A mother in Idaho has had her two children taken from her after she gave her 3-year-old. who suffers from seizures, a smoothie infused with a tablespoon of canna-butter, KTVB 7 reports. Idaho does not allow medical marijuana use.
Kelsey Osborne said that providing cannabis to her daughter for her seizures was her “last resort” but maintains that she did the right thing. The fits stopped 30 minutes after she provided the smoothie to her child.
“I’ve seen it for my own eyes with people out of state who have used it and it’s helped them or their children,” she said in the report.
Following the incident she took the child to a doctor, who called the state Department of Health and Welfare after the 3-year-old tested positive for cannabis. The state removed both of Osborne’s children from her home, put them under the care of their father, and charged the mother with misdemeanor injury of a child. She pleaded not guilty.
Tom Shanahan, public information manager for the Health and Welfare Department, said that cannabis and the drug used to treat epileptic seizures – which contain only CBD – are not interchangeable and that even in states with medicinal programs it’s “not legal” to give cannabis to children.
“[Marijuana] can cause brain development issues with a child, so we view that as unsafe or illegal,” Shanahan argued. “We want children to be in a safe place.”
He noted that while Idaho does not have a medicinal cannabis program, an FDA program in Boise uses CBD as an experimental treatment for 34 children suffering from severe epilepsy.