Autism Institute seeks to corrupt kids

Newland says: Here's another in a growing number of articles from self-styled advocacy groups purporting to serve some tragic victim or another. These people actually believe that giving marijuana to a child to save his life is better than having him bang his head on the floor while starving to death. Commies, I say.

Excerpt from SPECTRUM, for the autism community:

All of the medicines—including Ritalin, Focalin and Risperdal—had serious physical side effects on Joey. There were facial tics, seizures and liver damage, but worst of all, a lack of appetite that left Joey emaciated and weak, his mother says.

As grim as the situation was, it was a light-hearted moment with friends that clued Hester-Perez in on the possible benefits of marijuana. “I was sitting around with friends and it started as a joke,” she says. “We were talking about how marijuana users eat, they sit down, they’re very calm, and they’re pleasant to be around.”

Later that night she typed “autism and medical marijuana” into an internet search engine and the name Dr. Bernard Rimland popped up. Rimland is a former director of the Autism Research Institute who wrote about using medical marijuana to treat autism.

“I’m not pro-drug, but I am very much pro-safe and effective treatment, especially in cases when an autistic individual’s behaviors are devastating and do not respond to other interventions,” Rimland once wrote. “Early evidence suggests that medical marijuana may be an effective treatment for autism, as well as being safer than the drugs that doctors routinely prescribe.”

According to the Autism Research Institute, some of the symptoms marijuana has improved in children with autism include anxiety, aggression, panic disorder, tantrums and self-injurious behavior. Though Rimland died in 2006, his ideas continue to draw interest from parents with children on the spectrum.

California is one of 14 states that now allow the use of medical marijuana with a doctor’s prescription. After consulting with Joey’s pediatrician, Hester-Perez began administering it to her child by baking it into brownies.

The mother says she noticed an improvement immediately. “Joey was mellow,” she says. “He wanted to sit in his room and play with his toys. Autistic kids don’t want to play with toys. We noticed that he wasn’t on edge as much. Then we saw that he wanted to eat.”

Read the whole society-destroying article here.