“Black mama mortality. Black babies are TWO TIMES more likely to die than any other race if they do not have a Black pediatrician.” This brings me to tears.
Before the pandemic I decided to dedicate my life to cannabis advocacy after I had my own life changing experience with the plant; but not until I found out that the origins of Prohibition stems from racism and the “War on Drugs”.
I learned that White politicians are on record during the 1920s claiming that “marijuana must be criminalized because Black men were luring White women into jazz clubs with this ‘drug’”. AKA these old White guys were drinking the LARGEST GLASS OF HATERADE. (RAMONA EYES!! 😠)
This has been going on for the past 100 years but prior to that, cannabis was used medicinally across the world for THOUSANDS of years. Before Jesus y’all!
After I decided to dedicate my life to cannabis advocacy I became pregnant with my second child. My OB/GYN threatened to call child protective services even though I was a Medical Marijuana patient. I am not here to say that pregnant woman should medicate with cannabis. However, I do think that there are individual circumstances where it might be more beneficial than the alternatives and that it shouldn’t be ruled out as treatment.
With that said, I would like to highlight the fact that children across the US are being taken away from their parents for medicating with cannabis. Particularly, the Black community and people of color are disproportionally impacted. During my interview with
Chirali Patel, Founder & Managing Partner of
Blaze Law Firm LLC and Professor for Rutgers Law School Certificate for Cannabis Law, on an episode of
Cannabis Mom Boss, Chirali confirmed that New York and New Jersey have passed laws where child protective services/agencies can no longer use THC as the sole basis for removing children from a home.
THAT IS HUGE!
- 1. Parents can begin to break through the stigma and judgement that has been hanging over our heads for far too long.
- 2. This opens up conversation for how to handle THC use during the phases of a women's fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum.
After my negative experience with my OB/GYN for my second child, I found midwives who supported my cannabis consumption throughout my third pregnancy. However, what I learned was that hospital staff has the discretion to decide if they want to test me and/or my baby for THC after birth. And at that point, it is up to their discretion whether they notify child protective services to investigate me. In some cases I’ve heard stories from mothers where they were not allowed to breast feed their newborn and some were not allowed to leave the hospital with their child.
I also learned that Black women and women of color were tested far more often than White women. Being half Korean and half White I honestly don’t know what to expect from people in how they treat me. I’ve been mistreated for being Asian. I’ve also been mistreated for being White. So I decided to prepare myself for anything when I gave birth to my third child. If they were going to test me and treat me like an awful parent, then I was ready to blog the F out of my experience and tell the world.
“Luckily” for me, COVID shut down New York a couple weeks before I gave birth. I told them I was a Medical Marijuana patient when they admitted me and was fully prepared to fight a battle with whatever they threw at me. Instead, nothing happened and I’m pretty sure they just wanted everyone to leave because they were starting to get COVID patients flown in from NYC and everyone was panicking and wiping down their groceries at that point. But what if my skin was a different color? Would I have been so lucky?
It’s A Good Time To Be A Black Doctor
I had the opportunity to meet
Dr. Jackie, Dr. Contessa,
Dr. Heavenly, and
Toya Bush-Harris at Bravocon and I hope to be able to bring them on the show to discuss these topics further and to help guide our country through this time of legislation reform and ENSURE that all communities and demographics are treated properly and appropriately.
Stay tuned for more
Bravo & Blaze. I have so many personal stories of my own to share that raise alarming concerns in the medical field as a woman, mother, and professional.
