Video shows toddler smoking pot from bong
CENTRALIA, Wash. -- Newly released cell phone video shows a 22-month-old Centralia boy briefly using a marijuana bong.
His mother, 24-year-old Rachelle Braaten, was arrested and faces charges of manufacture of marijuana and delivery of a controlled substance to a minor.
The video shows the boy briefly sticking his face on the top of the lit bong. When police confronted Braaten with the video, she reportedly told detectives, "Well, it was like, you can't see in the camera, but the person taking it, and then there was like a group of people there. And I guess it was a joke and stupid mistake that wasn't really funny."
She said the toddler's demeanor didn't change and he just went on playing.
When asked how she felt, she replied, "horrible."
"Because he's two and he shouldn't have known about that," Braaten said. "He shouldn't have that in his body."
When the Centralia police's anti-crime team went to check on the boy's welfare, they found 40 marijuana plants. The boy's father, Braaten's fiance Tyler Lee, claimed he was a medicinal marijuana user. But he too was arrested, allegedly confessing he also sold the marijuana to a dispensary.
He said he wasn't there when the boy was hitting on the bong.
Child protective services took Braaten's boy and placed him protective care - along with her 5-year-old child - while she deals with the accusations against her.
Lee was jailed over the weekend but released Monday pending the filing of charges. Braaten remains in jail, held on $5,000 bail.
His mother, 24-year-old Rachelle Braaten, was arrested and faces charges of manufacture of marijuana and delivery of a controlled substance to a minor.
The video shows the boy briefly sticking his face on the top of the lit bong. When police confronted Braaten with the video, she reportedly told detectives, "Well, it was like, you can't see in the camera, but the person taking it, and then there was like a group of people there. And I guess it was a joke and stupid mistake that wasn't really funny."
She said the toddler's demeanor didn't change and he just went on playing.
When asked how she felt, she replied, "horrible."
"Because he's two and he shouldn't have known about that," Braaten said. "He shouldn't have that in his body."
When the Centralia police's anti-crime team went to check on the boy's welfare, they found 40 marijuana plants. The boy's father, Braaten's fiance Tyler Lee, claimed he was a medicinal marijuana user. But he too was arrested, allegedly confessing he also sold the marijuana to a dispensary.
He said he wasn't there when the boy was hitting on the bong.
Child protective services took Braaten's boy and placed him protective care - along with her 5-year-old child - while she deals with the accusations against her.
Lee was jailed over the weekend but released Monday pending the filing of charges. Braaten remains in jail, held on $5,000 bail.
When it comes to marijuana, there are a lot of unknowns. This is because scientists can't do studies in which they have people use marijuana.Given that there are unknowns, it seems safer to keep it away from children. As much as possible, developing minds should be kept to natural foods and drinks and away from mind-altering substances. Their minds are plastic, and what causes little or no problem to an adult can severely damage a child.
Marijuana aside, if parents want to be around their kids, it's best not to flagrantly violate the law. Work to change a law you don't like? Sure. Violate it? Even if you don't lose your kids, do you really want them to have to visit you in jail?Â
I think you need to do a lot more research yourself. There are so many studies on marijuana it is ridiculous. There are many pros and of course some cons. There really is very little NOT known about the substance, however it should not be given to a child. This mother should have used some common sense here.
My god people there's NOTHING IN IT. The only mistake this woman made was recording it and letting it get on the internet. There's no bowl, there's no slide, and there isn't even any smoke in it. If there was you would see it trickling out the top. The damn thing was cleared before the kid even put his face to it. There is absolutely NO Evidence that this is anything other than a COMPLETELY EMPTY bong. The story propagating the notion that this toddler is "smoking pot" is complete garbage.
@scottClearly you can see smoke coming out of the top. There is barely anything, but there is some coming out at 0:12 into the video.Â
Whether the bong was cleared or not, you should not be letting a toddler do that. What if the toddler were to find it later when there is something in it? I am glad the parents got caught. They should not be allowed to have kids, and neither should you.@Caylei Cook@scott Um, no. there is nothing coming out of the top. What you think might be something is a pale spot in the color of the couch in the background. And once again, I would like to add, THERE'S NOTHING in the bong. There's no slide, there's no bowl, and there is NO WEED. Also, bongs don't generally sit around with "something in it" where a toddler can get at it, sans an adult presence. Weed gets smoked, then it gets put away. I pose the same question to you. What if a toddler where to discover a bong with "something in it" Would it be lit and smokeable? If so, where would the parents be? Out buying a loaf of bread when the child could, unsupervised, get blotto? Just wondering. Actually if a child did discover a bong with "something in it" for it to even be a concern, that child would have to LIGHT IT. The THC in weed is INACTIVE as an intoxicant unless its heated. These facts alone in spite of your silly question are what outs you as ignorant. Additionally, your irrational opinion that these people, or myself, should not be allowed to have kids CLEARLY comes from a position of ignorance. You don't know anything about them, or me. Even if there was a miniscule infinitesimally small amount of smoke there to inhale, its potential harm to the child is UNIVERSALLY less than the second hand smoke that MILLIONS of tobacco smoking parents subject their children to on a DAILY basis. Are you gonna take all their kids away as well? I suppose you are welcome to respond but all you will manage to do is out your ignorance even more. There truly is no argument against any of the simple facts that have been laid bare for anyone with a modicum of intelligence wouldn't be EASILY capable of comprehending. I assume that you are a grown adult, and as such you are perfectly capable of educating yourself. You don't have to keep your blinders on. You are allowed to read and research topics that you pretend are important to you. Otherwise, if this topic isn't genuinely important enough to you to motivate you to stop accepting BS propaganda and falsely created media controversy where no controversy actually exists, then I truly weep for our humanity.
I REPEAT:Â The ONLY mistake made here is a video of the incident was made and posted on the internet.
that is what happens when you pass stupid pot laws people will do stupid things
@r_hutzStupid people say stupid things. This isn't about legalizing pot, it's about bad parenting.
What's the problem. Thank god she didn't smoke a cigarette around him! Someone would have yelled "Off with her head". Welcome to the Pacifist Northwest! Ha Ha. (For those in North Portland I didn't misspell Pacific)
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@Phil6x who does he think he is?
The mother of the year is starting out the making of her little pot head a little early, maybe she wanted to beat the neighbors.
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@feral@Luckylucy I highly doubt he has a medical disorder, and even if he did, pot is not the answer, even at any age, there are other ways to go about "helping the problem". I think medical marijuana is just an excuse, for people who already use pot or want to use pot, to not get caught.
@Caylei Cook @feral @LuckylucySee people like you are the problem with the world. So ignorant to see the facts that it is a truly harmless substance. I don't think toddlers should smoke. But i'd rather see a toddler taking a hit and not a shot of vodka. And no medical marijuana is not just an excuse. Maybe if you got your head out of your butt maybe you would see how helpful it really is. If it's so bad why do they give it to cancer patients. It helps with anxiety, eating disorders, pain, and many more. No one has ever died from an overdose from marijuana so there goes the overdose factor. However thousands of people die from alcohol related incidents. I'm going to guess you are haven't tried it. It is an amazing thing. It makes everything feel great. Sure you could get high off pain pills, i mean there legal, but that run the risk of getting addicted and no one likes that. Medical or not, marijuana is a better alternative than drinking.
that kid is definitely not actually smoking anything
I grew up and through the era of "Flower Children's" hazes of smoke. Touted as safe as and less harmful than alcohol.
(NOT) Like drinkers they often âthinkâ they are in full control, but to others it is obvious they are impaired.Â
I watched people float out of high school then through 10 years and realized they were still floating going nowhere. No ambition, fat, with smoke lines ageing their faces and men growing boobs and blackening their lungs. Burning up hard to find money, spending time worrying about making sure there were bong hits ready before they could get out of bed in the morning.
A whole generation of self centered stale minds, hippies, who were / are the people defining our political and economic demise of America as we enjoyed it growing up.While the THC may not be labeled as addictive as other drugs, (and it does have a defined but abused place in medicine) it does open into a lifestyle of lazy unproductive, under educated âfloatersâ. I also watched these same stoned individuals drive, completely expose and try to care for their children. Children learn early. I watched workers on my job in an aluminum factory place my life in danger daily because they were high as a kite the entire time they were on the job. The THC subject is badly abused like so much of our feel good efforts.
@erudite
Uh...what? Â There are a lot of casual users, and they're certainly not "Burning up hard to find money, spending time worrying about making sure there were bong hits ready before they could get out of bed in the morning." Â Your screed, it is empty. Â You're not very erudite, that's for sure.
@Diogenes @erudite
Sorry to disappoint users. I survived the fog then, which I see rising again. There are always some exceptions, and objections, but just the same an impairment to good judgment for the majority of ârecreationalâ users.
@brysonwf @Diogenes
At the time, it paid the highest hourly wage in the region with exceptional benefits. Assumptions not. This was in a past life. If I had to spend time working, doing something I did not want to do, I wanted to earn the most per minute spent while putting myself through college, and then establish a new career pathway. A pathway that would assure me I would be able to provide an income, full financial security, with independence and a work environment that I had control of, thereby allowing me to spend and enjoy quality time with my family.
@brysonwf @erudite @Diogenes
FYI, many of the shift supervisors were the tokers too. I needed the money, kept my mouth shut to keep my job. I saw an arm get ripped off, a foot explode from a hot pot, a chemical bath define new skin textures, a man smothered to death in the carbon bake and I watched as a right hand was cut off. Stupid, costly risks. It took me eight painful years watching my own back until I got what I needed done and walked away.
@erudite @Diogenes You work in an Aluminum factory and still think you can call other people under educated? I hope you are running that place, however I assume you aren't considering you can't fire the people that are putting your life in danger.
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@TheUglyTruthWell we wouldn't toddlers eating candy and drinking sodas. If those are so safe why do 'we' consume them. Some people take sleeping pills for insomnia. I mean it's safe and legal, but do we wouldn't our kids to do it. I'm not saying this is good. It sickens me to see parents like this. I have no problem with the drug. I think it has many medical and recreational benefits. I would never however let a toddler do this. Alcohol is legal and we would never want to see our toddler drink it. So lets give it up to the ignorant Americans like yourself! Â It's not the drug, it's the parents. Seriously, how does this reflect anything about pot-heads. You ever see a stoned husband beat his wife? But you do see drunken rampages. Come on man. Think about what you say.Â
@TheUglyTruth Just like putting whiskey in a baby bottle because it's "safe and good for you"? Both are illegal.
@TheUglyTruth Have you heard of bad parenting? That's the real "The Ugly Truth".Â
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@feral @TheUglyTruth You're thinking of endocannabinoids (ENDO not indo' ;) ). THC is a phytocannabinoid, and it does NOT occur naturally in the body. It is most definitely harmful to children, at least developmentally. There is no doubt about that in the scientific community.Â
@TheUglyTruthÂ
Sex is harmless, too. Â Probably not a lot of people who like sex would endorse pedophilia. Â Stupid comment from the usual suspect.
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@TheUglyTruth @Diogenes Diogenes had a perfectly viable analogy.
@TheUglyTruth @Diogenes marijuana advocates don't suppport giving it to children/still devoloping people, so you don't really have a point either, do you give vicodin and beer to kids? no because thankfully child abuse goes against most peoples common sense.
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@feral @Fuct Actually, marijuana is not illegal in their state, except perhaps for minors.
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@feral Oh because it's illegal it must be dangerous? Keep watching fox news dude. You clearly don't know WHY pot is illegal. The alcohol industries would hate pot to be legal since many people would turn to that as an alternative. Prisons would lose money and inmates. And not to mention how much money the government gets on fines from marijuana. It became illegal to help fund the police to find harder drugs such as heroine, cocaine, meth, etc.Â
And no it is not a gateway drug. Anything could be considered a gateway drug. Alcohol and pills are the big ones for gateway drugs. Marijuana abuse really has no long term effects. Seriously know what you're talking about before you post something. And really i doubt the child will need little if any medical care. Remember it's a child and that it probably didn't even inhale it right.
Gonna get boo'ed for this...The girl needs help!! Honestly I hope the kids go to her parents and she get's control of her behavior. Taking her children away forever??.. did she beat them ? did she not feed them ? did she lock them in a cage and never change their clothes ? Did she have the child inhale meth ??? Did she sexually abuse them??...there are truly sickening parents in this world. She is Dumb!! Hopefully we can fix stupid.
I just couldn't imagine taking a 5 yearold and 2 yearold..permanently away from their "Mother" this isnt a friend or Aunit. it's their Mother. Let this Woman get into rehab, parenting classes, pay her fines and hopefully have a good relationship with "her" children.
There is a
@sassy or girlI agree taking them away forever is a bit extreme, but who is to say she wont do this again, or does something else?
@sassy or girl My dad gave me a sip of his beer...once...and he was an amazing father. However, marijuana is not the same as alcohol. First, they act very differently inside the body. I can sympathize with her, because she probably thinks a single whiff of weed is comparable to a sip of Bud Lite. But that's very wrong...even a small amount of pot can do irreparable damage to a kid that age. Second, marijuana is illegal. Regardless of your feelings on the subject of legalization, it's terribly irresponsible to invite that kind of trouble on yourself when you have kids in the house. They were running a small grow operation, which is indicative of a great degree of stupidity. It's a harsh punishment, but just looking at those facts, she doesn't sound like she's fit to be a parent right now.
@puttputt @sassy or girl It's Lewis County, she'll get them back after meeting specific directions. If women with kids living in a meth lab get them back, this woman will as well.
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Now I do agree that children should be more concerned about learning and getting through their crappy teen years than smoking pot (ex teen pot head talking here) but the documentation you provided states nothing of actual research. AKA: no links to public records of actual research done. No number of how many children versus adults were tested, ect. We pump our children full of vaccines that are littered with poisons that can cause developmental issues but yet they are legal and administered.We tell our kids it is ok to smoke and drink alcohol as long as they are a certain age (itâs almost as if we are giving them a goal age to destroy themselves) Alcohol and Cigarettes are both legal in ALL states but are more deadly than pot ever will be.When was the last time a pot head broke into someoneâs home to score money for their next fix?Sure have heard of a lot of other druggies (including pill poppers) doing this but not potheads.
@puttputt @feral @sassy or girl Actually schizophrenia was a bust.
@feral @puttputt @sassy or girl Keep in mind, I am not at all opposed to marijuana use by adults. Just kids. This is a big reason why (from the same paper linked before):
"There is little doubt about the existence of an association between marijuana use and psychotic illness(Moore, Zammit et al. 2007; Kuepper, van Os et al. 2011; Large 2011). Six longitudinal studies in five countries show that regular cannabis use confers a twofold increase in the risk for later schizophrenia(Zammit, Allebeck et al. 2002). Cannabis use is also associated with an earlier age at onset of psychotic disorders, particularly schizophrenia(Veen, Selten et al. 2004; Semple, McIntosh et al. 2005)."
@feral @puttputt @sassy or girl "1. The'brain'continues'to'undergo'important'development'up'until'the'age'of'
25(Giedd'2004).
2. Children'and'adolescents'are'at'far'greater'risk'of'becoming'dependent'on'
marijuana,'and'dependence'happens'far'more'quickly.
3. Children'and'adolescents'are'more'significantly'affected'by'marijuana,'even'
before'dependence'occurs.
4. Structural'changes'have'been'found'in'the'brains'of'young'marijuana'users.
5. Subtle'effects'from'marijuana'on'emotions'and'reasoning'are'increasingly'
being'demonstrated'in'all'marijuana'users."
http://www.csam-asam.org/sites/default/files/impact_of_marijuana_on_children_and_adolescents.pdf
That took literally two seconds.Â
what do you expect from...well you know what I mean
"Well, it was like, you can't see in the camera, but the person taking it, and then there was like a group of people there. And I guess it was a joke and stupid mistake that wasn't really funny."
Such an intelligent mother...NOT! Hope the kid doesn't go back to her or the baby daddy. They just sound like trouble.
The mother is 24 years old?? She should have known better! They will get their parental rights terminated and order them not to have more babies. What's wrong with parents these days?? Are they mature enough to be ready to have babies and etc? Guess not! You have to be sure that you are mature & have money in the bank to be ready to have a baby these days. If you are not ready then don't have a baby.
You do realize that no court can order your right to procreate be terminated. You're an idiot.
Parental rights terminated NOW.
@KATUNews Toddler bong hit!
There are probably 200 Million photos of kids/toddlers with beer/hard liquor. It should be a prosecution priority to investigate every parent cell phone and family photo album for evidence of abuse.
@Icarus It's the sign of the times. Once as a child i did a lot of things, but my parents were never so stupid enough to think a beer or a bong hit was a good thing to catalogue in a family album. Do i think this whole thing is blown out than it really needs to be? Yes of course i do, stupid people are as common as stink is to a pile of fresh s**t. Which makes other hope they're kids grow up and make even LESS stupid mistakes.Â
'"Well, it was like, you can't see in the camera, but the person taking it, and then there was like a group of people there. And I guess it was a joke and stupid mistake that wasn't really funny."Â '
No, Ms Braaten. It was, like, a irresponsible paternal choice made by an obviously self-absorbed drug user who declined to consider the ramifications of their actions upon an impressionable child. It was, like, a female breeder who couldn't step away from herself long enough to consider the welfare of her own child. It was, like... no, it wasn't 'like'... It was a demonstration of child neglect.Â
I sincerely hope that, if given the opportunity and resources, you can find it within yourself to reconsider how your choices and actions today are going to decide your childs future. The time for 'hanging out' and 'partying' with your buddies ended the day you brought that child home. Your decisions now should revolve around one very simple concept;
What effect are my choices going to have on my child today, tomorrow and in the years to come?
Wow! So many things wrong, here. What crappy parents. Hope the kids get to a place where inhaling weed would actually effect their behavior, if you know what I mean. Aside from their total ignorance when it comes to caring for the children... what self respecting weed grower doesn't have ( or can't get) five grand to bail his woman out of jail? Duh!
This coming from a state that throws little school kids (who complain about being bullied) in LOCKED & PADDED 4x4 SCHOOL TORTURE CHAMBERS....
Let's place 24/7 cameras on EVERY PARENT; by the end of ONE WEEK.....every parent in the nation would have their children in PROTECTIVE CUSTODY and the parents facing LIFE IN PRISON charges!
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@Welfair Chick @August100 I wouldnt be either! I might have made some mistakes with my kids, but nothing to be sent to jail for, a little common sense goes a long way.
Proof that no matter the good intention that there will always be a truly disgustingly ugly apple on the tree. Hope that kid grows up to know true responsibility. Kids having kids i tell ya.