Child neglect a byproduct of addiction
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Sugar Crack g1mmes...@sweetstuff.com
By Carol Kreck Denver Post Staff Writer Sunday, March 17, 2002 - Methamphetamine is hard on mothers - and even harder on their children.
Eight-year-old Caitlin Brotherton remembers the years in Colorado Springs her mother sold and used meth.
"I kinda did worry because I knew the drugs could kill her," she said, moving in and out of her mother's arms at the dining hall at Cenikor in Jefferson County. The two live there temporarily while her mom, Brandi Kaley, is in treatment.
Caitlin is glad to be there. "It's helping my mom be clean." While lab busts often are in the news, the effect of meth on children isn't always recognized.
Caitlin, for instance, remembers when her mom wasn't so clean.
"We lived with this guy named Dave, and they would go into his room. One time I opened the door and I saw the torch. Then one day I put my ear against it and I heard what they were doing.
"I knew it was illegal.
"I knew it was a problem." She has other memories: her dad getting shot and her yelling at police to leave her mommy and daddy alone.
Ann Noonan, clinical coordinator for Boulder County abuse programs, said another danger to children "is use of meth itself." "One of the things we've noticed is women are more profoundly affected. It takes them longer to detox," she said. Meth moms may be emotionally unstable - angry one minute, sad and tearful the next. There may be a loss of temper.
Noonan said the drug makes some women paranoid long after drug use has stopped. She recalled one client tearing tiles off the kitchen floor because she believed bugs were underneath.
"Another thought her child was a spy, kicked the child out of her house and put aluminum foil over the windows," Noonan said. "Months of treatment later, she was still suspicious." Mesa County child protection case manager Joseph Jueschke also sees cases of neglect.
"Meth eliminates hunger, so parents aren't cued in to feeding their own children. Meth tends to keep them up all night, and kids get into that sleep cycle, too, then miss school." Another troubling trend has surfaced in Mesa County, Jueschke said: Young children in homes using meth are being sexually exploited, including girls as young as 12.
In Boulder County, the Health Department treats parents whose addictions have resulted in child dependency and neglect charges. Of some 60 mothers now in treatment, a third of the cases involve meth.
Studies show that women addicts are more likely to have a history of abuse and have post-traumatic stress disorder.
Lisa was sexually abused as a toddler. She started using and selling meth at 13. When her son was 5 months old, she was arrested for possession and quit using the drug for six years.
Then she had problems with exhaustion.
"I've always been a single mom; I had to work," she said. To keep her energy up, she started doing meth again and, to support her habit, she started selling.
A year later she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, but by then the addiction was in charge.
Lisa's 14-year-old son stopped going to school - she'd wake him and go to work, and he'd go back to sleep. When she confronted him, he said, "Well, if your friends weren't here all night, maybe I could get some sleep." When she was arrested, her son was sent to a group home for eight months. She went to Denver's drug court, which supervised treatment at Arapahoe House.
"I think what kept me going was the hope I would get my son back." The two were reunited last month.
Social worker Diane Welsh, with Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center, said meth moms often stop visiting their children in foster care. "It's like they don't connect anymore.
Parents aren't sad about it." Yet it's children who often inspire addicts to quit.
Brandi Kaley never lost interest in her daughter Caitlin.
"Every time she came to visit, she wanted to know when she could move here," Kaley said. "We had never been apart before." The two always have been close, "but it's a different relationship now," said Kaley. "It's cool, it's stronger. I'm not the strung-out mom like I was before. It's not me and her against the world."
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Shugga
"Jerry Okamura" OKAMURAJ...@hawaii.rr.com
Always love these kinds of thoughts. How about changing the title to "child neglect a byrpduct of having a society that encourages/requires both husbands and wives to work". Which do you think contributes most to the so-called "problem"?
...
Eric Johnson ejohn...@wish.net
Thats what you get for living in Colo Spgs.
Which means she was able to judge when she had a problem, and she did something about it.
Good for her!
ej Because the prohibition of cocaine is the main reason people turn to meth.
Also, if she had gotten he meth from the pharmacy at a reasonable price, caitlin would only have to deal with he addiction.
Emotion trap!, Switch reasoning into skeptical mode.
Screwing?
Yes, adultery is illegal.
How old is this girl?
why were the police shooting? Seems to me th laws caused this nightmare scene.
Of course!
Let them have coke!
Marketing package neame approved by focus group Hmmmm. Sounds like my mom before she started anti-depressant therapy.
Perhaps Brandi was self-medicating.
Thuis cause->effect in nthis case is Mental Disorder-> self-medication instead of the implied "meth use-> mental Disorder." Yes, moms get mad at kids.
Scare Tactic! Scare Tactic.
Sounds like Schizophrenia to me.
More Schizophrenia?
Let them have coke!
Likely for money to cover inflated illegal prices.
Aha. PTSD. Did this preceed the drug use?
Train A leaves New York at at 8 am travelling east at 80 mph Train B leaves Los Angeles at 5 am traveling 90 mph.
When 13 y/o lisa's son was 5 months old?
Me, too. HMSN X1?
Her stupid choices. What effect did these choices have on her bastards?
Poor. Coping strategy. Adoption? m,arriage to the father of her kids?
This is an excuse. She started using again because either she wanted to or her mental disorders remained untreated.
Ah Haaa! Thyroid cancer. This means she was probably fat and worried about her weight.
Meth helped keep her thin so she could get laid and produce more bastards to abuse.
Where are the Child protective services, truant officers and police?
Likely much better place.
Cl***ic example of treating the symptom while the disease goes merrily along.
God, I hope not.
Too Bad.
who should have removed her son years earlier.
Sounds good to me. Alcohol play any part in this? Bet mom also smokes.
Perhaps, if they are threatened with loss of same.
And the exercise to get it back is usually a challenge to authority or an act of selfishness.
Sure she did. Every time she chose to hang and get high instead of tending to her child.
Too Bad.
It was NEVER that way. It was always she against the forces demanding she act responsibly.
A BEAUTIFUL example of how the drug war is overcome with and supported by emotion-based "reasoning." Nice try Sugar.
ej
d ...@cheetah.net
On Sat, 30 Mar 2002 15:28:58 GMT, "Jerry Okamura" Which? Having children. Children having children, and their children having children.
DCI
"Jerry Okamura" OKAMURAJ...@hawaii.rr.com
All of the above. Maybe we should have a government policy that discourages people from having children. No more children means no more instances of child abuse.
Psychozohedron psychozohed...@countercult.org
On Sat, 30 Mar 2002 12:27:47 -0500, Jerry Okamura brought forth unto the mercurial digital tempest: I believe they've tried this in China in recent times, and Amnesty International got up their ***es about it. In the 19th and 20th centuries I understand that the United States and Germany, among other countries, legislated involuntary sterilization for psychiatric patients; generally schizophrenics.
--
Psychozohedron Greater Daemon of Eris Discordia DALnet #ADP <psychozohed...@countercult.org> My currently identified mental disorders: Asperger's Syndrome Hyperlexia Dysthymic Disorder ADD Specific Phobia, Blood-Injection-Injury Type Amphetamine Dependence (physiological) Amphetamine Dependence (psychological) Nicotine Dependence (psychological) Mental Disorders: Collect The Whole Set!
"Constructing A Logical Argument," from the alt.atheism FAQ: http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/logic.html Petition Against Coricidin: http://www.petitiononline.com/corihbp/petition.html "UTTER NOT SUCH IGNOMIOUS DRIVEL!" -Haohmaru, MTCFF ULTRA #66 http://www.mtcffultra.com/ "I'm not a spammer." "TW" <atr...@yahoo.com>
brian bennett shp...@mindspring.com
demand reduction through supply interdiction ... excellent ... excellent ...
perhaps a new anti-ovum sprayed from crop dusters ... introduced into the food supply ... made into an innoculation ...
b
--
Protect your kids from alcohol, tell them to smoke pot!
Why is our government attempting to kill marijuana, coca and opium plants, while simultaneously fighting to keep smallpox alive?
Psychozohedron psychozohed...@countercult.org
On Sat, 30 Mar 2002 08:07:11 -0500, Sugar Crack brought forth unto the mercurial digital tempest: <snip> I'm glad I found this post again, because I had a thought last night that was inspired by it. The thought was this: Perhaps the emotional sensation we know as "empathy," the ability to recreate with the help of the imagination what another being is experiencing, and feel a simalacrum of that experience, is subject to a neurochemical causation.
If so, then perhaps it's possible that some psychoactive drugs can lower the capacity for empathy - or raise it, depending. The question invites research.
If certain drugs do lower the capacity for empathy, and others raise it, then we should be aware of it and modify our behavior accordingly. Empathy is an extremely important tool for successful social interaction.
--
Psychozohedron Greater Daemon of Eris Discordia DALnet #ADP <psychozohed...@countercult.org> My currently identified mental disorders: Asperger's Syndrome Hyperlexia Dysthymic Disorder ADD Specific Phobia, Blood-Injection-Injury Type Amphetamine Dependence (physiological) Amphetamine Dependence (psychological) Nicotine Dependence (psychological) Mental Disorders: Collect The Whole Set!
"Constructing A Logical Argument," from the alt.atheism FAQ: http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/logic.html Petition Against Coricidin: http://www.petitiononline.com/corihbp/petition.html "UTTER NOT SUCH IGNOMIOUS DRIVEL!" -Haohmaru, MTCFF ULTRA #66 http://www.mtcffultra.com/ "I'm not a spammer." "TW" <atr...@yahoo.com>
moi astro...@your.place
On Sun, 31 Mar 2002 19:28:32 GMT, Do you know in what context mcKenna used this quote, 'cause i always thought that mcKenna didn't gave language much substantial value, i think he even saw it as being very primitive?
--
joachim your friendly neighbour, from hell
DJ19 bassbab...@hotmail.com
not physically I believe LSD can be addictive psychologically because that drug brings the user so high.
not addicitive in mayebe a good percentage of people
pproc ...@neosoft.com (Peter H. Proctor)
No way. Tolerance to LSD develops far too fast. In any case, there is absolutely no evidence for people becoming habituated to LSD Dr P
Voodoo Chittlins voo...@chittlins.org
Yeah, like the next day. And by then you're too worn out to do much of anything, and not too quick to trip again.
True, but you must admit that it's not for everyone. For some people it's an enlightening experience. For others, it a psychotic nightmare. And you can't tell which until the tab has been dropped.
"Phant" noth...@nospam.com
You get some 'acid-heads' who do it a lot, but the nature of the frug means that most really don't want that kind intensity more than every so often.
In short, acid is less of a threat than booze to relationships...
...
Psychozohedron psychozohed...@countercult.org
On Tue, 16 Apr 2002 16:18:03 -0400, Guido Marx brought forth unto the mercurial digital tempest: Although MDMA shows some promise, that wasn't really what I was referring to. I was thinking more of addressing the possibility from the other end - studying neurochemical levels in response to changes in the complex emotion we call empathy, and then devising a drug to boost those levels regularly, like an SSRI. MDMA is more of an immediate-effect substance, and it drains the user of neurotransmitters instead of supplementing the supply level.
--
Psychozohedron Greater Daemon of Eris Discordia DALnet #ADP <psychozohed...@countercult.org> My currently identified mental disorders: Asperger's Syndrome Hyperlexia Dysthymic Disorder ADD Specific Phobia, Blood-Injection-Injury Type Amphetamine Dependence (physiological) Amphetamine Dependence (psychological) Mental Disorders: Collect The Whole Set!
"Constructing A Logical Argument," from the alt.atheism FAQ: http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/logic.html Petition Against Coricidin: http://www.petitiononline.com/corihbp/petition.html "Here [at the porch and entrance to Hades] dwells lunatic Eris whose viperine hair is caught up with a headband soaked in blood." -Aeneid 6.280-281
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