pick the weed.

 

Ofcourse the real choice extends to all drugs. How many parents allow their kids to drink coffee? Caffeine is a known toxin and in my opinion(and the opinion of many researchers) far more dangerous than pot. If I thought pot would benefit my child then yes I would allow him or her to use it in controlled amounts. The possible health benefits to children remain largely unexplored but the known medical effects on adults lead me to believe it would also be good for children.

 

So yeah, I might give them a mild strain of cannabis if it was warranted but only as an alternative to some synthetic chemical. If the child required an anti-depressant or muscle relaxant for example. I don't know much about vapourisers but if they could be demonstrated to me as non-incarcenogenic then that would certainly influence my decision. Now before you crucify me for staying open minded on this just ask yourselves what evidence there is for the medical benefits of pot outweighing the harmful effects.

 

Honest to god I wish I'd discovered pot earlier in my life. My years of being subjected to prison style schooling would have been more bearable. Most kids were experimenting with drugs at my school but I was sucked in by all the government propaganda. I thought it all caused brain damage. Some drugs most certainly do but I don't count THC and the cannabinoids among them. Pot is not like alcohol which starves oxygen from the brain to kill endless brain cells.

 

I can see from some of the replies here that many of you still have the autonomous indignant response this government programming groomed in you. We are after all a product of our environment. Hypnosis is only repeated statements. Delivered during susceptible levels of awakening for the most impact but effective at any time really. We hear something enough times and we assume it to be true. In our environment we have heard the brainwashing government dogma about pot being evil for all of our lives and at some unconscious level it has worked its magic on us all.

 

We have been saying that Pot is relatively harmless yet as soon as a 5 year old is mentioned our immediate thought is how disgusting. Would you have that response to a story about a 5 year old being given a guarana drink? Clearly the alcohol and nicoteine didn't get much response. I choose to believe my own experiences and real studies over that of government fear mongering. I see nothing in this story to entice my wrath. Other than the fact many parents are a good argument for licenses to bear children.

[garywmeyerhoff]

Edith Bevin paid for the photos of 5-yr-old pothead

[Kimba]

I agree. Get it in perspective. The pictures warped because

 

1) the kids had no adult supervision (or the supervision was wrong)

2) the kids were drinking (and what does that mean?)

3) the kids were smoking cigarettes

 

All of the above are very serious things. Especially 1 and 2. As for the daca how could it be anything but apathetic in such a situation? You notice how the reporter nicely joined cigarettes with the daca when descibing the tantrums? Which of the two is worse for anyone? I think the disfuctional nature of this family is displayed by the symptoms not the cause. Blame mull? Scapegoat. Blame grog, the parents and our own bias.