By Deirdre Spilman
Opinion Assignment Editor
The laws of our society were put into place to protect us, but what happens when breaking the law can save someone’s life?
Mykayla Comstock is a 7-year-old who was diagnosed with leukemia this past July. By taking some lime-flavored tablets filled with half an ounce of cannabis-oil twice a day, she is on the road to remission, according to a Nov. 27 ABC News article.
Her mother, Erin Purchase, applied to put her on Oregon’s medical marijuana program less than three days after she received her daughter’s diagnosis, according to the same article. It is completely legal in the state of Oregon, as long as there is parental consent and a responsible caregiver. This scenario meets both of the qualifications, so this legal action is nobody’s deal.
It’s easy to take a side on this subject. Some may consider it one of the biggest parenting mistakes in the world, while others may not even consider it a mistake. After all, it did save a child’s life, and isn’t that the main goal when you have a child suffering from an illness of this caliber?
This mother did not take her child using marijuana lightly, and it is not as if it is the only form of medicine she considered. Comstock was not responding to her first set of treatments, and doctors said that the pills could possibly lead to a necessary bone marrow transplant, according to the same article.
After Comstock tried the cannabis-oil pills, the transplant became unnecessary, and she entered into remission. I am aware this may not be the case in all scenarios, but in this specific instance it worked out. Purchase’s parenting methods should not be making headlines.
Obviously the mother is not oblivious to marijuana and its effects, but she did her research and made her decision accordingly. Purchase had learned about another boy suffering from cancer and how cannabis-oil pills affected his treatment.
Cash Hyde’s parents defied Montana’s marijuana laws and allowed him to take the pills. Unfortunately the pills did not have the same effect on Hyde that they did on Comstock, but he did not feel any pain during his death, according to a March. 24 ABC News article.
Just because the pills did not save his life, it doesn’t mean that it didn’t help to alleviate some of his pain.
When a child is so young that he or she cannot make his or her own life-saving decisions, the task falls upon the parents. Thankfully, Comstock, is lucky enough to have a mother who has her best interests in mind.
What should be the main topic here is that a child’s life was saved. Who cares how controversial the methods were as long as a life is spared?
