There’s a rather appalling story in the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune today. It seems that a Nashua, NH father taking his 4-year-old son for chemotherapy in Lebanon, NH took a slight detour through Lawrence, MA. And he must of been jealous of the boy, because he decided to get some drugs of his own — police busted him while he was trying to buy some pot.
(A brief geography lesson might be helpful for readers outside of New England: Lawrence is about 40 minutes east and a little south of Nashua; Lebanon is about 2 hours northwest of Nashua. And presuming he decided to take the trip to Lebanon after scoring his pot in Lawrence, that would have been about another 2 hours.)
After police arrested Mr. Smith, they discovered the boy waiting in his car. And after contacting the boy’s mother, she came and got him and took him for his treatment. According to her, the boy has a form of cancer that is fatal about 80% of the time.
I can almost understand the father’s motivation — the likely loss of a child can be devastating, and maybe he needs a little chemical solace right about now. But this asshole decided to put his own comfort ahead of his boy’s already-slim chance at survival.
Unfortunately, Mr. Smith swallowed the suspected drugs, so he’s not likely to be charged with drug possession. They’ve got him up on a few other counts, though, and I hope like hell they toss a child-endangerment charge on top of that. And Mrs. Smith kicks his sorry ass to the curb posthaste.
Perhaps the pot wasn’t for him though he would be foolish to admit it after getting busted. Pot is often used by cancer sufferers to ease their pain….
It is parents like this that make me proud of what I have done with my own daughter. I take her to the doctor before I do anything for myself and have even had to give up some work time for her to get to her doctor, and waited in the waiting room for an hour with other parents and fussy children near by. Funny how someone like me being what should be the standard, can shine by comparison. Although I don’t want to shine at the expense of a kids short future. So to all those parents Twits out there.. Stop making me look so good and make me have to work for it
Indeed. What Chiascuro said.
If the pot was for the kid, why did the dad eat it to avoid getting busted? And I think the kid stands a better chance of living with the chemo rather than just dealing with the pain. Unless you’ve given up on the kids and think he should just die and the pot will make him feel better while he does that.
An 80 percent chance of being fatal means 20% don’t die.
Take the kid for chemo. Then get him the pot if it’s really for him. In that order.
— a cancer survivor
Why would the order make any difference?