Submitted by Fox First at Ten on October 31st
KHQ.COM: A New Zealand Woman has been convicted of giving her baby marijuana through her breast milk. The New Zealand Herald reported the 29-year-old mother, whose name has not been released, continued to breastfeed her child despite using the drug.
The mother admitted to breastfeeding her 3-month-old daughter and her confession is probably the only thing that allowed the courts to convict her. University of Auckland law professor Warren Brookbanks said that if she had not plead guilty, prosecutors would have had to prove she had knowledge of the drugs in her system and that she intended to pass the drugs to her infant child.
Her home was searched by drug enforcement authorities which resulted in the arrest of her and her partner. A district court sentenced her to six months supervision on charges of providing drugs to a person younger than 18.
Sergeant Andrew McDonald was quoted in the New Zealand Herald saying, "It's clear this baby and its mother needed help. People often believe drug-related activities are victimless, but it affects the people around them."
According to the Huffington Post, this is not the first case of a child encountering marijuana at an early age. Earlier this year, a three-year-old boy in Murrieta, Ca. slept for three days straight after accidentally eating his grandma's "special brownies."
What do you think? Is six months of supervision a proper punishment for this woman?
This story was filed and written by KHQ's Nichole Mischke. Email her at Nichole.Mischke@khq.com.
