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Marijuana: It’s Time for a Conversation
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‘Marijuana: It’s Time for a Conversation’ is the story of Caroline Gay Welch, who passed away peacefully on July 17, 2008, after a year-long bout with ovarian cancer.
She selflessly served her community, including work for the Fremont Public Association and the Community House Mental Health Center in Seattle, Washington.
Her use of Marijuana to relieve her pains was openly shared to publicly recognize her for her painstaking efforts.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, with the help of Caroline’s loved ones donated 364 copies of ‘Marijuana: It’s Time for a Conversation’ DVD to public libraries throughout Washington.
Marijuana: It’s Time for a Conversation,
It’s complex. Parents who are susbtance dependent (including cannabis dependence) may neglect their children. In fact, that’s part of the definition of dependence: important activities are given up or reduced because of susbtance use . But not all susbtance dependent parents do that. An older study by SAMHSA found only a 40% correlation between susbtance dependence and child welfare problems. And certainly the vast majority of cannabis users don’t meet the criteria for cannabis dependence. The conclusion for me is that the mere fact that a parent smokes marijuana is not a basis for a child welfare investigation and certainly not for removal of the child to foster care. In fact, research suggests that children in foster care have a high risk of abuse by their foster parents. So the decision to remove a child should not be our first response in any case but rather a last resort only when it is absolutely clear that abuse or neglect exist.