NZ mother admits giving baby cannabis in breast milk

slimvictor

slimvictor

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A woman in New Zealand has been found guilty of giving her three-month-old baby cannabis through her breast milk.

The 29-year-old mother had pleaded guilty in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the country.

She was charged with giving a controlled drug to a person under 18, after a police drugs raid on her house.

The Whanganui District Court said the actions of the woman, who has not been named, amounted to child abuse and gave her to a six month supervision order.

"Child abuse is family violence in these circumstances, and it is clear this baby and its mother needed help," senior court official Andrew McDonald told the Wanganui Chronicle.

"People often believe drug-related activities are victimless, but it affects the people around them."

cont at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20107973
 
University of Auckland law professor Warren Brookbanks said it was unlikely the case would have succeeded had the woman denied the charge.

“It would be necessary for the prosecution to prove that the mother both knew she had cannabis in her system and that she intended to administer it to the baby,” Brookbanks said.

“In the absence of both of those mental elements, it would be impossible to prove a relevant administration of the drug.”
Click to expand...

from http://www.japantoday.com/category/world/view/nz-mother-gives-baby-cannabis-through-breast-milk
 
Why would she not even deny it first?
I've never heard of cannabis being able to be administered like that, is it possible to pass on to the baby?
 
Obviously pressured/scared into giving up her rights. This happens all the time in first world nations like particularly the US. Think about how many times in a routine traffic stop for say... a tail light being out, the driver ended up being charged with possession of a controlled substance. Or a call about noise disturbance leading to a possession charge. The cop starts using scare tactics to get anything out of the driver for a chance at finding anything to charge them with. Many people don't understand their rights, and the rights of the officers, so they'll give information that incriminates them, or allows for searches in situations were the officer would have had no ability to search or gain a search warrant. I've seen this happen with my own eyes with some friends, and unfortunately I was to late in getting my friends to hold their ground better (I didn't get charged with anything, but my friends did - though it was a happy ending in the end because the charges were dropped; I'll spare you the details). Its a sad thing. Cops are supposed to protect the citizens in their country, not make their citizens criminals.
 
New Zealand is pretty strict on cannabis unfortunately, it is not decriminalised or legal in any aspect.

I'm not sure on the pass on effect of a woman breast feeding to a young kid, but if it's dangerous to any degree (same with alcohol, or prescription or other illegal drugs) then it's not a good idea of course.

Says they got busted in a drug raid, maybe they observed the woman smoking pot and then how is she going to deny it?
 
She just had to deny that she knew that the baby was getting the drug through her milk.
If they can't prove intent, they can't charge her with child abuse.
But, they somehow got her to admit it.
Too bad, I think, since plenty of women drink alcohol while breastfeeding and nothing ever happens to them, even though there is a strong chance that alcohol is far worse for them.
And, even if the law says that it is child abuse, many mothers really do abuse their children without getting caught, and this is far, far less damaging to the infant.

(Still, it would have been better if she had not used any drugs while breastfeeding, of course. But I suspect that using weed is probably better than - or no worse than - using some legal drugs such as caffeine, sugar, tobacco and alcohol.)
 
I'm not sure if denying things that are law is any way out, maybe you know the laws tho, i certainly don't know it all. If they saw her breastfeeding and smoking pot in a drug raid then there's not much she could say to deny it. Or if she had been blood tested recently and pot came up in the test and she had been warned about it and continued to breastfeed then not much they could do but charge her, but perhaps she did just admit it to them in questioning and under pressure after a drug raid at their place and perhaps she was even high, i have no idea from the article.

Woman have been charged before for child neglect or similar whilst breastfeeding under the influence of alcohol tho, even jailed in extreme case(s) in certain countries. Altho it's probably rare, same as this case is.

http://www.lineofduty.com/the-blotter/104061-would-you-have-arrested-drunken-breast-feeder

http://digitaljournal.com/article/325193

Then there is this case in Cali from June this year - Breastfeeding Mom Who Lost Custody of Babies for Smoking Pot Speaks Out (VIDEO)
http://thestir.cafemom.com/baby/138463/breastfeeding_mom_who_lost_custody

Not quite the same, but some interesting comments below it in regards to what people think about mothers breastfeeding and using cannabis.
 
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