California pushing marijuana to kids

I was horrified to read this morning that it is increasingly commonplace in California to treat children diagnosed with deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, with marijuana. With California’s pot industry pushing into the mainstream, experts say marijuana prescriptions for children are skyrocketing.

Truly, this is horrifying. First, marijuana produces many of the same effects in users — short-term memory problems and inattention — as those associated with ADHD. Get it? Pot actually causes many of the effects that you want a treatment for ADHD to alleviate.

Second, the FDA has never conducted an approval process on marijuana. Consequently, there are no reliable studies to show how the drug may affect ADHD. That means that all of the so-called evidence in support of prescribing marijuana to children is anecdotal; it is based completely on self-selecting and self-reporting. Translation: There is no reliable scientific basis for drugging these children into complacency. Nonetheless, doctors, school counselors and misinformed parents are increasingly pushing marijuana to kids.

More generally, the validity of any ADHD diagnosis is questionable. If a child is bored, distracted, fidgety or boisterous in the classroom, he is often believed to be suffering from ADHD. Notably, these are the same symptoms of another condition that afflicts millions of children — childhood.

Instead of medicating our children, maybe we should consider a return to parenting. My father was confronted with several boisterous children. His solution? A few stern words and the loud snap of a belt. Believe me, we paid attention. Of course, nowadays parents are made to feel guilty for disciplining their children. So we opt instead to medicate. Medicate the child whose eyes glaze during science class. Medicate the child who displays a little too much childlike exuberance. Medicate him. Medicate her. Medicate everyone.

This society is on the fast track of truly going to HELL in a handbag.


Williams can be heard nightly on Sirius/XM Power 169 from 9 to 10 p.m. EST.